 Mr Clegg said pressures were making good people do bad things |
The treatment of elderly people in England is "a stain on the moral conscience of this country", Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg has said. He pledged a �2bn-a-year Care Guarantee, to fund the "great majority" of long-term social care needed. Mr Clegg accused the government of "burying its head in the sand" about elderly people who rely on family or volunteers to provide support. The "unbearable" burden on carers was to blame for much abuse, he added. 'Steadily worse' In a speech in London, Mr Clegg said: "Over the past 10 years, the Labour government has allowed social care funding to reach crisis point. "Gordon Brown's moral compass is supposed to guide him towards helping the vulnerable. "But the treatment of elderly people is growing steadily worse. And it is a stain on the moral conscience of this country." Mr Clegg said the last decade had seen a shift "by stealth" from the state to individuals in funding care.  |  Vulnerable and needy older people who - just a few years ago - would have been given help, are now left to struggle on their own |
He said the number of households receiving social care help from their local authority fell from 479,000 to 358,000 between 1997 and 2006, despite an increase in pensioners. Three quarters of those applying for help last year were turned down because they were not deemed to be in enough need, Mr Clegg said. "Vulnerable and needy older people who - just a few years ago - would have been given help, are now left to struggle on their own," he said. "More than a quarter of a million people are receiving no support at all from local authorities, charities or commercial care providers for the daily tasks with which they need help." Unpaid carers - mainly relatives and friends - were now providing help worth �87bn a year, but were being "taken for granted" by the government, said Mr Clegg. 'Pressures' A Help the Aged report found that 500,000 elderly people in the UK were suffering physical, emotional, sexual or financial mistreatment, and most abusers were related to their victim, said the Lib Dem leader. He said: "Some of that treatment is pure wickedness. But the emotional - and often financial - pressures of looking after an old person are enormous. "And they can lead to good people doing bad things that they would never have dreamt possible. "By valuing carers and improving their circumstances we can lessen their burden." Mr Clegg said that the Lib Dems, if they were in power, would provide funding to all older people assessed as being in "substantial" or "critical" need, to cover the great majority of care they require. People could then be able to top-up their package with private contributions, matched pound for pound by the government to a maximum ceiling. People on low incomes would have their top-up contributions paid by the state through the benefits system.
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