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November 2023: Engage Britain has now merged with Demos. You can still find all our work from 2019-2023 here, but to get in touch or find out about our new ventures, go to https://demos.co.uk/

Our take: The government’s new social care white paper

Francis Elliott, Engage Britain’s Director of Advocacy, says:

“Social care in this country has been collapsing over decades, and fixing it was always more than just helping more people pass on their homes to their children.

“The Prime Minister is in tune with the public by prioritising the workforce – when we spoke to people all over the country about social care they said more should be done for undervalued care-workers.

“And while it’s heartening to hear the government promise to put people at the heart of care, this means acting on the struggles that people around the country face every day – like the harrowing stories we’ve heard of unpaid carers looking after their loved ones with barely any support, or younger disabled people fighting to get the help they need.

“Real improvements for both workers and the people, young and old, who rely on care will need real investment. But at the moment it’s unclear when or even whether social care will get more cash from the new health and social care levy. The millions of people struggling with the current system deserve to know if help is coming.”

Media contact:  Freya Barnes, Head of Media 0203 953 6329 / media@engagebritain.org   

Stats and real life voices

  • Listen to doctors, nurses and carers talk about their experiences here
  • One in six adults (18%) have had problems getting the right care for an elderly relative, which increased their stress towards the end of their life 
  • One in six (17%) feel they’ve had to fight to get social care support for loved one or for themselves – this rises to over half (52%) of people who are unpaid carers 
  • One in ten people (10%) aged 45-64 have had to give up work or reduce their working hours to care for a loved one  
  • Paid and unpaid carers top the list of the most undervalued staff groups according to the public
  • Survey commissioned by Engage Britain and conducted by Yonder. It was a nationally representative survey of 4,010 UK adults. Online fieldwork undertaken 5-8 July 2021.