'An adult social care crisis is waiting to happen'

Saffron Roberts-Carey said her family felt they were left on their own to sort and fund care for her mother and grandmother

Saffron Roberts-Carey is 29 and is worried about her future. She sees her mother and grandmother using up their savings on vital care and fears the social care system will be broken by the time she may need it.

They spend more than £8,000 on care fees each month with no financial support and Ms Roberts-Carey says the family feel they are being left to sort it out themselves.

She is among many people who are telling the BBC through Your Voice, Your Vote that the state of the care system is among their most pressing issues this election.

"I have a good job, a masters degree and I think I'm earning all right money but it doesn't seem that's going to be good enough for the future," Ms Roberts-Carey said.

"I’m 29 and my generation can’t even afford to buy a house. What’s going to happen when we don’t have houses and thousands of pounds in saving when we’re older and may need care?"

'There is a crisis waiting to happen'

She looks after her 64-year-old mother who has Multiple System Atrophy, a rare brain condition with no cure which effectively leaves a person with it trapped in a body which is slowly shutting down.

Her mum requires carers twice a day as well as her daughter as an unpaid carer who says she has to fit it in alongside her full-time job.

Meanwhile, her 91-year-old grandmother, who has dementia, has to be looked after in a care home, she adds.

Between them, Ms Roberts-Carey, who lives in the West Midlands, said they spent more than £8,000 on care and were told they must each spend £100,000 of savings before they were able to claim any financial help for care.

"At the moment, my mum is short of £2,000 every month after her pension and benefits go straight to care, so her savings make up the difference until they run out," she said.

"There is a crisis waiting to happen with adult social care."

About a million people in England receive services that support them in care homes as well in their own homes, according to the King’s Fund think-tank.

Many who rely on the care system want to know why the major political parties aren’t talking about it more.

An open letter has been sent to politicians signed by 24,000 people and more than 50 organisations warned it would be a betrayal of the public if a new government ignored social care.

A second letter from another 20 bodies, including council groups and care workers, urges politicians to use the remainder of the campaign to be ambitious about reform.

Boris Johnson’s government did set a timetable for introducing an £86,000 cap or limit to an individual’s care costs over a lifetime. Originally due in 2023, its introduction in England was delayed until October next year.

Labour and Conservatives have said they would go ahead with this care cap, but experts say the money allocated is already being used to prop up the existing system.

Both manifestos say they will improve pay and conditions for care staff. Labour also pledges to set up a National Care Service within 10 years.

The Liberal Democrats and the Green Party have both said they would make personal care free while Reform UK said they would set up a royal commission within the first 100 days of a new government to draw up a national plan.

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