Due to an increase in the number of people caring for their partners without any state assistance, Britain is facing an epidemic of loneliness among its elderly.
Around 3.6 million pensioners are also unpaid carers – a number which has soared by nearly 1.5 million since the start of the pandemic.
Age UK recently conducted a survey and found that three quarters of the older, unpaid caregivers feel alone.
This charity appeals to the Government for more support to those who are struggling to make ends meet.
Broken care systems mean that many are left caring for their spouses alone. While they would be able to benefit from some home care to help share the load, councils limit these visits to those most in dire need.
Covid restrictions have made it more difficult for caregivers to make visits.
Around 3.6 million pensioners are also unpaid carers – a number which has soared by nearly 1.5 million since the start of the pandemic (File image)
Age UK’s survey found that the majority of older carers are receiving no support at all, finding support too difficult to access and services unavailable.
The services were stopped with no explanation and they discovered that less than one percent of the population is accessing day services. A similar percentage are accessing respite, but only 1%. One unpaid carer told Age UK: ‘It is an intolerable burden. Most days I just want to die.’
Another said: ‘It is draining, isolating and affects my relationship with my spouse. It has been much worse during the pandemic because I haven’t had any social contact with my friends.’
Age UK’s survey found that three quarters of the older, unpaid carers felt lonely. Caroline Abrahams is the charity director at Age UK.
And another said: ‘It is a 24/7 job providing care. He is totally dependent on me doing everything for him, so I get very tired and have very little time for myself.’
According to the charity, 41% of over-65s who were living with someone they cared for in September were lonely, and 28% were lonely at times.
Also, 84% were providing no support or respite to their clients, and 780,000 of them were over 80. That means 23 percent were actually providing care. One in three over-65s were providing some form of unpaid care.
Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK, said: ‘These deeply worrying new figures show that in many places support for carers has all but disappeared, due to a combination of the pandemic plus the acute funding pressures in social care.
‘The 3.6 million older people who care for a loved one are being left to shoulder an enormous amount of responsibility and hard work without any prospect of an organised break, or often even any chance to socialise with others.
‘It’s awful to think of how lonely and exhausted many of them must be feeling. We must do more to support older carers and that requires central government to give local authorities enough new money to get respite care, day-care facilities and short breaks going again.’
A Government spokesman said: ‘We are committed to supporting our dedicated unpaid carers, and tackling loneliness.
‘We are investing up to £25million to kick-start a change in services to support unpaid carers. Since the beginning of the pandemic we have also invested £34million in charities specifically focused on reducing social isolation.’