Petition signed by 130,000 supporters warns Prime Minister David Cameron: “Care can’t wait...end the care crisis now!”

More than 130,000 people have backed Age UK’s Care in Crisis petition, calling for the Prime Minister David Cameron to end the crisis in care for older people in England.

The Age UK petition, supported by the Care & Support Alliance - a consortium of over 50 organisations that represent and support older and disabled people warns the Government that Care Can’t Wait – echoing the voices and concerns of hundreds of thousands of people who desperately want and need the care system to change.

The petition will be delivered to No 10 Downing Street at 3pm on Tuesday 15th May, The petition will be delivered a week after a group of 85 organisations including Age UK and other members of the Care & Support Alliance sent an open letter to the Prime Minister calling on him to make care reform “his personal mission, his lasting legacy to future generations”.

As a result of collecting more than 130,000 signatures, Age UK now expects the petition to trigger a debate in the House of Commons on how the Government proposes to reform the broken system.

While Age UK recognises that last week’s announcement of a draft Social Care Bill represents some progress, it is short of what the Coalition Agreement promised and the charity warns that older people have suffered for too long under a system that is not fit for purpose. As a matter of urgency, the charity urge the Government to legislate as soon as possible once the social care draft bill has been published.

Andrew Gardner, Chief Executive, Age UK Essex said “I would like to thank everyone in Essex who signed the petition and want to send a message to the Government that ‘Care can’t wait – end the care crisis now.’

“As an absolute minimum, Age UK is calling for the white paper to include the following:

§  Implementation of the recommendations of the Dilnot Commission on Funding of Care and Support, which the Coalition Government itself established, including the £35,000 cap and £100,000 means-testing threshold for residential care;

§  a national threshold of eligibility for care and support;

§  reform of the chaotic social care legal framework through full implementation of the Law Commission’s recommendations;

§  retention of the Law Commission’s emphasis on upholding the rights of people who need care and support, especially those who lack capacity or who otherwise face barriers to arranging their own care. Assessment and care management functions must continue to be free;

§  implementation of the Law Commission’s proposals for effective adult safeguarding legislation;

§  a mapped out path towards full integration of the health and social care systems; and statutory duties on local authorities to inform people of their right to request assistance to arrange care.”

Andrew also said: “I would urge all our MPs across the county to ask their party leader to make care reform a priority for their party and work to ensure legislation to reform social care law and funding is introduced as a matter of urgency.”

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For more information or to arrange a media interview contact:

Andrew Gardner, Chief Executive or Peter Bland, Deputy Chief Executive, Age UK Essex, 112 Springfield Road, Chelmsford, CM2 6LF

Tel: 01245 346106

Email: or

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Note to editors:

About Age UK

Age UK – the leading older person’s charity – provides support, services, information and products to people over the age of 50. It has more than 160 partners across the country.

Age UK Essex is a charity operating across Essex ‘Improving the lives of older people’ since 1949. Today it provides: information and advice, support in the home and in the community to enable people to live independently and avoid social isolation. It enables older people’s voices to be heard and supports more than 200 older peoples clubs and groups across the county. Further details on Age UK Essex and its products and services are available from www.ageukessex.org.uk

Key facts

·  Each year, about 650,000 people turn 65

·  There are 10.3m people aged 65 or over in the UK

·  There are more people in the UK aged 60 and above than there are under 18

·  The number of people aged 65+ is expected to rise by 65% to over 16.4m by 2033

·  Nearly one in five people currently in the UK will live to see their 100th birthday

·  About 3.7 million older people live alone. 70% of these are women over 65

·  One in three people over 65 will die with a form of dementia

·  There are 300,000 people above the age of 65 in Essex

·  Age UK Essex engages with 25,000 older people each year