Latest news

• In June Full Fact will be looking at how the elderly are cared for in hospital and in what circumstances the NHS pays the bill for social care.
• Social care provision: from bad to worse?
• When it comes to our elderly population, is the NHS "a victim of its own success"?
• Caps, meters and accounts - the social care economy
• How many people are forced to sell their homes to pay for care?
• Dilnot-lite? What are the Coalition's plans for the reform of social care?
• A "hidden tax" on the middle classes: who's paying for our social care system?
• Social care: a postcode lottery
• 22 Oct 2012: the project goes public - see the press release.
• Sep 2012: Full Fact and Independent Age launched the project with a initial round-table discussion at the House of Lords.

About the social care project

More and more of us are living longer. And many of us will need some extra help in our old age.

But there is broad consensus that the social care system is broken. With crucial decisions soon to be made about how it is reformed, Full Fact, in partnership with Independent Age, will be looking to bring clarity to the debate.

We’ll be reporting on the state of the current system and what changes have been proposed. Our aim is to help the public and policymakers understand the evidence that underpins social care policy.  

Here’s a sample of the questions that we’re hoping to answer:

- How many people need social care services in the UK? Is that demand being met? What proportion of people will need social care in the future?

- How much does the government spend on social care? Have spending cuts affected the amount of money reaching the frontline?

- How many people are required to pay for their own care? When does the state pick up the bill?

- How many people are paying ‘top-up’ fees - when the government doesn’t meet the full cost of their care and they pay extra to make up the difference?

- How does the social care system overlap with the NHS? How much of the NHS budget is spent on social care?

If you have any questions about the project, please email Emily Craig at socialcare@fullfact.org.