What’s it like to reach an age at which you expected to be cared for, only to find you have to care for others? To find you have to stop work or go part time because your parents or your children desperately need you because the state won’t help?
This week I’m looking at the issue of caring. Is it as simple as one MP recently implied: that the social care crisis in this country could be solved if we just cared a bit more about our older relatives?
The numbers of older carers in the UK are staggering: a third of the UK’s 6.5 million informal carers are aged 65 and over. The number of those aged 75 and over has increased by 35% since 2001. Over the past seven years, the number of carers aged 80 and over has increased from 300,000 to 417,000.
You can read the article in full here.
Later in this series, I’m going to be looking at the issue of women and retirement. If you have a story or opinion you would like to shar, please do email new.retirement@guardian.co.uk
All the best,
Amelia
