A report commissioned by Alzheimer’s Society from the Care Policy and Evaluation Centre (CPEC) at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) set out estimates for the number of people with dementia and the cost of dementia care in the UK, with projections to 2040 – i.e. over 2% of the population.
It shows the scale and impact of dementia, and the urgent need for action to be taken to meet current and future care needs and the associated costs.
In England, people affected by dementia have to pay most of the costs of their social care
How many people in the UK have dementia?
There are currently around 900,000 people with dementia in the UK. This is projected to reach 1.6 million people in the UK living with dementia in 2040. This sharp rise is due mainly to accelerated population ageing.
What is the cost of dementia care?
- The total cost of care for people with dementia in the UK is £35 billion
- The largest proportion of this cost, 45%, is social care, which totals £16 billion
- This is set to rise sharply over the next two decades, to £94 billion in 2040. This compares to a total NHS budget of about £150 billion.
- These costs are made up of healthcare costs (costs to the NHS), social care costs (costs of homecare and residential care), and costs of unpaid care (provided by family members).
What is the cost of care to families of people with dementia?
Families pay more than 60% of the total social care costs in England, paying £8 billion a year, whilst the state pays £5 billion.
‘Unpaid carers’, or families and friends providing care to their loved ones, are providing care to a value of £14 billion a year. This will increase to £36 billion by 2040.
