IFoA Longevity Bulletin provides insights into tackling the social care crisis

The social care system in the UK has felt inadequate for many years. However, finding consensus on how to tackle the crisis and create a system that is both fit-for-purpose and intergenerationally fair has often seemed unachievable. The latest Longevity Bulletin from the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, ‘The social care issue’ released today (Wednesday 8 December) considers these challenges and provides insights and recommendations on what potential solutions might look like.

The care home tragedy triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic has brought into sharp focus, for both government and the public, the importance of care and the clear need for improvement in its funding and commissioning. The government’s announcement in September of the new Health and Social Care Levy is an important first step in finding ways to fix the broken social care system.

Matthew Edwards, Editor of the IFoA Longevity Bulletin, said:

“It’s been ten years since the Dilnot Commission set out its recommendations on how to deliver a fair, affordable and sustainable funding system for social care. Since then, little has changed and our ageing population has put greater strain on an already creaking system. The pandemic has exposed the inadequacies of the care system, boosting public recognition of the problem and presenting an opportunity to make some significant and lasting changes.

 “The contributors to this bulletin consider a range of different care issues ranging from care communities, where residents can choose levels of independence and care needs as appropriate, to new technologies which help to boost social interaction and resilience. We know there are no easy answers to this issue but we wanted to highlight recent developments that could help to shape new thinking for a social care system that needs attention and action now”.

IFoA President Louise Pryor, said:

“The pandemic has shown us how delay is a costly alternative to early action. The essays in this bulletin make it clear that none of the structural problems in the social care system are new but the impact and effect of Covid-19 has pointed to a more urgent need to address them. It is also a reminder that actuaries, as experts in long-term risk management, have a valuable voice in this debate and must work alongside government and other industry stakeholders to find long-term, sustainable solutions”.

A list of the articles and authors featured in the social care edition of the IFoA Longevity Bulletin can be found below:

• To care or not to care?
  Sacha Dhamani, Head of Longevity at Royal London
• Continuing care retirement communities – still attractive in a post-Covid world?
  Dan Ryan, Chief Science Officer at COIOS Research
• A broken system
  Jules Constantinou, Regional Manager for Life and Health at Gen Re
• Resilience and technology adoption among older adults
  Amer Fasihi, CEO and co-founder, Kraydel
• Rethinking elderly living after the pandemic
  Sze-Yunn Pang, CEO, Neurowyzr
• Latest news from the Continuous Mortality Investigation (CMI)

The IFoA’s first Longevity Bulletin was issued in 2011, and was created as an overview of longevity trends. ‘The social care issue” will be the fourteenth in the Bulletin series.

~ENDS~

Contact
Sonia Sequeira, Media Relations Manager, IFoA
Tel: 07525 592 198
Email: sonia.sequeira@actuaries.org.uk

Notes to Editor

1. Institute and Faculty of Actuaries Longevity Bulletin. Issue 14. ‘The social care issue’. December 2021.

About the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries

The Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA) is a royal chartered, not-for-profit, professional body.

Research undertaken by the IFoA is not commercial.  As a learned society, research helps us to fulfil our royal charter requirements to further actuarial science and serve the public interest. 

Actuaries provide commercial, financial and prudential advice on the management of a business’s assets and liabilities, especially where long term management and planning are critical to the success of any business venture. They also advise individuals, and advise on social and public interest issues.

Members of the IFoA have a statutory role in the supervision of pension funds and life insurance companies. They also have a statutory role to provide actuarial opinions for managing agents at Lloyd’s of London.

Members are governed by the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries. A rigorous examination system is supported by a programme of continuing professional development and a professional code of conduct supports high standards reflecting the significant role of actuaries in society.

The IFoA is available to provide independent expert comment to the media on a range of actuarial-related issues, including COVID-19 and its long term consequences, mortality, pensions, life and general insurance, health and care, finance and investment, climate change and sustainability, systems thinking, uncertainty and judgement, and risk management.