Dementia causing thousands to quit their jobs or reduce their hours

Businesses in England lost £3.2bn last year because people had to quit their job or change their working patterns to care for someone with dementia, according to research from the Alzheimer’s Society.

The society says, that, of the 355,000 people of working age caring for a loved one with dementia, more than 147,000 have had to reduce their work hours, or have had difficulty balancing work and caring. Over 112,000 people have had to give up their job, with many retiring early, because of their caring commitments.

The research, conducted by the Centre for Economics and Business Research, revealed that the cost of dementia to English businesses has increased by £1.6bn in the last four years and is set to rise to £6.3bn by 2040.

As dementia progresses, people often need professional support to remain at home, including help with meals, medication and getting washed and dressed.  But repeated cuts to already squeezed local authority budgets has meant it’s impossible for many to get any care at all, let alone the good quality care they need and deserve, says the Alzheimer’s Society.

It warns the impact on businesses from inadequate and costly dementia care in addition to the personal impact of the disease, will only increase if the Government doesn’t fulfil its promise to solve the dementia care crisis.

Jeremy Hughes, Chief Executive at Alzheimer’s Society, said: “Up and down the country families are desperately trying and often failing to get the good quality dementia care their loved ones need. Instead, over a hundred thousand people have had no choice but to leave their jobs and try to care for their loved ones themselves.

“The knock-on cost to businesses is only going to get bigger, with more and more people set to develop dementia, and no solution put in place to sort out social care. It’s devastating for people with dementia, devastating for their families and carers, a drain on the NHS and now we see how badly it’s affecting our economy.

“This can’t go on. The Government must overhaul social care to ensure a minimum standard of care and security for everyone with dementia. It should work like the NHS, schools and other public services, where everyone gets quality care based on their need, not their wallet.”

The charity is calling on the Government to end the dementia care crisis by providing a long-term funding solution to end the social care crisis and introducing care reforms that recognise three key principles:

• Radical action is needed to reduce the cost to individuals while improving the quality and accessibility of dementia care
• High quality dementia care should be universal – it should be equally available to everyone who develops dementia and include more generous eligibility criteria and an entitlement to a minimum level of support for everyone
• Reform must recognise what it says is the unique injustice in the dementia care system, where people with a health condition, dementia, are charged a ‘dementia tax’ – on average 15% more than standard social care, because of their complex care needs, with many having to sell their homes to pay for care.

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