Spending on the elderly – how should we interpret the numbers?
04/12/2018
Radio 4 yesterday morning presented figures collated from analysis by the BBC on how the spending in England per head on those over 65 has fallen by approximately 25% in real terms since 2010.
That caught my attention. On the face of it this is a huge decrease in spending!
But how should we interpret these figures. A response by the government stated that they had provided significant increases in support to councils for elderly care and they were planning to review funding for the future. This would suggest that the government, at least thought that this was a direct criticism of the amount of money being provided for care.
But is this the correct interpretation? One factor that should be considered is that with increased life expectancy, are people over 65 becoming more independent and less reliant on care? This has to be partly the case, otherwise we couldn’t keep raising the state retirement age.
So I am not claiming that funding for the elderly isn’t under pressure, because from evidence and the government’s own admissions it is, but if we are going to massage figures to take into account inflation, we should also think about the other factors at play here and not simply present the figures as if they speak for themselves.
Figures need to be reviewed and challenged.
Categories & Tags:
Leave a comment on this post:
You might also like…
Systematic Literature Review – combining your search strings
Our previous posts on the systematic review have looked at: Systematic Literature Review – Where do I begin? Systematic Literature Review – Selecting your Sources Systematic Literature Review - Identifying your search terms and constructing ...
Academic writing and being critical
Academic writing is daunting. Capturing all your thoughts and analysis and putting them down onto paper in some sort of understandable fashion is a challenge. Did you know we have resources in our Cranfield Study ...
Bank holiday hours for Library Services: Monday 6 May
Library Services staff will be taking a break on Monday 6 May for the early May bank holiday. You will still be able to access all the resources and help you need via our library ...
Cranfield’s Manufacturing and Materials Students’ Showcase Innovation at Project Day
On 26 April, Cranfield University buzzed with excitement as students from across our Manufacturing and Materials MSc programmes presented their group projects at the annual Group Project Presentation Day. This annual event presents ...
Come to a virtual study session in May
What are virtual study sessions? These are online study sessions facilitated by Library staff, where you can study independently alongside other students via Teams. They are a great way for you to dedicate specific time ...
Getting started on your School of Management thesis
Writing a thesis, business plan, internship project or company project can be a daunting task, and you might have some uncertainty or questions around how to get started. This post will share some ideas and ...