One in five pensioners think they will leave ‘nothing’ behind due to social care costs as 10 year NHS plan set to be announced

EMBARGO: Immediate Release

• One in five (20%) pensioners think that they will be able to leave ‘nothing’ to their loved ones in an inheritance due to social care costs
• Over half (55%) of people say they are concerned that social care costs will significantly reduce the amount they can leave behind for loved ones with 54% saying the Government does not pay enough attention to the crisis hit sector
• Liberal Democrats said that the poll revealed the “deep fears” people had about the turmoil in social care and slammed the Government for “kicking reforms into the long-grass” ahead of the NHS 10 year plan

One in five (20%) pensioners have said that they think they will not be able to leave anything behind to their loved ones after being hit with social care costs, a shocking new poll commissioned by the Liberal Democrats has revealed.

It comes ahead of the NHS 10 year plan expected to be announced on Thursday (3rd July) which will set the direction of the health service for the next decade. The Liberal Democrats have said that the plan risks missing the mark with the Government kicking social care reforms “into the long grass” creating a lack of joined up thinking in tackling the underlying problems in the NHS.

The poll also found that a staggering 47% of people generally think that they will only be able to leave half or less of their intended inheritance for their loved ones after accounting for social care costs, with 16% of all people thinking they will leave ‘nothing’ at all. Just 24% of people said they would be able to leave more than half of their intended inheritance.

Further findings from the poll revealed that 55% of people said they were concerned that social care costs would ‘significantly reduce’ the amount they would be able to leave to loved ones in an inheritance.

The research also found that the majority (54%) of people did not think that the Government paid enough attention to social care with that number rising starkly for those aged 65 and over to 73%. Just 22% of people thought that the Government did pay enough attention to social care.

The Liberal Democrats said that the poll revealed the “deep fears” that people held over the crisis in social care and said that the Government’s 10 year plan success was in jeopardy without fixing social care and the underlying issues in the NHS. They called on the Government to complete their social care review by the end of the year, not the three it is currently slated for, with the reforms implemented as quickly as possible to help turn the crisis-hit sector around and work in tandem with the 10 year plan for the NHS. 

Liberal Democrat Health and Social Care spokesperson, Helen Morgan MP said:

“These shocking findings lay bare the deep fears that people have over a social care system that is on the brink of collapse. The Government’s decisions at the spending review have allowed this turmoil to continue, with council budgets remaining stretched and countless people falling through the cracks of a system that simply isn’t working.

“Without solving the crisis in social care the deep anxieties that people have will only grow, and we will never be able to get our NHS back on its feet. People left stuck in hospital beds who are well-enough to go home are resulting in dangerously long A&E delays, simply because the capacity in the social care system is so barren.

“This is a crisis that the Government has refused to address in a meaningful way, kicking reforms into the long-grass with patients bearing the brunt of these short-sighted decisions.

“If we are to finally end the crisis in social care and remove the all too real worries that people have, the Government must complete their review by the end of the year so reforms can be implemented with the urgency they deserve. Without it the 10 year plan for the NHS risks falling short of the mark, without the joined up thinking needed to fix social care and the underlying problems in the health service.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

The polling by Savanta can be found here. Methodology: Savanta interviewed 2,095 UK adults aged 18+ online between 6th and 9th June 2025. Data were weighted to be representative of the UK by age, sex, region, and social grade.

Reporting on social care costs as a proportion of council budgets and the effect on services can be found here.

The polling was initially reported by LBC.