As a public policy challenge, social care is one of the most fraught facing the government. As we live longer, more of us will need it. But how should we pay for it? Should the state raise taxes to help everyone—or keep taxes down and insist that people pay for as much of their own social care as possible?
However, it is no less awkward as a personal prospect for people who have not yet retired, as they contemplate the perils of what to do if they can no longer live independently. YouGov’s latest survey for Prospect finds that our views are informed by a remarkable chasm between two sentiments: the first is that today’s over 70s are generally regarded as comfortably off by their own children; the second is that many of those same children fear that they, themselves, will fall off a financial cliff should they need help in their later years.