One in eight care homes in the UK have been forced to close in the last decade, while rising numbers of families are being forced to pay for care, new research has revealed.

The study from LaingBuisson shows the number of homes in the UK has fallen by 1,612 in ten years, despite a rapidly ageing population.

The report also shows that 45% of care home places are now funded by families, not the state, up from 40% in a decade while the number of local authority beds has halved over the same period, from 34,700 to 17,100. 

In total, the number of care homes has dropped from 12,592 to 10,980 over the decade.

Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK, said: “There are more older people than ever before but fewer care and nursing home beds compared to a decade ago, and that spells big trouble for anyone who needs this kind of help today, as many do. It’s high time the government got a grip on the situation so whoever our next PM is must make this a day one priority, or else hundreds of thousands of older people and their families are going to be very badly let down.”