Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what change there will be in the number of people aged 65 and above by 2030; and what assessment they have made of the demand for an increase in the number of care workers and the need for measures to be introduced to aid recruitment and retention.

The Office for National Statistics publishes population projections. The latest forecasts for England between 2017 and 2030 shows there is projected to be a 31% increase from 10,063,400 to 13,166,900 in the number of people aged 65 and over.

The Department is aware that our challenge, working alongside stakeholders in the adult social care sector, is to ensure the workforce has the right number of people to meet increasing demands, with the right skills, knowledge and behaviours to deliver quality, compassionate care. That is why we have set out a plan to attract and retain talented staff, backed by an additional £2 billion investment in the sector over the next three years and a commitment to consult on the future of social care to ensure sustainability in the long term.

Skill for Care publishes projections of the adult social care workforce and they forecast the number of adult social care jobs could increase by 31% (500,000 jobs) to around two million jobs by 2030.