Crisis looms as number of pensioner households in Shropshire to soar

The growth in old people will present 'huge challenges' to the region's NHS, adult social care and charities, according to Age UK.

There will be 75,951 households in Shropshire, and 30,878 in Telford & Wrekin, where the head of the household is over 65 by 2041, calculations by the Office for National Statistics show. That is a rise of 58 per cent and 64 per cent respectively.

And households with people over 85 will more than double, rising by 142 per cent to 16,706 in Shropshire and 161 per cent to 5,677 in Telford & Wrekin.

Older people account for most of the growth in the number of households in the next two decades.

The news comes amid cuts to adult social care and rising costs, and the launch today of Shropshire Council’s new adult social care strategy, which aims to help people to stay independent, with the increased use of technology including Amazon Echo machines to allow older people to seek help if needed.

Age UK director of operations for Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin, Kevin Moore, said: “These demographic projections come as no surprise as we’ve known for some time that Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin are ageing at a faster rate than most of the UK.

"Clearly this presents huge challenges to the local NHS and adult social care as well as increasing demand for services provided by charities.

"It is imperative that statutory services, charities and community groups work together to face these challenges if we are to have any chance of supporting older people to age well in the future.”

The ONS defines a household as a single person living alone, or a group of people who live at the same address and share rooms and a kitchen. A household may be a family, more than one family, or a group of unrelated people.

Russell Griffin, spokesman for Telford & Wrekin Council, said: “These figures reflect the national picture and are not unique to Telford and Wrekin. We know the population is ageing and councils everywhere are taking steps to prepare for that.

"However Telford is still a dynamic, growing town with new jobs being created all the time, a vibrant economy and is a great place to live, work and visit.”

The projections show that the number of younger households in Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin will fall by 2041. Under 25 households will go down by 19 per cent in Shropshire and the 25-34 age bracket by six per cent and by 10 per cent in Telford & Wrekin.

The ONS believes that by 2041 there will be an extra four million households in England, but this is fewer than previously forecast. It says that the slower growth is due to assumptions about births, life expectancy, migration and new forecasts on the numbers of people who will continue to live with parents or cohabitate.

The projections show that in Shropshire the number of households will climb to 156,745 by 2041, and to 80,776 in Telford and Wrekin. And the population will grow by 20,126 to 326,070 in Shropshire, and by 17,735 to 189,167 in Telford & Wrekin.