Responding to the Chancellor’s Spending Review, Ben Franklin, Deputy Chief Executive at the International Longevity Centre UK (ILC) the UK’s leading authority on demographic change, commented:

“The Spending Review provided welcome investments in housing, transport and community spaces, directed at the places that need it most, which will help to rebalance our woefully unequal national economy. The Chancellor has rightly prioritised increased capital spending, which she can borrow to invest in according to her fiscal rules.”

“However, things are much tougher on day-to-day spending – with NHS spending rising by 3% in real terms per annum over the Spending Review period, this will mean substantial, continued constraints on other key functions of government – such as working-age welfare and adult education and training. Given the pressures around adult social care, local government could also have done with more than it received.”

“What is still lacking from the Government’s fiscal announcements is a narrative about our ageing society – and any real efforts to address the challenges and the opportunities offered by longer lives.”

“The pressure is now on the NHS Long Term Plan to show how we can shift from an acute sickness model to one focused on prevention, if our health service is to make the most of this additional resource.”

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