Back in May, the Conservatives said they were going to do something about the problems Britain has with an ageing population and insufficient preparation for their extreme old age. Instead of introducing radical reform, as their manifesto promised, they backed off, fearing they might lose votes. They did lose votes, partly because they were then seen , not as a party with conviction, but as opportunists.

Fortunately, large organisations like the Lloyds Banking Group and their subsidiary Scottish Widows, know that whatever the political landscape, the social problems aren’t going away. Scottish Widows has sponsored a project by the Centre for the Modern Family. In April and again in July of this year, Jane Curtis and her team conducted over 2000 interviews with people impacted by the strain of later life care.

Now they have published their findings in a report called “the cost of care”.

This is the conclusion Jane comes to.

The report looks first at the financial cost and how it is likely to impact us

Put in very real terms, we are under paying for our later lives, our later life need in monthly terms dwarfs our current spending.

At present we are muddling along without a plan, with the cost being distributed among family members.

We are a nation with our heads buried in the sand; as reported often on this blog, we can look death squarely in the face , but we are embarrassed and ashamed about our mental and physical detoriation.

Like the Government, we cannot wish the problem away. If we avoid the problem personally, we are shifting it onto carers. The care system cannot cope with us doing this.

The report comes up with some recommendations.  I am mot sure I agree with all three – but they are worth a proper debate.

We may feel uncomfortable with the findings of the Centre for Modern Families, but we cannot sidestep them.

I am attending the Tory party conference in October, talking with politicians about these issues and hearing more from experts in this field, is high on my reasons for going.