There is one pressing issue affecting millions of people that has been conspicuous in its absence from the general election campaign so far. The parlous state of social care in England – a system that has been described as being in crisis for well over a decade – is leaving too many older people and those with disabilities without the personal care they need to lead a full and dignified life, with their relatives struggling to fill in as much as they can.

Yet neither of the main political parties seems willing to have an honest conversation with voters about the cost of a care system that caters for an ageing society, and on whose shoulders it should fall.

Age UK estimates that 2.6 million people in England aged over 50 cannot access the help they need with tasks such as going to the toilet, eating and washing, a number that has grown considerably over the last decade. That is a product of two factors: first, anyone with........

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