COSTS of dementia care in the region are set to soar over the next decade, new figures reveal.

Shocking latest estimates for Yorkshire and the Humber are that the care bill will rocket from the current £2.692 billion to nearly £4.484bn in 2030 – a whopping 66.6 per cent increase.

The data – calculated by the London School of Economics and Political Science – combines costs to the NHS, social care and the value of unpaid care provided by family members.

Around 60 per cent of social care costs are typically met by people living with dementia and their families because they do not qualify for state support.

And research has shown that someone with dementia will on average have to spend £100,000 on their care, with many being forced to sell their homes to pay for it.

The Alzheimer’s Society is calling for immediate social care investment to be a key element of the Government’s spring budget next month.

As part of its Fix Dementia Care campaign, the charity wants the care to be funded like other public services, such as the NHS and education.

It is pressing for an extra £8 billion to be invested in adult social care in England by 2020-21, with at least £2.65bn of that going towards caring for people with dementia.

Judith King, the society’s head of region for Yorkshire and the Humber, said: “The social care system is unfair and unfit for people living with dementia. We are campaigning to end this injustice.

“We are calling on the Government to commit to £8 billion in immediate funding to bring care to an acceptable level, as well as a clear timetable for long-term reform that provides a fairer system and ensures access to quality care.

“For far too long, families have been privately struggling to care for their loved ones with dementia, left to pick up the pieces of a social care system that’s coming apart at the seams. This can’t go on any longer. The Government must live up to its promise to fix dementia care.”

Across England, care costs are predicted to rise from their current level of £29.4bn to £50.4bn by 2030, an increase of more than 70 per cent.

At the same time, the number of people with dementia across the UK is expected to rise from around 850,000 to 1.2 million in the next decade. It’s predicted that as the population ages, a greater proportion of people with dementia will have higher care needs for longer.