Satisfaction with social care in the UK: Assessing the interactive effects of age and ideology

Abstract

Social care is a pressing policy issue in the UK, where it is widely acknowledged that the status quo—including who pays, profits, and receives/delivers care—is unsustainable. Yet we know relatively little about the factors shaping satisfaction with the current system, as most prior research has been either descriptive in nature or focused on assessing funding priorities. This study investigates determinants of social care satisfaction for the UK general population, paying particular attention to the potentially interactive effect of age and ideology. Using 2012–2019 BSA Survey data, we find that middle-aged respondents are particularly dissatisfied with social care, but that ideology complicates this dynamic: while conservatives were broadly more satisfied with social care than progressives, this ideology effect disappears among older respondents. This result is largely driven by a modest increase in satisfaction among older progressives—though satisfaction remains low even among comparatively more satisfied groups.