British pensioners in Spain are reportedly facing a “ticking time bomb” as they could be forced to return to the UK for a herartbreaking reason. An expert shared that there is a shortage of young people to replace the ageing volunteers due to their reliance on UK care organisations.
Several retirees in Spain are dependent on charities like the British Legion or Age Concern because their families live in Britain and accessing Spanish social services is not easy because of language problems.
However, most of the volunteers from these care groups are becoming elderly and have their own care needs.
Dr Kelly Hall, a social policy expert at the University of Birmingham, who has written a series of papers on British expats’ care needs, said unless a younger generation of carers came forward to replace ageing carers then British pensioners may come home.
She told the i: “These voluntary organisations are generally run by older British people who are ageing and need support themselves.”
She added: “In terms of the ageing British community in Spain, care needs are becoming more pronounced. I would say it is a ticking time bomb.
“Unless there is a new generation (of carers) coming through it is true to say that the voluntary sector will be really struggling. I suspect more people will return to the UK.”
Michelle Greenwood, a volunteer with Age Concern on the Costa del Sol who has lived in Spain for 15 years, explained that while Spaniards tend to care for their families, Britons often move to Spain at retirement age without any relatives.
She said: “You end up depending on your husband or your partner but if you can no longer cope you go to an agency or a private care service. English-speaking care services charge €5,000 (£4,215) per month which is impossible for them.
“We are seeing more and more that as people come over to a foreign country late in life, they have never seen the importance of learning a foreign language so they cannot deal with the social services. And we just have not got the manpower to deal with them. It is really sad.”
Some 412,000 Britons are residents in Spain, according to the Spanish National Statistics Institute, but the exact number of pensioners is unknown.