Age UK has said that the cost of care for those with dementia averages £32,242 a year per patient – with only a third of this covered by NHS or council help.

Alzheimer’s Society chief executive Jeremy Hughes said the figures were “staggering” and the lack of paid-for care was, in effect, a “dementia care tax”.

“If you have cancer or heart disease you can quite rightly expect that the care you need will be free.

“That is just not the case for people with dementia. Families are forced to break the bank to pay for basic care for a loved one.”

BBC news: See the table of dementia care costs

Cost of caring for dementia patients – how it breaks down

The figures emerged from research carried out by the London School of Economics and Kings College London and was carried out to help Age UK update figures compiled in 2007. Experts looked at care provided by the NHS and paid for by councils as well as the private care market and amount of unpaid support provided by family and friends.

They found that caring for dementia patients cost the UK the equivalent of £26.3bn overall, but estimated that £17.4bn – two-thirds – came from private care services or in the form of unpaid care.

For the individual, that works out at £32,242 a year – £21,322 of which was not from the state.

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BBC news: Dementia patients ‘face unfair care tax’