Social care in the United Kingdom is a devolved matter, so England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales each have their own separate systems of private and publicly funded social care. Each country has differing policies, priorities and funding levels which has resulted in a variety of differences existing between the systems.[1]
According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development the UK had one of the lowest government expenditures in Western Europe per head of the population at £695 in 2018 as compared with £1,530 in Norway, £1,451 in the Netherlands, £1,222 in Sweden or £1,033 in Switzerland, though higher than Spain or Portugal with £218 and £208 per head, respectively.[2]
