Pensioners 'should share homes with the young'

London's pensioners will be encouraged to share their houses with young jobseekers under a radical shakeup of social care being planned by ministers.

The Government wants the elderly in the capital and the South-East to offer their spare rooms to younger people.

In return the jobseekers will be expected to help around the house, doing the gardening or shopping.

Ministers claim the plan is a winner for both parties. They say it will provide many elderly people with company and security while giving the unemployed free accommodation in London.

The house-sharing scheme is the centrepiece of a Green Paper this autumn setting out plans to tackle the breakdown of traditional family support for the elderly. Ministers are concerned about the rise of "adult abuse". They say many elderly people find themselves lonely and abandoned as their families leave home, often living in distant parts of the country.

Health minister Stephen Ladyman said the Government was looking at ways of giving state support to a national housesharing scheme.

He said: "In return for subsidised rent, young, single jobseekers in London and the South-East could be invited to live with an older person, do a bit of shopping and agree to spend a bit of time during the week, chatting to them, involving them in their lives."

Mr Ladyman said pensioners could be given grants to encourage them to share their houses. "Maybe we need to do more to help the voluntary sector to organise it, more to advertise it. Maybe there are things we could do - maybe subsidise the administration of it or use grants to get home share started," he added.

The consultation document also proposes setting up a carers' website allowing the elderly to check the net for volunteers offering care help.