Budgets must be pooled to create a new breed of better-paid, professional home carers, capable of delivering both health and social care services, a think-tank has suggested.

The call for ‘super carers' is contained in an Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR) report, warning that by 2025, when the number of people aged over 80 had doubled, the social care workforce would need to increase by up to 1.5 million in order to cope.