MORE than a third of adults receiving council-funded social care across Dorset are forking out their own money to top up their support, new figures reveal.

Charity Age UK has warned that older people are being left to watch in horror as their life savings are swallowed up by a care system "way past its sell-by date".

In an annual survey of adult social care users for 2018-19, 35.2 per cent of respondents in Bournemouth said they or their families buy additional care privately or pay more to the council to top up the care they receive .

This included 28.7 per cent who paid extra from their own pocket, and 9.3 per cent who said a family member did so on their behalf.

This would mean around 690 out of the 1,960 state-funded social care users in the area are topping up their care.

Almost 41 per cent in Poole are paying out extra, as are nearly 38 per cent in the Dorset Council area.

Caroline Abrahams, charity director of Age UK, said: "Too many older people and families are already struggling without the care they need, or watching with absolute horror as their lifetime savings disappear to fund sky-high care bills.

"We know that older people and their families are living in fear that they will be unable to keep up with the payments.

"With a care system under siege, this is a problem that needs solving."