"Catastrophic" cuts to social care have left hundreds of thousands of vulnerable elderly people without support, a leading charity revealed yesterday.

Age UK said a massive £1.2 billion drop in direct social care funding since 2010 has prompted 87 per cent of local councils in England to deny service unless the need is considered "substantial" or "critical."

Many older people already struggling with everyday tasks have been left without any support.

In 2010 an estimated 800,000 elderly people needed care but were not receiving any.

The charity said that number had "grown substantially," pointing out that between 2005/6 and 2012/13 those receiving care dropped by 27.2 per cent while the elderly population went up by a million.

Age UK charity director Caroline Abrahams branded the figures "catastrophic."

She said: "Older people who need help and who are now not getting it are being placed at significant risk and families who care for loved ones are experiencing intolerable strain.

If they don't receive the care they need and end up in hospital "we have simply shifted people around the system at great financial cost and created distress and disruption for older people in the process," she said.

"This makes absolutely no moral or economic sense."

The charity lauded the Care Bill, which is entering its final stages in Parliament, as a "significant step forward" but warned that the changes could be undermined by "wholly inadequate" funding.

Age UK called for the government to use March 19's Budget to save "a system that is creaking under increasing pressure."

Ms Abrahams said: "At the moment too many older people who have contributed to society throughout their lives are being left to fend for themselves when they need care and support.

"We cannot continue to sacrifice their safety, health and dignity. Too many older people have suffered already. It is time for politicians in all parties to act."