NEW figures show North-East councils are paying more than £36m a year to help people with smoking-related illness to live in their own homes.

Individuals across the region also face a bill of over £27m to cover the cost of their own care. This means that more than £63 million is spent unnecessarily on social care every year in the North-East as a result of smoking.

For the first time the new research, for Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), has estimated the cost of smoking to the social care system. It reveals that current smokers over 50 are twice as likely to need help with day-to-day living – known as domiciliary care - and on average need care nine years earlier than non-smokers.

The study estimates that every year 2,200 more people in the North-East need local authority social care as a result of smoking. However, smoking also means that around 51,000 people are receiving unpaid care from friends or family.

The costs of smoking to the social care system in England report also shows that local authorities spend more as a proportion of their care budgets on smoking-related care than the NHS does.

Ailsa Rutter, director of the North-East based tobacco control agency, Fresh, said: “CBy helping people to quit smoking not only will it improve their health but it will mean they require less paid-for care in the future.”

Newcastle City Council leader Nick Forbes said: “These figures reinforce what we already know about smoking – that it is a huge cause of unnecessary suffering to the people of Newcastle and the North East.”

Deborah Arnott, chief executive of ASH commented: “Local authorities are facing a financial squeeze that makes effective and targeted spending on prevention all the more important.”