| The
demographic pattern By 2020 40% of the population will be aged over 50, an
increase of 6 million people. By the same
time there will be as many over 70 as there are 25-34 year olds now. One in 20 will be over 80. People will increasingly have longer years of
active, healthy old age. I regard these (statistics) as real opportunities for us to
decide how we progress as a country… the way we think about older people and our
older population.
Power to the
50-plus
The next generation of older people, those who are now
50+ had their formative experiences during periods of radical social change in the
1960’s and 1970’s …This will mark a fundamental change in terms of how we
think about what it means to be ‘old’… how people think about themselves
and how they want to live. They
won’t just ask for change they will make it happen. Those over 65 already are four
times the voting power of those under 25, twice as many people, twice as likely to vote. Nothing gets politicians going more than looking
at voting patterns, and for today’s and tomorrow’s older population, that is
something that we need to listen to and to respond as well.
New
patterns of working life
Longer periods of active healthy life mean that it is
increasingly likely that people will be looking to blur the line between what we
conventionally think of as the abrupt end of working life. They
are likely to have an expectation of carrying on the mix of their lives, wanting a
changing and adaptable mix of paid work, voluntary work and active leisure. And actually when we look at that there is also no
doubt that that it represents the working patterns of many people who are under 50, more
moves to flexible working, more concentration that people have of mixing their family life
and their working life.
Our
changing cities
Our society, as it ages has the power to fundamentally
alter the future shape of our towns and cities and also the demands that local people
place on them. Their implications for the
physical design of our urban spaces and for the active participation of older people, are
very important. With the publication that
John Prescott has just made of the Communities Plan, we are looking particularly at growth
areas for the next 10, 20 and 30 years.
Getting
the fundamentals right
We have placed an emphasis on physical and mental
health being very key issues: the National Service Framework on older people is addressing
health and care needs. I place great emphasis on the successful implementation of the
European Employment Directive. I believe it
will have a cultural change on the way in which we think of older people. With our Age Positive Campaign we are vigorously
promoting to employers the business benefits of age diversity so that when legislation is
introduced it will simply confirm existing good practice. The campaign in challenging
employers’ prejudices and perceptions to achieve change, set standards and promote
best practice.
Making our
communities safe
This is a crucial concern to everyone, but particularly
older people. One of our key targets in
deprived areas is reducing burglary - cutting burglaries by 25% and ensuring that no local
authority has a burglary rate that is three times the average. We have put in place 84 Neighbourhood Warden
Schemes, working at community level to tackle crime and fear of crime. The fear of crime imprisons many older people in
their homes, not only at night but during the day as well and we will not regenerate our
neighbourhoods until we tackle it.
Targeting
proverty
Our first priority was to focus on the poorest
pensioners through the Minimum Income Guarantee and we have concentrated on the poorest
third of pensioners. From October 2003, the
Pension Credit means that for the first time we will reward, not penalise, modest savings
using new ways to make sure that as many eligible people as possible benefit.
The work that Help the Aged and the University of Keele
published last year on growing older in socially deprived neighbourhoods paints a picture
of lives where two-thirds of people are experiencing medium or high levels of deprivation,
going without many of the things that others take simply for granted. 40% of older people say they have been a victim of
crime in the last two years, one in six older people say that they are severely lonely. The report highlights the disproportionate impact
that neighbourhood decline can have on older people, the loss of local services, the
feeling of being abandoned and it squarely lays down the challenge of ensuring that
regeneration does not overlook older people’s needs and interests.
Engagement
with communities
 Let’s look at
some practical examples where deprived areas and the engagement of older people have been
very fruitful… Marsh Farm in Luton where
older residents set up and now run a very successful community laundrette and are also
reinvesting in the local community, ploughing their profits back into buying a bus and
running a local playgroup…. Community Wardens in the West End of Newcastle, where
volunteers from different ethnic minority communities make regular calls to the homes of
vulnerable older people helping them to gain access to local services and facilities… The School Run Derby, where Asian elders ride on
the school bus alongside school children, improving
community safety and relations between different generations.
Government is saying quite expressly that we don’t
have all the answers, we don’t always know how to do it and we have to trust local
delivery and local mechanisms. That means giving power in the hands of local people to
make sure that it comes about. And it’s not just Government that has to change…
We will regenerate our most deprived neighbourhoods, but only with the active engagement
of older people."
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