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Building a Society for All Ages
HMG Strategy for our Ageing Society Michael Murray Project Manager
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Building a Society for All Ages
• The Government’s strategy for our ageing society,
Building a Society for All
Ages, was published on 13 th July.
• Links to PSA 17 indicator . To combat poverty and promote independence and well being . • Many of us are living longer than ever before, and the UK has just reached a demographic tipping point. In 2007, for the first time, there were more people over State Pension age than children in the UK.
• People living longer is a cause for celebration, but will fundamentally reshape our families and communities. We must take advantage of the opportunities presented and rise to the challenges.
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Improving later life today
• For the first time, pensioners are less likely than other groups to be in poverty • Over 1.3 million people over state pension age are in employment • Life expectancy has continued to grow by around 2 years a decade, and three quarters of these extra years are spent in good, or fairly good, health.
• We must go further still, to meet the demographic challenge.
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The challenge ahead- vision for the future
• We need a cultural shift, so people are not defined by their age.
• Two Pension Acts have made saving for retirement fairer and easier than ever before, opening the way for more people to provide for their future. • The current Equality Bill will outlaw unjustified discrimination on the basis of age in the provision of goods and services, • The Care and Support Green Paper sets out options for debate for responding to the challenge of addressing the care needs of an ageing population.
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Having the later life you want
• Good planning and preparation can have a huge impact on quality of later lives.
‘One stop shop’ will help people planning ahead. • Not making the most of opportunities to remain active can lead to loneliness and social isolation.
- Active at 60 will ensure that people who are reaching later life have information about their entitlements and opportunities.
• Digital technology can help people stay in contact with families, but digital exclusion is still prevalent amongst older people.
- Champion for digital inclusion - Digital inclusion projects in sheltered housing
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Engaging with work and the economy
The world of work and economy need to adapt to the opportunities of increasingly active older people • The world of work - Bringing forward the review of the Default Retirement Age - Encouraging employers to give employees more choice over their retirement.
- Improving the training available to older workers.
- Promoting teaching and tutoring to people over 50.
• The economy - Innovation and Growth Team - Age Design programme
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Improving financial support
Significant income in retirement is fundamental for people in their later years • The state pension reforms will ensure that people have a solid foundation on which to save for retirement.
• Reforms to the private pensions systems will, from 2012, introduce easily accessible pensions.
• We recognise the need to protect poorer pensioners, and we are taking powers in the Welfare Reform Bill to explore if there are ways we can use the information we have to improve take up of pension credit.
Better public services for later life
People often have the greatest need for public services in their later years. We need to make these services fit for an ageing society.
8 •The Health Prevention Package will raise the focus on preventative services for conditions that often affect people in later life.
• A Good Place to Grow Old programme, with a national agreement and funding to support local areas in developing joined up services for older people.
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All in One Smart Cards .
Key Objectives .
•Encourage and showcase best practice in using smart card technology to help increase participation at all levels. All of the English concessionary bus passes outside of London are smart cards. They could also be used in leisure centres and other services with minor adaptations. •Build on this work with Local Authorities to test an all in one smart card that provides both central and local government entitlements.
•Test smart card technology in both rural and urban communities
All –in-one smart cards
Key Activities .
• Present current position to the Smart card Forum . Today • Organise a best practice event for Local Authorities to Showcase and share best practice .Early 2010 • Test all in one smart cards in both Urban and Rural communities . Test from April 2010. 10
Working together to build a society for all ages
• The demographic change offers us great opportunities, but it also raises challenges.
• To rise to these challenges, and make the most of these opportunities, to create a society for all ages. we must work together across all sections of society.
• We are now consulting on the strategy, and one of the most important contributions everyone can make is by participating in that consultation.
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