Ageing society
More of us are living longer than ever before.
Life expectancy has been growing steadily for over half a century and the UK has now reached a point where there are more people over State Pension Age than children.
An ageing society is no longer on the horizon, it is here with us today.
This is of course a cause for celebration, being a direct result of enormous progress over the past 60 years. We now need to build on this progress so that we can address the challenges and make the most of the opportunities presented by this demographic change.
Our vision for an ageing society
"Building a Society for all Ages", published in July 2009, presents the Government’s vision for a society where people should no longer be defined by their age but where their skills and experiences are harnessed for the benefit of Britain as a whole.
- Building a Society for all Ages (HM Government website)
We have also published a summary of the responses to the discussion paper "Preparing for our ageing society".
The story so far
To help meet the challenges presented by an ageing society we published “Opportunity Age – meeting the challenges of ageing in the 21st century” in March 2005. This aimed to end the perception of older people as dependent, ensure that longer life is healthy and fulfilling, and that older people are full participants in society. We put in place a series of indicators to measure how we are succeeding. In August 2009 we publicised a summary report showing the majority of the commitments made in Opportunity Age had been delivered.
- Opportunity Age – meeting the challenges of ageing in the 21st century
- Indicators of the independence and well-being of older people
- Implementation of Opportunity Age commitments (172KB)
More people are choosing to work longer. DWP's Age Positive initiative promotes good practice standards to employers, for example, operating without a retirement age and the business benefits of recruiting, training and retaining older workers.
- Employing older workers (Businesslink website)
Building on “Opportunity Age”, we developed the LinkAge Plus pilots to provide older people with access to a wide range of more integrated, joined-up services.
In 2007, in consultation with older people, we developed the Public Service Agreement 17 to “tackle poverty and promote greater independence and wellbeing in later life”. This was our first commitment of its kind specifically aimed at older people.
In May 2008 we commissioned John Elbourne to undertake an independent review to examine how Government engages with older people and how that could help to inform policy and actions at all levels. The Government’s response "Empowering Engagement: a stronger voice for older people" was published on 3 February 2009.
Angela Eagle is the Government's Minister of State for Pensions and the Ageing Society. In this cross-government role, she works closely with the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit and the Department of Health, with a specifc remit to make the most of the opportunities created by an ageing society.
Angela is responsible for taking forward PSA 17. She will co-chair the new UK Advisory Forum on Ageing with Phil Hope, the Minister of State for Care Services. The Forum will provide a stronger, clearer and louder voice for older people at a national level.
In addition, we are undertaking a far-reaching programme of pensions reform which will significantly increase the number of people, particularly women, who can get the full State Pension.
Looking ahead
We plan to publish detailed set of responses to "Building a Society for All Ages" later in the year.
Latest
- Shared learning DVD (November 2009)
- Ageing in the UK – interactive mapping tool (ONS website)
- Building a Society for all Ages (July 2009)
