Guardian ageing population survey reveals we are not planning properly for living longer, are failing to harness older people’s skills and strengths and are concerned about loneliness in old age
The Guardian — The forthcoming general election is likely to be one of the most unpredictable in decades, and perhaps one of the most divisive too, not least when it comes to older people. The debate has already seen the generations pitted against each other, with the Conservatives accused of protecting the “grey vote” at the expense of the struggling younger generation and Labour, we are told, planning to raid middle-class pensions to cut student tuition fees.
But for many older people and their carers, the narrative about a well-off senior generation never having had it so good clearly rings hollow. The Guardian’s latest ageing population survey, published today, shows that only 26% of respondents feel older people in the UK have a good quality of life, compared with 45% who don’t, while just 28% felt their standard of living was good in financial terms, against 46% who disagreed. Half of the 1,250 participants in the online survey, which included carers, professionals working with older people and older people themselves, felt the outlook for older people had got worse just in the last year. As one respondent put it: “Older people are collectively wealthier than ever, but with growing inequality. The current situation is distorted by political pursuit of the grey vote, which is protecting wealthier people disproportionately.”
More than two-thirds thought older people’s overall quality of life would get worse during the next 20 years, while three-quarters thought they would be worse off financially. Many are concerned about how their health and social care needs will be paid for. A total of 86% and 92% respectively don’t feel the NHS and social care are adequately funded. “As the age of the population increases, the strains this places on public services will mean more people needing access to fewer services and without adequate support services people’s quality of life will deteriorate,” said one respondent.
With the proportion of older people in the UK due to rise from 23% to 28% of the population and the numbers of over-85s to double by 2030, the findings underline the importance of planning now for the services we need to support our ageing society, says Andrew Kaye, head of policy and campaigns at the older people’s charity Independent Age.
“We really need an honest debate in this country, and we want politicians to lead it, about the true costs of health and social care and what we as a nation are prepared to pay,” he says.
“It’s true that over the last 15 years, pensioners are less likely to be living in relative poverty. That’s a triumph of social policy – the conclusion politicians mustn’t draw is that it’s a zero-sum game and older people now need less spending on them than younger people do.”
According to Age UK, nearly 900,000 older people now have unmet needs for social care. “You’ve got a whole substantial group being left to struggle on alone, which seems like a false economy,” says Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK. “Without being given early help, people are more likely to develop chronic needs and to need more intensive support, at a greater cost to taxpayers.”
Age UK’s own research last month found that nearly three-quarters of older people felt poor standards of care and support showed that the government treated older people badly. That view was echoed by many who responded to our survey. But, according to Abrahams, it’s not just about funding.
“There’s a lot of casual ageism that’s tolerated and wouldn’t be if it were about people who were black or gay and lesbian,” she says. “In some areas of public life, discrimination is hard-wired in, for example, with the cut-off ages for financial products. Where we’ve got to as a society is that a lot of people recognise we have an ageing society but haven’t yet clocked that’s about us as well.”
One way of addressing this might be to give older people a greater voice at top levels of government. The thinktank CentreForum has called for an “older people’s commissioner” to champion the rights of older people, plus a specific older people’s minister with a place in the cabinet. CentreForum’s chief executive, Stephen Lee, says: “By giving older people a formal voice in Whitehall, we would see greater emphasis placed on age-proofing services, and policy that is generally more responsive to the challenges and opportunities of an ageing society.”
Older people in the UK contribute an estimated £61bn to the economy through employment, volunteering and caring, but many feel unrecognised: an overwhelming 92% of respondents to our survey don’t feel older people’s skills, knowledge and experience are valued and harnessed by society. As one respondent said: “Older people are mostly seen as a bundle of problems and service-needs. Their strengths, skills and knowledge are not harnessed or appreciated in a society infatuated by the cult of youth.”
Community initiatives, in particular, could help tackle the scourge of isolation, which, according to the Campaign to End Loneliness, is a serious public health issue. The campaign’s director, Laura Alcock Ferguson, says it is a concern that 60% of respondents in our survey were worried about loneliness in old age. “We know that it is as harmful to health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day and increases the risk of conditions such as dementia, high blood pressure and depression,” she says. “If we do not act to protect older people from chronic loneliness, felt by 800,000 people in England, we are likely to see the consequences in our hospitals and social care services increase, as the older population increases.”
Her campaign, along with Age UK, published a report earlier this year highlighting grassroots projects tackling isolation among older people in the community. In the process such projects can also demonstrate the cross-generational support that will help society manage an ageing population. Our survey shows there is support across all age groups for more planning and support for our ageing population. As Kaye puts it: “The positive thing is that it doesn’t show a big generational divide. The reality is older people care about their grandchildren and things like making sure they get on the housing ladder, just as younger people care about grandparents, whether they will get dementia and how they will be cared for. Young versus old doesn’t help anyone.” [] Kate Murray
*Source: The Guardian | Photo elderly/huffington
