Life at the top of the beanpole
By Minister for Pensions Reform Mike O’Brien
By the end of this year, we will have passed a demographic milestone – for the first time the number of pensioners in the UK is expected to outnumber the number of children. People are living longer and this trend is set to continue.
This trend is having an effect on the shapes of families. There are fewer children in each generation but the number of living generations is increasing.
On paper, these structures would look long and thin – academics call them “beanpole families”.
For example, a 50-year-old woman looking forward to playing with a new grandchild may also still spend time with her 70-year-old mother and her 90-year-old grandmother, including having caring responsibilities for her older relatives.
So what is life like for the older people at the top of these ‘beanpoles’?
For some, old age can also be a time of loneliness. A Government report found that people meet up with a friend or relative less with age – 23 per cent of those aged 52 to 64 meet up with a friend or relative once or twice a month compared with 11 per cent of those aged 80 or over. The Help the Aged Spotlight Report 2007 found almost one in ten of those aged 65 and over report feeling often or always lonely, this also increases with age.
This partly reflects the lower mobility of the oldest age group, which may find it hard to visit friends and relations as often as they may like. According to research, around 750,000 people aged 65 and over in the UK do not leave their homes more than once a week.
Older people travel less because of infirmity and because social networks tend to be closely linked to the area where they live. However, for some getting older makes it harder to stay in touch with friends and relatives - particularly if their immediate family do not live nearby. In later life, illness, bereavement, poverty, reduced mobility and physical frailty can have a major impact on the quality and levels of contact that we are able to enjoy.
Clearly, Government can not provide all the answers to help people cope with the shifts they will inevitably experience as they grow older. But the Government can still make a difference to people’s lives. For example, free bus travel for over 60s has removed a financial barrier preventing older people meeting up with friends, visiting the shops or accessing public services such as doctor’s surgeries and libraries. The Government’s introduction of unlimited off-peak free bus travel will be liberating for older people.
Government can also help to drive down poverty and there has been considerable success in the last decade. Since 1996/97 initiatives such as Pension Credit have helped lift more than one million pensioners out of relative poverty. There are also Winter Fuel Payment to help with home heating for the over 60s and free TV licenses for over 75s.
However, to combat loneliness among older people require more than targeting extra resources at the poorest. In an age of the ‘beanpole’ family, support networks need to be bolstered in order to fill the vacuum left by once large, family groups living close together.
Most agree that local communities are best placed to do this. Charities such as Age Concern and Help the Aged do fantastic work to try and keep older people connected to the communities where they live. The Government’s Link-Age Plus pilots are working with a range of organisations to link services together so that older people can get the support and advice they need in one place.
We are working hard to move away from delivering services in ways dictated by Government's own structures and make accessing information, support and services easier whether the person prefers doing this via the internet, over the phone, or face to face.
It is clear that as people living longer and the shape of society changes, so the services we deliver have to change too. We all need to work together as public service providers and communities to help those at the top of the ‘beanpole’ to continue living the fulfilled lives they deserve.