23 March 2005 - ‘Opportunity age’ – meeting the challenge of a changing society
Plans to meet the challenges of Britain’s changing demographics were unveiled today by Pensions Minister Malcolm Wicks, as the Department for Work and Pensions published ‘Opportunity Age – Meeting the challenges of ageing in the 21st century’.
This represents the first ever cross-government strategy that looks specifically at the issues facing British society as people live longer, healthier lives. The paper addresses issues such as enabling people to extend their working life, supporting active ageing in our communities and giving people more choice and independence in how they use the services at their disposal.
Announcing the publication of ‘Opportunity Age’, Malcolm Wicks said:
“With statistics showing that by 2007 there will be more people over state pension age than aged under 16, the importance of this strategy is clear. Right across Whitehall Government departments are showing today their commitment to meeting the challenge of Britain’s changing society.
“This paper is about shedding the stereotypes that surround our older people and instead ensuring that government can help people to live the lives that they want and deserve. This is not just about traditional issues such as pensions or care homes.
“It is about allowing people to work longer if they want to and ending the nonsense of good, able workers being thrown on the scrapheap just because of their age. To ensure people have access to education courses or sports clubs and giving people the independence and choice they want in choosing the services that they need.”
The Government’s key principles for Britain’s future society are:
- Age and employment – Our aspiration is for a million more older people in work. We will achieve this not by forcing people to work longer, but by helping older people who want to stay in or get back to work. This will mean: legislating against age discrimination in the work-place; reforming Incapacity Benefit to support people back to work; and, giving the option of a lump sum, which could be worth up to £30,000 where people choose to take their state pension five years later.
- Active ageing in the community - Promoting active ageing through such measures as free off peak, local area bus travel so that older people can get about, providing more financial support for those who want to study, and tackling fear of crime which can act as a barrier to social inclusion
- Independence and security - Promoting services which support independence and well-being, such as extending individual budgets to older people so that those who need care or other support can have choice and control over their package of support instead of having one-size-fits-all services thrust upon them.
Key to achieving this change will be a restructuring of local services to meet the needs of older people. Progress is already being made down this road with the creation of Link-Age where ‘joint visiting teams’ offer older people full benefit, personal care, heating and housing check-ups. In this way four or more separate assessments can sometimes be wrapped up in a single check-up.
Malcolm Wicks said:
“A major challenge is to restructure the local welfare state around the people who it is serving. Through initiatives such as Link-Age, we are beginning to see how this could work and the benefits that it will bring to communities. This strategy also announces the piloting of ‘Link-Age Plus’ which will provide an even more fully integrated service. Where possible I want to see local and central government working with local partners and groups to provide people with the services that suit them.”
Part of this strategy is consultative and a view will be sought on how best to progress the development of services locally. Central and local government partners as well as voluntary groups will have key roles to play in contributing to this debate and ensuring all voices are heard. Consultation will finish on 28th July 2005.
Notes for editors
- Copies will be available from the DWP Press Office today.
- The Office of the First Minister of Northern Ireland has also published ‘Ageing in an Inclusive Society’.
- The Government is legislating to outlaw age discrimination in respect of recruitment, training and promotion with effect from 2006. Mandatory retirement ages below age 65 will be abolished, and there will be a new right to request working beyond that age. Five years after implementation we will review whether to abolish retirement ages altogether.
- The document outlines plans to rationalise the multiple budgets currently available to fund care and other needs for older people. One aspect will be trialling individual budgets, which allow older people to ‘buy’ care and support using a single pot, consolidated from various current funding streams from local authorities, and also including ‘Supporting People’ funding in nine of these pilots, up to a maximum of 1% of each authority's annual allocation for that programme.
- 'The Government has already started to tackle the existing barriers to access to education courses. From 2006, there will be no age limit attached to the new Higher Education student fee loans. In addition, the current age limit on maintenance loans will be raised to 60; this will be kept under review with the intention of raising it further in the future.
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