The big challenges for Brown: our priorities for older people

27 June 2007

We have set out our priorities for Gordon Brown to resolve as he steps up to the dispatch box as Prime Minister.

1. Pledge to fundamentally reform the social care system
2. Scrap mandatory retirement ages
3. Re-link the state pension to average earnings – now, not in 2012
4. Ensure the dignity of older people is at the centre of the health service
5. Tackle low skills levels amongst older workers and encourage life-long learning

Pledge to fundamentally reform the social care system
The state of long-term care in this country continues to be a national disgrace which will only get worse as our population ages. Thousands of older people aren’t getting the care they need, or are being forced to pay for care that should be provided for free by the NHS, because of confusion about the system and a chronic lack of funding. In last year’s conference speech, Gordon Brown said that reform of social care is one of the top four big challenges facing the Government – he must now give solving the social-care problem the attention it requires if we are to have a care system that is fair, sustainable and respects the human rights of older people.

Scrap mandatory retirement ages
Ageism is the most prevalent form of discrimination in the UK today. Older workers are forced out of their jobs because of their age, despite many wanting, or needing, to keep on working. Older people are regularly and unfairly denied insurance and financial products. Volunteers are ‘sacked’ for being too old. Organisations prohibit people over a certain age from using their services. Encouragement is not enough. Mandatory retirement ages (MRAs) need to be abolished now, not by 2011, and we need a law to prohibit age discrimination in goods and services and set a positive duty for public services.

Re-link the state pension to average earnings – now, not in 2012
Two million pensioners have been lifted out of poverty since 1997, helped by the introduction of the Pension Credit and Winter Fuel Payment. Yet 1.8 million pensioners are still living in poverty. The long-awaited Pensions Bill will help many of tomorrow’s pensioners but today’s pensioners need help now. As with child poverty, the Government must set clear targets on tackling pensioner poverty and re-link the state pension to average earnings as a matter of urgency. It must also invest much more in getting billions of pounds in unclaimed benefits to the very poorest and most socially excluded older people.

Ensure the dignity of older people is at the centre of the health service
Record investment in public services has helped older people stay healthier for longer. Yet some basic care for older patients is far below the standard needed. Help with eating meals in hospitals isn’t always provided by overstretched nursing staff, despite the shocking level of malnutrition among older hospital patients.  Many older people still encounter ageism in healthcare, particularly mental health care, where people over 65 can have services withdrawn or restricted simply on the basis of age. Everyone should have the right to health care according to their needs, not their age.

Tackle low skills levels amongst older workers and encourage life-long learning
The plain facts on training older people makes grim reading: Last year there was a 24% drop in the number of people aged over 60 taking Further Education courses, while the underemployment of older people costs the UK economy over £30 billion per year. Government policies to help 3.6 million people reach level 2 skill levels (GCSE or equivalent) between 2001 and 2010 is working well for those between 25 and 39. But there has been little reduction in the number of people over 40 who are without level 2 skill levels. The Government must ‘age-proof’ existing policies to ensure they deliver for mature workers – and must work to ensure more older people, whether for recreation or work, access life-long learning.

Gordon Lishman, Director General of Age Concern, said:

“As Chancellor, Gordon Brown has made a big difference to older people, but as prime minister he has still got a lot to do. Only by setting the issues facing older people as his priority will Brown successfully challenge the disadvantages and inequalities facing too many older people.”