Phasing out the Default Retirement Age
After many years of campaigning by Age UK and our predecessor organisations, the Government announced in July that it would be phasing out the Default Retirement Age (DRA) in 2011. This is great news for people approaching State Pension Age, as the choice of when they retire is effectively being handed back to them, with their employer no longer able to tell them to leave simply because of their age.
The Coalition Government made it clear that they would end this unfair practice, with a commitment to 'phase out the DRA' appearing in the Coalition Agreement. This was good news indeed, but nonetheless as the DRA is abolished there will undoubtedly be other issues that arise. The Government ran a consultation over the summer on how to achieve this aim, which raised some issues that will need to be faced by both businesses and employees. They did, however, offer a fairly firm timescale, with an end to retirement notices being issued after April 2011, and therefore no forced retirement at all from October. Continue reading "Phasing out the Default Retirement Age"
Author Christopher BrooksPosted on November 19, 2010 November 19, 2010 Categories GeneralTags retirement, work and learning1 Comment on Phasing out the Default Retirement Age
No less Atlases
Along with thousands of people, I picked up a copy of the Evening Standard on the train the other day (9 November). But unlike those thousands, as I read it I recalled a lecturer of mine who used to say, mantra-like, that half-baked evidence is no evidence at all.
What prompted the memories from my cherished years as a university student was an article by Russell Lynch on the so-called 'Atlas generation' – i.e. people in their 20s and 30s. Lynch claimed they would be 'sagging' under the burden of the concessions for older people announced in the Comprehensive Spending Review (eye tests, concessionary fares, TV licences, and winter fuel payments spared from the cull plus the linkage of pensions to average earnings, and so on). Continue reading "No less Atlases"
Author José Luis IparraguirrePosted on November 18, 2010 November 18, 2010 Categories GeneralTags Money & benefits, poverty, Spending Review (United Kingdom)3 Comments on No less Atlases
Repeating history: Floods hit Cornwall
Cockermouth floods - 20 Nov 2009. Photo: TheNeoplanMan via Flickr
Almost a year to the day after floods devastated Cockermouth, today we see Cornwall facing a similar fate. News reports are showing all-too-familiar scenes of people trapped in their homes and closures to roads and rail cutting off access to Cornwall, because of heavy rains and gale-force winds.
Whatever your age, flooding significantly affects people's lives. Older people are likely to face particular difficulties during and after floods. For example, floods can prevent people getting access to medicine, care and support which they are reliant on. Continue reading "Repeating history: Floods hit Cornwall"
Author Gemma BradshawPosted on November 17, 2010 December 10, 2010 Categories GeneralTags environment, flood1 Comment on Repeating history: Floods hit Cornwall
Ready, steady…. stop
This week, the NHS Alliance holds its annual conference, bringing together a legion of professionals working in primary care and the many people who want to speak to them. One group of professionals is likely to be particularly popular. GPs, who will soon be holding the NHS credit card, will not be short of networking opportunities.
Photo: Jilly Andi via Flickr
Given the expected budgetary pressures facing the NHS, the conference is perhaps unfortunately titled "The Cutting Edge". This does, of course, focus the theme on innovation, but out in the real world we've started to see the clearest signs of PCTs starting to tighten their belts.
While there have been plenty of anecdotal reports of reductions in services and staff numbers, a second PCT has this week identified specific procedures and treatments it will no longer fund. The headline grabbing treatments would perhaps surprise some that the PCT ever funded them at all – the likes of tattoo removal or hair transplantation. It is debatable to what extent refusing to pay for the featured treatments would impact on a person's overall health and capacity.
Continue reading "Ready, steady…. stop"
Author Tom GentryPosted on November 17, 2010 November 17, 2010 Categories GeneralTags Health & wellbeing, NHSLeave a comment on Ready, steady…. stop
Fighting pensioner poverty… what's the score?
Last week I opened the Inside Government conference on the future of UK pensions, with a presentation on tackling pensioner poverty. With Steve Webb as a fellow panellist I described the human impact for the poorest of our inadequate pension system; 'scored' current public policy; and set out Age UK's policy 'wish list'.
Photo: Hoveringdog via Flickr
Pensioner poverty remains a massive issue across the UK. The stereotype of the rich 'baby boomer' means that we often think of older people as wealthy homeowners with significant disposable income. For some, this is true, but income inequality within the older cohort is rising steadily.
Over 1.8 million people over 65 live below the poverty line of just £119 per week for a single person. Those most likely to be poor in later life include single women, people from black and minority ethnic communities and the 'oldest old' – people currently in their late 70s and upwards. The poverty among many older people is too often exacerbated by benefits being left unclaimed. Somewhere between £3.6bn and £5.4bn in means-tested benefits for pensioners goes unclaimed every year. Continue reading "Fighting pensioner poverty… what's the score?"
Author Andrew HarropPosted on November 16, 2010 November 17, 2010 Categories ConferencesTags Age UK, Money & benefits, older people, pensions, poverty10 Comments on Fighting pensioner poverty… what's the score?
NHS Reform: Challenge and opportunity
BBC Four's new sitcom, Getting On, takes a bleakly comic look at life on an NHS geriatric ward. But a new report this week shows that NHS hospital treatment of many older people is no laughing matter.
The National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death (NCEPOD) launched its new report this week; 'An Age Old Problem'. Its findings were disturbing, demonstrating that the NHS at present is just not equipped to deal with an ageing population. The report looked at the care given to 820 people aged over 80 from across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, all of whom died within 30 days of having surgery. It highlighted that pain management, malnutrition and delays in receiving care were all common problems. Only 38% of the patients analysed received care that could be classed as 'good'. Continue reading "NHS Reform: Challenge and opportunity"
Author Hilary EvansPosted on November 15, 2010 November 17, 2010 Categories GeneralTags Care, Health & wellbeing2 Comments on NHS Reform: Challenge and opportunity
Human rights in small places, close to home
As Eleanor Roosevelt so famously remarked "Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any map of the world. … Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere."
Because home care services are operating in such 'small places', out of sight and often out of mind, evidence about how human rights are promoted and protected or otherwise by them can be hard to come by. Shockingly, a previous estimate from the UK Study of Abuse and Neglect of Older People published in 2007 by NatCen and King's College London, found that 350,000 older people are abused in their own homes (although this figure does not focus solely on abuse carried out by paid carers). Home care services provided by the state are regulated by the Care Quality Commission but it can be difficult for a regulator to shine enough light into these 'small places' to illuminate them properly. Earlier this week the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), issued a call for evidence directly to older people and their carers, which it hopes will build up a much clearer picture of how home care services are impacting on older people's human rights. Continue reading "Human rights in small places, close to home"
Author Katherine HillPosted on November 12, 2010 November 17, 2010 Categories GeneralTags CareLeave a comment on Human rights in small places, close to home