We have a key role in building communities for all ages, not only through the physical design of houses and neighbourhoods but also in ensuring that people feel safe. We need to recognise the different needs of different communities, as highlighted in the Social Exclusion Taskforce short study on rural ageing, for example, the importance of effective public transport in remote rural areas.1
Communities have an important role in helping to challenge the stereotypes that surround older people purely as dependents and strengthen the bonds between generations. Many people in later life have experiences to share, having been teachers, volunteers, or even serving in the armed forces. Equally, there is huge diversity in this age group, with people from different ethnic backgrounds, and a variety of aspirations.2 Breaking down these stereotypes will help us all to benefit from the contributions that older people can make working in industry.
The case for change
FACT 1: One million people over 65 report feeling trapped in their own homes and more than 180,000 have gone for a whole week without speaking to friends, neighbours or family.3
FACT 2: 13 per cent of people living in rural areas in their later years report poor access to a range of basic services, including GPs, dentists, hospitals, post offices and local shops. Those on low income and those aged over 80 are significantly more likely to report poor access.4
FACT 3: In an average day more volunteering and socialising is currently done by people aged 45-64 than by people over 65.5 Increasing volunteer hours among the over 65s by 10 per cent is estimated as being worth over £500 million.6
“We need more specialist housing information, advice and advocacy for all tenures, covering the whole journey from emotional decisions about whether to stay at home or move, and the practicalities of moving.” Individual respondent to HMG, Preparing for our Ageing Society; A Discussion Paper (2008).
“We need more specialist housing information, advice and advocacy for all tenures, covering the whole journey from emotional decisions about whether to stay at home or move, and the practicalities of moving.”
Individual respondent to HMG, Preparing for our Ageing Society; A Discussion Paper (2008).
Through Lifetime Homes, Lifetime Neighbourhoods, we have set out our vision for the design of homes to meet the needs of people throughout their lives.7 We committed to ensuring that by 2011 all new public sector housing will be built in accordance with Lifetime Homes standards. These standards include a number of simple features such as a level or gentle sloping approach to property, doors wide enough to allow wheelchair access, and sockets and controls at convenient heights. We are now working closely with developers, architects, planners and other professionals to encourage them to adopt these standards in private sector housing.
We announced funding of £33 million for new and enhanced handyperson services from 2009 to 2011. Handypersons provide practical support for older, disabled or vulnerable people in and around the home to help maintain independent living. They typically carry out tasks including small building repairs, minor adaptations, general home safety, accident prevention and security checks and energy efficiency and fire safety measures. They can also play an important role in signposting people to other services.
In 2007 we launched The Assisted Living Innovation Platform with the Technology Strategy Board, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and the Economic and Social Research Council to develop the technology necessary to enable people suffering from long-term conditions to live independently.8
To help people make decisions about their housing options in later life, we are funding FirstStop,9 a free, independent information and advice service for people in later life provided by the third sector. The service helps people decide between the various options and services available to help them with regards to housing, care, finance and rights, providing advice and guidance both via a website and through a telephone helpline.
To improve the design of communities and ensure they are more inclusive of people of all ages we will continue to deliver the agenda set out in Lifetime Homes, Lifetime Neighbourhoods.10 This will involve publishing a report on lifetime neighbourhoods and implementation and holding regional roadshows to promote the principles of lifetime homes. To assist local areas, we will provide practical guidance for local authorities in turning existing neighbourhoods into lifetime neighbourhoods and promote ideal design through eco-towns.
On 7 July we appointed a new innovation panel of top architects and specialists. They will take on the challenge of making sure homes of the future meet the needs of our ageing population. They will gather good practice from across Europe, putting together new and creative proposals to help put us at the forefront of housing for older people.
Although people are less likely to become a victim of crime in later life, they often report greater fear of crime. They are also more vulnerable to the effects of certain crimes, including burglary.11 We have invested significant sums in tackling burglary and this has contributed to a 55 per cent reduction since 1997.
We know that there is still more work to do, which is why we have announced that we are investing an additional £15 million in Securing Homes: Action Against Burglary12 for 2009/10. This programme is relevant to the whole population, but will focus help on groups who are particularly concerned about burglary, including older people. As part of the programme, we will work with Age Concern and Help the Aged to provide crime prevention advice and train handypersons, health and social care workers to offer home security advice to people they visit. We will work with water and energy companies to help cut down on bogus callers, and provide a £6 million Safer Homes Fund for third sector organisations to bid for funding to improve home security of people of vulnerable groups.
We have a number of initiatives to enable people to continue to travel and remain part of their community when they no longer drive or have impaired mobility. We have already provided free off-peak bus travel for all people over 60.
We are improving the accessibility of all public transport. All new rail vehicles must be accessible to everybody and all existing rail vehicles will have to meet accessibility standards by 1 January 2020. Over a third of the national fleet is already accessible and many older vehicles have been refurbished to these standards. As part of the Railways for All Strategy,13 we have also created a £370 million Access for All fund, for improving access at railway stations, including providing step-free access at 145 stations by 2015. Additionally all buses and coaches used on local scheduled services must meet accessibility standards by 2017. Sixty-two per cent of buses have already been made accessible.
To increase the transport options available within communities, we are relaxing restrictions on the sizes of vehicles that may be used under community transport permits and allowing drivers of community bus services to be paid. We are promoting car sharing as part of the Smarter Choices initiative, publishing best practice guidance in Making Car Sharing and Car Clubs Work and encouraging local authorities to include car management schemes, in their local transport plans.
We are reforming the Blue Badge Scheme (disabled persons parking) to enable people with the most severe but temporary mobility problems that last at least one year and individuals with severe mental disabilities to qualify for a badge.
The driving for life package will promote refresher training from specifically qualified driver trainers. We will also increase the provision of mobility services by exploring options to add to the existing mobility centres to provide advice and support to older drivers around adaptations and driving safely in later life. We will expand the support available to those who stop driving and start using other transport means by providing training on making the most of public transport.
To support communities in designing transport solutions, we will develop a resource guide later this year to promote car-sharing schemes, for example, car volunteer services. We will explore alternatives to the national concessionary fares scheme. We will raise awareness of different transport options, particularly for people living in rural areas. These options include community bus services that are available on request rather than to a set timetable or route.
Q9. When you stopped driving, what helped you stay mobile and active in your community? What options would have helped?
We will promote positive images of ageing to tackle outdated perceptions of later life and older people, both in communities and the national and local media. In particular we support UK Older People’s Day as a national celebration of the contribution that older people make to society. The theme in 2009 is ‘bringing people together’, focusing on building links between people from different generations.
“We need images of older people being normal not ‘sweet’ or frail, casually included in adverts and publications.” Individual respondent to HMG, Preparing for our Ageing Society; A Discussion Paper (2008).
“We need images of older people being normal not ‘sweet’ or frail, casually included in adverts and publications.”
We will promote intergenerational activity through the £5.5 million Generations Together programme. This will provide funding for 12 local areas to work with the third sector on projects to break down barriers and challenge negative stereotypes, creating at least 20,000 volunteering opportunities. The successful bidders and details of the projects will be announced shortly.
To build on this we will explore how we can enable retired people and older workers to mix with younger people and learn new skills while passing on their own skills and experience including career advice. This intergenerational activity and sharing of experiences could help develop children’s career aspirations.
Q10. We want to improve attitudes towards ageing across society. What more could be done to challenge outdated stereotypes and tackle negative perceptions about being old? Can you share good examples of where this is already happening in your local community?
Volunteering benefits individuals and communities. We provide funding to support Community Service Volunteers, including specific funding to link retired people to volunteering placements. In May 2009 we announced investment to deliver training to volunteer managers. This will contribute to more inclusive volunteer recruitment practices.
We will create more volunteer opportunities and encourage more people to become volunteers and carry out civic duties in their community. We will consult on whether to change or abolish the current age limit on jury service and will publish a consultation paper in 2009.
People who volunteer in later life tend to have started when they were at work.14 To encourage volunteer activity we will target information on volunteering at those individuals approaching retirement, linking up with the community-based pre-retirement courses. Following the 2008 consultation Towards a strategy to support volunteering in health and social care, we will develop a new strategy to support volunteers for all ages across health and social care, to be published later this year.
We will identify opportunities to promote volunteering to people in their later years, for example through trade unions, pension providers and company pension newsletters. We will continue to review uptake of volunteering opportunities. We will bring together a new advisory group to inform work in this area.
Alongside the Local Government Information Unit we will support studies of timebank systems that could enable people, young and old, to provide informal support to older people in their communities. A timebank system would allow people to volunteer and receive credits which could be cashed in to get help from others when they are older. People could volunteer to help in any area, from odd jobs to language teaching. This has already been tested in LinkAge Plus pilots in Lancaster, Gateshead and Salford, but more work is needed to fully assess their impact.
