To put it bluntly, declining fertility rates combined with longer life expectancy mean there are fewer children and young people as a percentage of the population…and a growing percentage of older people. The UK is faced with an ageing population. The age differentiation in the UK, in percentage of population, is expected to change as follows:-

The effect of this is that there will be a growing burden on the working population to meet the demands of older people for facilities such as social services, medical services and hospitals. With pressure on the ability to fund pensions, the Coalition Government formed in 2010 has done away with the default retirement age of 65, meaning employers cannot force an employee to retire unless they are clearly no longer able to do the job. Meanwhile, the age of entitlement to the state pension is set to rise to 66 after 2018.

Longer life expectancy is equally likely to fuel the increase in one-person households – eg: widowed older women. However, it is equally likely to fuel an increase in extended families with perhaps as many as 4 generations under one roof. Julia Brannen (2003) uses the term ‘pivot generation’ to describe generations sandwiched between younger and older

generations and attempting to service both. Eg: the grandmother who provides child care to her daughter’s children while caring for frail, elderly parents.

However, some older people find themselves without family or friends to provide care and struggle to pay for themselves, managing as best they can.

The Older Person, Work & Pensions

Alan Walker & Tina Maltby (2008) identify age discrimination in the labour market and pensions as key social policy issues affecting older people.

They state that people age 50-60 face discrimination in the labour market from employers  who believe that  older workers will struggle  to adapt to new technologies. While there is little research evidence to support this ‘urban myth’, it nonetheless limits the opportunities open to older workers.

The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations (2006) introduced regulations against age discrimination in employment and training; and the Coalition Government’s 2011 abolition of the default retirement age of 65 means, theoretically, that older people can carry on working until they choose not to or their health prevents them.

According to the Office of National Statistics (2011), many older people are indeed taking the opportunity to carry on working. The ONS reported that, from October to December 2010, there were 270,000 full-time workers in the UK aged over 65. This accounted for 2.7% of the total population in that age group. This compared with 106,000 (1.2%) in January to March 2001. In the same period, there were 600,000 people aged 65 and over who were working part-time, some 6.1% of the age group. There were 306,000 part-time workers, 3.4% of the age group, in the first three months of 2001. In total, there were 870,000 workers aged over 65 and they made up 3% of the entire UK workforce - double the proportion of the first three months of 2001.

However, some older workers continue working from need, rather than choice because their retirement savings are insufficient, perhaps because of periods of unemployment during their working life. Others, unable to work, are dependent on income from the state – eg: pensions and disability benefits. Around 20% of people on pensions are estimated to be affected by poverty.

The Older Person’s Experience

How an ‘older person’ experiences ‘old age’ seems to depend on how they see themselves - - ie: ‘young old’  or ‘old old’.  Clearly everyone over 65 is not going to experience life similarly. As Sarah Harper (1997) has pointed out, life for a recently-retired married man of 65 is very different to life for a frail widowed woman in her 90s.

Nonetheless older people of all ages are fitter and more healthy than ever before.

It also needs to be noted that retired and semi-retired people all too often do give services as well as receive them.

For example-

• Older people often provide informal (and unpaid) child care
• Much of the work in charitable organisations – such as Age Concern! – is carried out by volunteers, the majority of whom are retired

Due to social and medical advances a very substantial number of older people are able to live independently – ie: on their own – well into their seventies and even eighties. The number of elderly people who live in residential care homes or nursing homes is relatively small.

In 2001 around 75% of people ≤90 in the UK were living in private households. Of those who elected to receive local authority home help only 1% were aged 65-69 and only 18% were 85 or older (Maria Evandrou, 2006).

3 Types of Resources

Sara Arber & Jay Ginn (1992) identified 3 types of resources older people need access to if they are to continue to live independently in the community (which many do):-

1. Material Resources

• Income (eg: pension, share dividends)
• Savings
• Housing
• Car Ownership

2. Caring Resources

Access to supportive care

• In own household
• In the community
• From the state
   

3. Health Resources

• Own good health
• Physical ability
• Able to provide own self-care – eg: bathing, walking outside the home

Ginn & Arber note class, gender and ethnicity all affect someone’s chance of having each type of resource – and, thus, their independence, wellbeing and opportunities for full participation in social life. The researchers found gender differences, with older women being less well off than older men in terms of each type of resource.

Social Trends, 2008