These changes present massive opportunities for our ageing society;
- living longer and healthier lives;
- having more flexibility about career choices and;
- creating stronger links between the age generations.
Many people however, are not preparing well for their longer lives and
employers and service providers in all sectors will now need to adapt to
the changing needs of our older population.
Government has recognised that services and existing polices now needs to
adapt to take account for the emerging ageing society. Older people
voices at local, regional and national level must be heard in order to
influence future Government decisions around service provision and policy
development
To help meet the challenges presented by our ageing society, in 2005 the
Government published “Opportunity Age – meeting the challenges of
ageing in the 21st century”, putting in place a series of
indicators to monitor performance.
Building a Society for All Ages is the Government's
strategy for how we as a society make the most of the demographic change we
are living through, and sets out our vision for a ‘society for all
ages. It develops Opportunity Age, which has now largely
been delivered.
Building a Society for All Ages sets out a coordinated
package of strategic reforms including a major programme of pension reform,
legislation to ensure age equality, and options for reform of care and
support. It also includes a programme of initiatives to enable people to
prepare for and live well in later life. This package as a whole will
support the changes that we all need to make so that we can live longer,
healthier and more active later lives.
The Elbourne Report
In May 2008, the Minister for Pensions Reform confirmed their
commitment to citizen engagement by commissioning John Elbourne to report
on ‘the current arrangements for the engagement of older
people and how these arrangements influence policy at all levels of
Government’
John Elbourne’s final report to Government made several
recommendations some of which is shown below;
- Establish a UK Advisory Forum for Older People chaired or co-chaired by
the lead government Minister for older people supported by the regional
advisory forums;
- Set up Regional Advisory Forums enhancing the roles of Government
Offices and improving communications between local, regional and national
levels;
- Regional Advisory Forums addressing the relevant finds from the Audit
commission’s Report ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’ by supporting
their respective local authorities to develop effective engagement
strategies, to ensure a true diversity of older people’s
voices are heard.
Government’s response to the John Elbourne’s report is outlined
in the Empowering Engagement: a stronger voice for older people
booklet.
To encourage the development of local and regional communication channels,
the Government is taking action and putting in place regional coordinators
to strengthen the network of local authority forums. Local and
regional communication channels are being developed to:
• identify common themes that need to be brought to the attention
of national government;
• provide direction and leadership on local and regional issues
affecting older people; and
• help to spread good practice locally and regionally.
In the region, The West Midlands Later Life Forum (WMLLF)
is now currently being set up with the support of GOWM’s regional
coordinator, to help embed issues that are affecting older people in
region. They will also ensure the views and needs of the older
generation are incorporated within future regional planning and strategy
development.
