Published: 18 December 2009
Tackling Disadvantage in Later Life
The Equality and Human Rights Commission with the charity Age Concern & Help the Aged have presented a report to Government and shadow ministers outlining recommendations for tackling disadvantage in later life.
New findings from the organisations’ 'Just Ageing?' research indicate that inequality in old age is the result of disadvantages that have accumulated during people’s lifetimes.
These inequalities have an impact on people’s health, income, social support and employment throughout their lives.
Inequalities add up to create huge gaps in ‘life outcomes’ in later life.
Speaking at the report’s launch event, Baroness Prosser, commissioner for the Commission, and Tom Wright, Chief Executive of Age Concern and Help the Aged, said that equality of opportunity matters at every stage of life.
The research found that education in early life is one of the strongest and most consistent influences of outcomes in old age.
A person has a much higher chance of being poor or be in worse health in later life if they do not have educational qualifications, compared to people who have a high educational attainment.
It also found that spending more years in paid work in mid-life – the working years before retirement – is insufficient to protect people against poverty in later life, due to failings in the pension system.
However, working does seem to have a positive impact on health. Being forced into an early retirement is linked to poor health for the rest of life.
Differences in life-outcomes between the genders persist throughout life.
Women live longer than men but spend more years in poor health. Women are also more likely than men to be poor when they are older.
Getting married, going through divorce or being widowed all have a significant impact on people’s life chances.
The 'Just Ageing?' programme found limited evidence that public services were having an impact on inequalities in later life.
Services should be able to narrow gaps, but there is evidence they can widen inequalities because people from poorer backgrounds are less likely to take advantage of many health services.
The report argues that the balance between public expenditure on older people and the contribution they make to society will largely depend on the extent to which people are enabled to live longer, more active, healthier and happier lives.
The report concludes with eight key insights for tackling inequalities over people’s life-course, including:
· calling for policy makers to better consider the impact of increasing longevity on increasing inequality in society
· moving away from policies that set different generations against each other
· long-term planning rather than playing to a short term agenda
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