Supporting Older People’s Contributions

Employment and training

Positive Ageing in London

17 October 2013

Demographic change

• Our ageing population means more people aged 50+ – And people are likely to work even longer

= many more older workers in the labour market!

Additional 50+workers in the labour market, 2015-25

2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 20250

200,000

400,000

600,000

800,000

1,000,000

1,200,000

1,400,000

1,600,000

1,800,000

2,000,000

Source: Age UK analysis of the Labour Force Survey, Q2 2010

Average retirement ages

Source: Office for National Statistics, analysis based on the Labour Force Survey

19841985

19861987

19881989

19901991

19921993

19941995

19961997

19981999

20002001

20022003

20042005

20062007

20082009

20102011

201258.0

59.0

60.0

61.0

62.0

63.0

64.0

65.0

66.0

64.8

62.6

Average retirement ages, 1984-2012

MenWomen

Why do people want to work longer?

1) Money – declining value of pensions, rising costs, lack of retirement provision

2) Policy changes – rising State Pension age

3) Changing attitudes – normative, and the concept of retirement becoming less clearly defined

4) Social benefits/make a contribution

Barriers to remaining in work

• Not always easy to keep working.• People face challenges, for example:

– Caring responsibilities– Lack of flexible working options– Managing a long-term health condition– Age discrimination– Other kinds of discrimination

Caring responsibilities

• Caring responsibilities can affect work– 300,000 people a year stop working to care

(mainly women)– Costs the economy£5.3 billion a year– Carers urgently needmore help and support,and understandingemployers

Flexible working

• ‘Flexible working’ means an mutual agreement to diverge from the expected/ideal working pattern

• Can include: flexi-time, home-working, term-time, compressed hours, on-call working etc.

• Important for many older workers, for example those with caring responsibilities, managing a health condition or winding down to retirement

Age UK research and report

Age UK policy report, based on academic research among 50+ workers and labour market analysis.

Available at http://www.ageuk.org.uk/professional-resources-home/policy/work-and-learning/

Key findings• Home working is particularly important• People want to work flexibly for caring, health, or other

personal reasons• 38% of 50+ workers worked flexibly in 2010, rising from 30%

in 2005• Particular barriers in accessing flexible working for carers and

the unemployed. Many employers generally resistant though.• Crucial issues for employers:

• Line managers’ attitudes to flexible work• Job design• Organisational culture

Health and work• Important that older workers and employers

can deal with any arising health problems• Government has invested in this – new Health

and Work service due to start 2014• But more in-work support is needed to make

sure people are able to work longer.

Age discrimination

• 40% of 50+ workers feel they’ve been discriminated against because of their age

• Often subconscious, but negative stereotypes of older workers still prevail

• This prevents people from getting on in work…

• …but most prevalent in recruitment

Employment support

• 50+ jobseekers face a range of barriers– Jobcentre Plus often not geared up to help – Work Programme failing 50+ long term unemployed– Ageism in recruitment stops many getting jobs– Sometimes hard to prove skills to employers and

counter the stereotypes• We’ve called on people aged 50+ to be a priority

client group for the National Careers Service• But

London Regional Policy

• London Enterprise Panel co-chaired by Deputy Mayor for Business & Enterprise

• Jobs and Growth Plan for London– Skills and employment: to ensure Londoners have

the skills to compete for and sustain London’s jobs

Over 50s Self Advocacy Employment Project

• 2008-11 in Bromley, Camden, Islington and Redbridge• Key strength – specialist support focussing on older

people• Project enabled Personal Advisers to be flexible and

tailor their support to individual needs“The project can be very much as it is needed to be, it can be very client led. I have clients who cannot read or write very well and I have clients with PhD and Masters degrees.”

Conclusion

It’s not all bad news – a growing awareness of the issues and some evidence of changing attitudes to older workers…but a very long way to go• Ageing workforce is a challenge for employers and policy makers, but also an opportunity