e-mail Paul Lewis on paul@deadline.demon.co.uk
Question: How do you improve the lives of older people? Answer: Set up a committee. It may not sound like a world shattering formula for success, but the Government has pinned its hopes on what it describes as a unique project to look at how Government policies affect older people. It has set up a Inter-ministerial group to bring together minsters from all Government departments to look at the impact of Government policies on older people. The man who chairs the Inter-ministerial group is the Minister for Social Security John Denham*. How did he see his role?
"No Government in the UK has ever set up an Inter-ministerial group of this sort. My job is to encourage my colleagues in other Government departments themselves to be thinking about the impact on older people's lives of the policies they're pursuing."
John Denham stresses he is not a minister for older people. The group was more about persuasion than criticism, a change of attitude as much as a change of policy. But he was very positive about the commitment of the Government to older people.
"Setting up the Inter-ministerial group shows that commitment. We live in a society which is ageing, but where there have been a lot of negative attitudes towards older people and towards ageing itself, a lot of talk about the burden of an ageing society. We want to get people and government to think about the opportunities of an ageing society. And that means we want older people to be able to enjoy active independent and secure lives, to have as much choice as they can about they live their lives and also for the very positive contribution they make to society to be recognised."
The record
All very well as a statement of wishes, but what has the Government done? There are two sorts of things that the Minister points to. First, he says that the Government has introduced a number of measures to help older people directly. They include
The Minister was also keen to mention things that were announced but not yet in place.
New policies
But the Inter-ministerial group is about more than lists of policies that have been implemented. It reported to the Prime Minister in July and has identified three areas where Government policies need to be developed. It calls them
Productive ageing fits in with the Government overall aims for the new welfare system which it is slowly introducing. Under the slogan 'work for those who can, security for those who cannot' the whole system of social security is being re-examined and reformed. As we have reported in Saga Magazine recently that does mean that disabled people and widows without children will have a greater responsibility to work and support themselves than they do now. Would that be extended to the basic retirement pension? John Denham had this assurance.
"The commitment we made in the Manifesto that the basic state pension would remain the foundation of retirement provision and would be increased in line with prices. That is a commitment we are going to stick to."
The issue of productive ageing will be discussed by the new high-powered Performance and Innovation Unit which is being set up in the Cabinet Office. So far, the only actual initiative to come out of this strand of the Inter-ministerial group's work is a draft Code of Good Practice to promote the employment of older people. But why had the Government turned its back on legislation to outlaw discrimination against older people in employment? The United States of America - a much less regulated country that Britain has such a law. And we have laws against discrimination on grounds of sex, race, an, recently, disability. So why not age? John Denham was less than clear about the reasons.
"The Government's judgement is that the right way to proceed at this time is to introduce a voluntary code of practice. There is a good business case not to overlook the talents of older people. The door has not been shut on going further but if you say 'what's the best way forward' our judgement is that the voluntary code is a good starting point."
Pension
When we invited you to write in with questions for John Denham most of you complained about the retirement pension - it was too low and the increases in it were not enough. And several of you specifically wanted to know why Labour had abandoned the policy it implemented when last in Government to raise the pension in line with earnings rather than with prices. On December 15 the Government published its long-awaited plans to reform pensions for the future in a Partnership in Pensions. Much of what that document set out was about younger people - helping to make sure they had adequate pensions when they retired.
John Denham admitted that most of Partnership in Pensions was about the future. But he said there were two things that would help today's pensioners.
"First over time the minimum income guarantee will rise broadly in line with earnings, that has to take account of available resources, but that’s how we believe it will rise, increasing the real value of the minimum income guarantee. Also we recognise the concerns of that group of pensioners who have relatively small amount of savings or limited amounts of occupational pension income who feel they may not benefit for the hard work and thrift they showed in their working lives and we want to bring forward proposals for that group of pensioners - either through the savings limit or the disregards on income and we’ve invited views on the most cost-effective way of meeting the concerns of that group."
And he also held out hope for those age 50 plus but who had not yet retired.
"The new state second pension will first bring with it a higher build up rate for lower earners and enhancements for moderate earners. As well as higher rebates for those who want to leave it for other pension provision."
And why did he simply not restore SERPS to the much higher value it enjoyed before it was halved and halved again by his predecessors?
"The cost of restoring SERPS to 1978 values is extremely high and because SERPS is earnings related it gives most support to those on higher earnings. When you look at pensioner incomes the really big problem is to help those on the lowest earnings to develop a good second pension and to give additional assistance to those on moderate earnings. We have designed our strategy to help those with the most difficulty in developing a good second pension to get one."
Care
Second to the amount of the pension, few issues arouse as much anxiety among people as they get older as care - what will happen to us when our health goes, when we need someone else to look after us. So far there has not been much action on care. We will have to wait and see what the Royal Commission on Long-Term Care will say when it reports later this year (1999) and the Government will also publish a Long-Term Care Charter to set standards for housing, health, and social care, and a National Strategy for Carers to, the Government says, "recognise the contribution of Britain's 6 million carers, many of them pensioners themselves". So a lot of studying is going on. Until then we will not know how the costs of care are to be met - through private insurance or through the state or through an uncomfortable mixture of the two. But one measure has been announced. The Government's White Paper Modernising Social Services, published at the end of November 1998, has as one of its themes 'promoting independence'. And the Government is giving local authorities extra money to enable them to make direct payments to older people who still live at home to help them to stay there rather than go into a home. As with all these services provided by local authorities, what you get will depend on the efficiency and imagination of your local authority. But the scheme has worked for younger people and it is a positive step to extend it to people over 65.
One of the most distressing problems of care is what happens when, after an illness or operation, a person is fit enough to be discharged from hospital but not really able to look after themselves fully at home. If they have no relatives to care for them, the local social services department is supposed to step in and help. But often they fall between the medical and the social services provision. It is a problem the Inter-Ministerial Group has recognised.
"The Department of Health is consulting on three different ways to improve the interface between the health service who says they're not ours any more and social services which says we can't cope with them. One is a closer integration of them the other is pooled budgets. There are two issues. One is to make sure the resources are there. The other is to make sure the management is there to use them properly. One of the themes that runs through a lot of what we're trying to do is the belief that we may not be spending the money that is in the system as effectively as possible."
"There will still be a need to look right across government at how other government services tie in with the care services, at how housing fits in with people's ability to live active and independent lives, how the transport system supports the sort of lives people want to live. Part of living an independent life is living in your own home and being supported. But if you do live in a care home it does not mean you don't want to live an active and independent life. Just because someone needs a level of care doesn’t meant that they couldn’t be better cared for if if the housing provision was appropriate or they couldn’t live more active lives if the transport system fitted their needs."
Pilots
And this sort of lateral thinking is at the heart of the new way of approaching ageing. All around Britain the Government has insitituted 28 pilot schemes to see how older people can be involved more. The first stage in most areas is to ask older people directly what they want. It is part of the Government's Better Government for Older People project the founding principle of which is "to improve public services for older people by better meeting their needs, listening to their views, and recognising their contribution."
From Bolton to York and in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland local older people are working together with younger ones to try out new ways of allowing them to contribute to the community and get something back from it. The projects range from teaching computer skills to improving nutrition, from befriending carers to prolonging the independence of older people. One of the biggest is in Devon and Sue Younger-Ross is in charge of it.
"It is not about service provision directly. It is about building a strategy with older people. Developing what they would like to prioritise. Each of our project activities has identified some gain for the older people. For example we are involving them in the Year of Reading, part of a lifelong learning project, so they can go into the schools and help children read it is them giving to the community."
Devon has also set up an Advisory Group of Older People - 16 local people aged 50 or more, two from each of the eight district council areas in Devon. The 16 were elected or nominated by local organisations and from among those who volunteered to serve on the group. It will advise the County Council on all aspects of the Better Government project in Devon.
Four projects run throughout the County.
Another area with a diverse programme is Newcastle-upon-Tyne in northeast England. The council was already committed to looking at improving services for older people and the Better Government initiative helped them boost their efforts. They decided to concentrate initially on the contribution which older people make to Newcastle. Their launch with banners proclaiming the value of older people was well attended. Barbara Douglas is the coordinator.
"It was a way of saying how very important older people are. The themes came form older people themselves. They have courage, you need them. You go to them in adversity, and you miss their support if they're not there. We also tried to get younger people to reflect on what sort of old age they would like. It was very powerful. Now we are committed to getting a change of attitude. If we see results by the end of the two years we will be pleased. Even big problems can be helped by a change of attitude. You don't necessarily need more resources. If we develop a new service for older people now, it would be unthinkable not to involve them. In the past we would just have done it.. We want to recognise the contribution they can make using their knowledge and experience. Services provided under this system will better meet their needs."
Proof of the pudding
These projects - and most of those in other areas which Saga Magazine contacted - are very much work in progress. It is hard to be against what they are doing, it all sounds good under the rather esoteric jargon of local government. But we will have to wait and see if it will really lead to definite and clear benefits for older people.
John Denham concluded by saying
"I will be successful when ministers in other Government departments are automatically thinking about older people's needs without any prompting from me. If you achieve that you have changed the culture across the whole of Government."
The Better Government for Older People project, the Inter-ministerial group, the commitment at the highest level both in Government and the civil service to change the whole approach to older people - seeing them (or us as I must say nowadays) not as a problem to be solved (or ignored) but as an opportunity to be taken - is a refreshing sign that this Government is committed to end discrimination against what will soon be 50pc of the population.
As with the local projects, no-one is quite sure how or when this result will be achieved. In a moment of refreshing candour, John Denham said "I hope people will see what we are doing as something positive. I am quite happy for people to say 'the proof of the pudding is in the eating'."
Whether it turns out to be Christmas pudding or Lent pie remains to be seen.
*Since this piece was written, Stephen Timms has taken over the job as Minister of State for Social Security and he is also now the chair of the Inter-Ministerial Group on Older People. John Denham has been appointed Minister of State for Health.
As part of its commitment to listening to older people the Government wants older people to contribute directly to the strategy for older people. Write to John Denham at Richmond House, 79 Whitehall, London SW1A 2NS. Or you can e-mail him at johndenham@ade003.dss.gov.uk
A summary of the Government's plans set out in Partnership in Pensions is available by ringing 0181 867 3201 or look at the full document on the Internet at the DSS site.
February 1999
e-mail Paul Lewis on paul@deadline.demon.co.uk