On his 90th Birthday George Bernard Shaw, one of the founders of the Fabian
society, was interviewed by a young journalist who took leave of him by
expressing the hope that he would be able to interview the old man again
when he was 100 years old.

Shaw replied “I don’t see why not, you look healthy enough to me!”

There was no way Shaw was going to allow his old age to be treated as an
interlude between work and death.

He demanded to be treated as an equal by everyone.

Inequality and discrimination against older people is damaging for both
individuals and society as a whole and we must end it.

For those of us in the Fabian Society, the Labour Party and on the wider Left,
promoting greater equality and tackling injustice is central to our politics.

Whether it was Annie Besant campaigning for women’ rights; Sidney and
Beatrice Webb arguing for collective provision for welfare benefits; Nye Bevan
creating the National Health Service; landmark equality legislation during the
Wilson years or lifting millions out of poverty over the last 11 years - equality
and social justice are our core values.

And equality is a dividing line in politics, the Right do not seek equality as a
goal. They seek individual opportunity and laws blind to difference. They do
not value a more equal society as a core principle.

The Left may passionately argue about how fast or far it is possible to do
things at a particular time, but we believe that these values are there to steer
a course by in a world which is constantly changing.

In his 1956 book The Future of Socialism Anthony Crosland said “Equality is
important not just for reasons of social justice but also because it reduces
conflicts”.

Inequality he argued divides people, damages cohesion, and creates social
tension. A more equal society is not about creating some sort of conformist
Maoist stereotype, but about a broader equality that goes beyond equal
economic opportunity to a wider ability to share a role in society where we
can all feel valued for what we are, young or old.

The adherence of the Left to equality has been misconceived as being all
about rights for minorities rather than rights for all.

Age equality is important because it affects us all male or female, black or
white, whatever our sexuality. We all age and most of us will grow old.

Traditionally the Left have focused on maximising life chances: by Sure Start,
better schools, advancing skills and opportunities for higher education, by
getting young people access to decent housing and jobs through the New
Deal and Job Centre Plus and other programmes.

It is all about increasing the life chances of children and young adults, before
they reach the age of 30 because it has been seen as the best chance to give
them a chance in society. Indeed in many ways Tony Blair’s “education,
education, education” was not New Labour but was a traditional left view that
early life chances are central to our purpose.

But life chances don’t end a 30.

Nor do they end at 60. Retirement is no longer a denouement. In years to
come most people will spend as much of their life retired as they do working.

Equality and opportunity matter for older people too. And older people aspire
to a better life.

Today I will argue there is a moral imperative for age equality if we are to
adapt to the major demographic changes accruing in our society.

To achieve this we dispense with old prejudices and must recognise that
dramatic demographic shifts in our society require a new more positive
language about old age.

The government has an opportunity to set out a new agenda to show that the
value of equality is important not just for the young but for everyone.

Demographic Change

In the years to come, creating equality for all, regardless of age will be more
important than ever before.

The reason is clear.

In the next couple of decades the greatest challenges facing any Government
will be tackling climate change, defeating terrorism and dealing with
demographic change.

The last of these three may not attract column inches in newspapers, but it is
going to be a major issue for all of us.

Some simple facts illustrate these tectonic shifts.

* Last year, for the first time ever, there were more pensioners than
children under-16 in Britain.

* In 1950 there were 8 people working for every pensioner. This year, there
are 4 workers for every pensioner. By 2050 there will be 2 workers for
every pensioner.

* This year there are 10,000 people are aged 100 or over and the Queen
sends many of them a birthday card. By 2050 there will be 250,000
centenarians and King William V is likely to be sending 10,000 cards a
month.

Longer life spans are also affecting the nature of families.

A 52 year old women maybe looking forward to playing with her new
grandchild but she may also be having conversations with her 75 year old
mother about the care they will be able to provide for her 95 year old
grandmother.

That sort of experience is not rare today but it will be common to millions of
families in the future.

And that has implications for public policy. Not just for time off for family
duties but for long term care of the elderly.

Expectations

And together with longer lives and longer retirements people have rising
expectations for later life.

The baby boomer generation, many of whom are turning 65, are reshaping
the notion of age.

They’ve grown up taking the benefits of the welfare state as a right and they
expect good service from it.

On average they are healthier and wealthier.

Many are retiring on good final salary schemes.

With the over-50s already controlling an estimated 80% of the country’s
wealth, companies are increasingly recognising the power of the commercial
grey pound.
 
Longer lives must be celebrated, but an older society has a price – the Kings
Fund have suggested that by 2026 we may need to double spending on
caring for people with dementia to nearly £35 billion a year.

These are big challenges.

But there are real benefits and opportunities to.

Let us remember some of the exceptional achievements of people in old age:
* Fuaja Singh ran the London marathon aged 93, in a record time –  albeit a
record for the over 90’s!
* Doris Lessing, won the noble prize for literature at 88.
* Nelson Mandela cast his first vote at 75, subsequently served as president
and celebrates his 90th birthday on Friday.
* Less attractively, Papa Doc ruled Haiti when in his 80’s, and we all wish
Robert Mugabe had retired years ago.

I mention exceptional people because they are important in challenging
stereotypes about the elderly and because they reinforce the argument that
offered the opportunity, older people too can flourish.

Millions of older people, living more ordinary lives are able and willing to
contribute to society.

Volunteering, working, passing on skills and expertise, caring, looking after
children… and yes writing prize winning books, leading a country justly or
running a marathon.

Indeed in a society where we say that with rights come responsibility, the
question of contribution and responsibility has been raised by Baroness Julia
Neuberger in her challenging recent book Not Yet Dead .

She asks whether we should expect more from older people, questioning
whether we ever cease to be citizens with responsibilities as well as rights.

It is right to ask that question, because as our society ages we will rely
evermore on the vital contributions of older members.

The potential of today’s older people is greater than ever.

Why Equality is important

Demographic change provides greater need than ever for age equality.

But there are principled reasons for it too.

Professor John Grimely Evans tells us that age is just a number, we all age at
different rates.

Some 60 years olds are fitter than those ten or even twenty years younger.

This is not to deny the effects of ageing, but it is more complex and more
textured than we often let others believe.

Equally academics such as Professor Sandra Fredman have been quick to
point out the failed moral arguments around ageing.

She demolishes the claim that older people deserve less from society because
they have had “a fair innings”.

Such an argument is often used to justify exclusion of older people from the
work place – to make way for younger people.

Not only is it morally wrong, it is practically wrong.

For instance countries with higher levels of older people working have been
shown to have high levels of employment amongst younger people.

If it is wrong to discriminate on grounds of race, sex, sexual orientation, then
it must also be wrong to discriminate on the grounds of age.

Language

Changing this is not easy, and it takes time.

Forty years ago, racism and sexism were too often the acceptable face of
prejudice.

Today, it is ageism that is the acceptable face of prejudice.

And the way we speak about age shows up the old prejudices.

And some of them go back centuries.

Shakespeare’s 7 ages of man is often quoted:

By the sixth decade this confident man has been reduced to “a lean and
slippered pantaloon” while the seventh decade marks “second childishness …
sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, san everything!”

Four hundred years have passed since these lines were written but the
stereotypical image of ageing has not changed significantly.

Judgements and stereotypes are reflected in cultural expression from “one
foot in the grave” to “over the hill” or a “good innings”.

These assumptions in part reflect a fear of growing older.

But such fears can be exacerbated by a of lack contact across the
generations.

Changing family patterns and the development of age-segregated activities
can contribute to a lack of interaction between young and old.

This is not some broken society but a complex trend.

So we need to combat misunderstandings and seek to build bridges between
the generations.

Progress – Equalities Bill – Employment Equality

The need for a new strategy for an ageing society does not start from a blank
canvass.

The new Equality Bill provides a valuable framework for a fairer future, based
on the belief that equality is necessary.

For society, for a prosperous economy and for individuals so that all can
flourish.

The Bill will outlaw age discrimination by those providing goods, facilities and
services in the future.

We will consult further to allow businesses and public bodies to prepare, but
our aim is clear:

Age discrimination is unacceptable in a modern and progressive Britain.

Age equality provides challenges.

Equality in health and long term care will not occur overnight, the investment
and effort to equalise care for older people will be a long term and expensive.
But it is right to do it.
 
The Bill builds on the Employment Equality Age Regulations that have already
banned age discrimination in the workplace.

And although we can take confidence from this protection, we need to think
harder about what happens next…we should:

- Consider work as a flexible option throughout life
- Claim as our ambition the end of default retirement ages
- And accept people want to make an active contribution in retirement

Why wouldn’t they?

As Professor John Hills said to me recently “To be condemned to the scrap
heap is a terrifying way for society to use one of its wisest resources”.

A strategy for an ageing society

In April 2005 the Government published the first strategy for older people and
an ageing society in “Opportunity Age - meeting the challenges of ageing in
the 21st century”.

This included specific commitments for legislative change and innovation in
service delivery and many have already been put in place.

Today, I can announce we will be refreshing that strategy paper.

In the Autumn we will begin a widespread consultation about how our society
should meet the challenges of demographic change. 

The aim is to produce an updated strategy paper next spring.

It will be built around our public service agreement, PSA 17, which requires all
public bodies to “tackle poverty and promote greater independence and well-
being in later life”.

This PSA has provided a strong framework, obliging Government and Local
Authorities to work together to deliver this objective.

Now we need to be more ambitious, recognising the need for cultural change
and that age equality requires more than just Government action.

Of course, the Government has an important role to play
* Providing strategic leadership
* Embedding age equality in public and local services
* And legislating where necessary

But we must motivate individuals, businesses, voluntary organisations, local
authorities, retailers, designers and many more if we are to change attitudes
and behaviours.

A narrow political reading of the challenge is not an option.

The Five Giants

In 1942, William Beveridge – the architect of the welfare state – spoke about
five giants that threatened people’s independence and well being: want,
disease, ignorance, squalor and idleness.

His radical proposals, taken forward by the Post war Atlee Administration,
created a modern welfare state that sought to empower people to slay the
five Giants.

But times have changed.

Today, our ageing population presents us with five new Giants.

They are: Poverty; Loneliness; Frailty; Discrimination and; Fear

These are the barriers that can turn later life into an endurance.

Without radical action, these five Giants could become stronger as our
population ages.

We revitalise our strategy to  defeat these Giants.

Poverty

The first Giant is Poverty.

The legacy of Thatcher’s Britain was a country where pensioner poverty
peaked at 40%.

We have started to change that.

After changes in pension law, the statistics show that pensioners are now less
likely to be poor than the population as a whole.

Initiatives such as Pension Credit have improved the lives of millions of senior
citizens across the country. 

Many are:
* Able to do more because an extra £30 or £40 a week can go a long way;
* getting out by travelling free; and
* enjoying more leisure time, soon to include swimming for free.

And our historic reforms of the State and private pension landscape will
enable millions of future pensioners to have a better standard of living.

From 2010, the State Pension will recognise the contribution of those who
take time off to bring up children or care for a relative, not just those who
work.

In just 2 years time, the number of women reaching state pension age
entitled to a full Basic State Pension will double to 75% and by 2025 this will
reach 90%, equality with men.

We have legislated to re-establish the link with earnings, removed by Mrs
Thatcher in 1980 and to be restored by Labour in the next parliament.

This will mean the Basic State Pension is worth more than twice as much in
2050 as it would have been otherwise.

Following the introduction of auto-enrolment in 2012, saving in an
occupational pension will become the norm and it will become more attractive
as individual’s savings will be matched £ for £ by their employer and tax
relief.

This is a quiet revolution in pensions built on renewed confidence and a
consensus for change.

But the recent rises in energy prices show the continued need to provide
support for the poorest.

So the Winter Fuel Payment will rise this year and we are working with the
energy companies to provide more support with fuel bills.

But on its own, alleviating material poverty is not enough. 

Discrimination

The second giant is discrimination. 

A recent survey 62% of the over-50s believe they are turned down for a job
because are too old.

A quarter of managers in a survey by the Chartered Institute of Professional
Development had discriminated on the grounds of age.

It’s not difficult to find high profile examples, such as the air-brushing of older
presenters from the BBC’s news schedule.

But it is not all bleak.

I was at Heritage Glass in Shrewsbury recently where the oldest salesman is
73 and the youngest 60. 

They had these jobs because it was good for business. They sell glass very
successfully.
 
Indeed 1.3 million people are working beyond State Retirement Age.

Some employers, such as BT and HBOS have introduced flexible retirement
ages.

Others, including B&Q, and GlaxoSmithKlien have adopted genuinely age
neutral employment policies.

Through the Government’s Age Positive campaign, the new code of practice
on age diversity and employment, the new deal for 50+ and the new
equalities legislation we are encouraging changes in attitudes as well as laws.

But there is more to do, we need to see at least four things.

Firstly we need to smooth the transition between work and retirement.

That means that whilst nobody should ever be compelled to work beyond the
state retirement age, they should be offered the chance to work longer if they
want to.

Secondly, we must enable people to gear down at work without facing an
unmanageable drop in income.

The cliff edge of retirement, the sudden stopping of work can kill people.
Heart attack risks in men rises in the 2 years after they stop working.

A phased change over time can save lives.

Thirdly we need to recognise that demographic change will mean more
people have family or caring duties but want to continue working flexibly, so
we need to help them stay in employment and continue to look after their
grandchildren, or care for an elderly relative.

Some employer’s organisations have resisted the need for a flexible
retirement policy, arguing that there is a need for new blood in employment.

But the better employers are already recognising that change in the default
age of 60 or 65 is inevitable - not now but in time.

In fact, an age diverse workforce is good for business.  Retirees can cost over
£8,000 to replace through recruitment and training new staff, so a lower
turnover can reduce overheads.

Fourthly we must also invest in the skills of older people.

We must challenge the lazy assumption that older people do not have the
capability to work or that it is not worth retraining them because the benefits
are somehow less.

A recent report by Fiona Eldridge and Alan Tuckett for NIACE showed that
older people often want to retrain.

Ending discrimination brings real benefits for businesses.

For the individual, the key is choice.

If we give people choice about whether they want to work or not, then we
create a better society, improve our economy and improve our health

Frailty

Thirdly the giant of frailty.

We can think of the old person uneasily shuffling around on a Zimmer frame,
but we can also see the many older people who continue to live life to the
full, staying involved in their community, walking to the shops or playing golf
despite the onset of health problems.

As I have outlined, age does not lead to a uniform decline in health or ability.

All older people are not infirm.

But frailty, both mental and physical will affect people at different ages.

The Government has a wide agenda on this:
* personal budgets are being rolled out across the country;
* we are currently consulting on a new strategy for carers; and
* we are reviewing our long term social care agenda.

These changes seek to give more power to individuals, a bigger voice for
users, and provide services more tailored to their specific needs.

For instance, Personal budgets will provide choice and control for the
individual and aim to keep people independent in their homes and
communities, giving people a better quality of life.

Let me just say something about dignity in death.

This is an important issue.
 
When it comes to the twilight of life, it is Baroness Neuberger who again
challenges our understanding, she states:

“how little space we allow for people to listen to older people making
sense of their lives .… because we all need to make sense of our lives”

As we need to respect people when they are living, we also need to provide
dignity for people as they die.

The availability of palliative care is one of the most important things we need
to improve.

That’s not just about building hospices. Allowing people to continue to have
autonomy and independence - in their home providing them with comfortable
and familiar surroundings where possible is what many people faced with
death want.

There are no easy answers.

We have committed to double spending on end of life care by 2010.

And Ivan Lewis be launching our new End of Life Care strategy tomorrow.

Fear

Fourthly we must combat the giant of fear, so that people feel safer in their
homes and in their neighbourhoods.

If you believe the newspapers many older people feel threatened by young
people in our towns.

But encouraging more intergenerational contact can pay dividends.

As an older person involved in the Veterans Reunited programme
commented:

“The older generation actually sometimes thinks of young people as all
daredevils and yobbos, but mixing with them, it has completely turned
around…they give you respect…they will listen to you…it enabled you
to look for the good in them.”

And older people could be helped to get out and about by basic things such
as creating focal points in public parks or simply putting more benches or
public toilets in town centres.

We also need to look at the big picture - to tackle anti-social behaviour, put
more police on the streets and tackle not only crime but almost as insidiously,
the fear of crime.

The Government has a wide agenda on this and it must continue to take into
account the needs and concerns of older people.

Getting older means that it can be more difficult to move about the house,
but we want our homes to be places that help us adapt as we age – safe and
familiar havens.

Often it doesn’t take much.

Someone to help change a light bulb or fixing a grab rail.

So through our Housing strategy, we are extending handyman services to
offer that bit of extra help.

And in the longer term we will build lifetime homes and neighbourhoods that
adapt to the challenges of ageing.

Free bus passes are giving many pensioners autonomy, letting them get out
and about when they would otherwise be stuck at home.

Everyone should have the opportunity to stay involved in their communities. 

Loneliness

Finally, we must tackle the giant of loneliness.

Loneliness is probably the biggest challenge demographic change brings.

An Age Concern report highlighted a man whose wife had recently passed
away said of loneliness “it’s worse than the fear I had of being bombed during
the war.

But it doesn’t have to be like that, I recently visited Age Concern centres in
Southwark and in Port Talbot and saw at first hand the positive impact these
projects can have on people.

Enabling older people from the local area vital opportunities to socialise and
remain involved in the local community.

To stay mentally and physically active. 

Giving them a good reason to get up in the morning.

Over the next 15 years, the numbers of older people living alone is expected
to increase by 16%.

So we must strengthen our communities and ensure our services enable
people to remain engaged in society.

And it is incumbent on all of us, as friends, relatives or neighbours,  voluntary
groups and even businesses to ensure older people are part of society, not
relegated to the margins.

Encouraging intergenerational working is important.

Ensuring older and younger people can interact, share ideas and learning
from each other helps make our communities stronger.

Breaking down the barriers of difference – whether that be age, culture or
lifestyle.

This could be simple things such as encouraging more silver surfers to use
the internet and emails, helping older people stay in touch with relatives
overseas.

Or encouraging schools to adopt a local care home, enabling pupils to help
out and older people to share their stories.

Some of these ideas will be explored further during Older People’s Day.  The
day celebrates the achievements and contributions of older people and this
year has an intergenerational theme, to help build greater trust and
understanding between generations.

Our ambition must be no less than embedding the importance of
intergenerational work across Government.

Giving older people a stronger voice and ensuring they can participate fully in
society.

Conclusion

Each giant goes right to the heart of the equality debate.

We cannot deliver age equality if old age means a life of poverty and
loneliness or if discrimination bars older people from realising their talents.

But challenging the giants and adapting to the big demographic changes our
society will undergo in the coming decades will enable us to create a more
equal society.

Enabling people to play a vital role in our society, regardless of their age.

Recasting old age as a time of opportunity and contribution, not stagnation
and decline.

Creating a more equal society that respects and values all of its citizens.

That should be our strategy for an ageing society.

Our answer to the challenges and the opportunities of demographic change.