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| Research and policy
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| Latest research and policy about ageing
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| Older women are more vulnerable to financial difficulties than older men, with both their employment history and family circumstances impacting on ability to save. Read more |
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| Publication | Ageing Better | 6 December 2017 |
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| The dynamics of paid and unpaid activities among people aged 50-69 in Denmark, France, Italy, and England |
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| Di Gessa G and Grundy E, Research on Aging, 39(9) October 2017 |
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| The pressure to extend working lives may restrict older people’s ability to take part in other worthwhile activity such as informal caring or formal volunteering, but this relationship may vary from country to country -affected by social and economic policies, service provision and local norms and values. This study, using longitudinal data from ELSA and SHARE, confirms that paid work in older age is negatively associated with formal and informal involvement and that, in all countries wealthier and healthier older people are more likely to volunteer. Only in England are older women more likely than men to participate in formal volunteering activities. |
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| Gender and relationship status interaction and likelihood of return to work post-retirement |
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| Settels J and McMullin J, Canadian Journal on Aging, 36(3) September 2017 |
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| What factors influence a return to work after retirement? Earlier studies have suggested that early retirees and people with a higher socio-economic status in terms of occupation, education and financial security are more likely to return to paid employment. This Canadian study suggests that older men in a relationship are more likely to return to work after retirement, while the opposite is true for women. |
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| Addressing worklessness and job insecurity amongst people aged 50 and over in Greater Manchester |
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| Centre for Ageing Better – 14 November 2017 |
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| This report calls for a radical rethink to tackle chronic worklessness experienced by the over 50s, with data showing this age group experience an ‘unemployment trap’ – they are more likely to be out of work than younger age groups, and once unemployed they struggle more than younger jobseekers to get back into employment. |
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| Returns to work after retirement: a prospective study of unretirement in the United Kingdom |
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| Platts L, Corna L, Worts D et al – October 2017 |
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| Using the British Household Panel Survey, and following participants into Understanding Society, this study undertook survival analysis to investigate retirement reversals among Britons aged 50–69 years who were born in 1920–1959. |
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| Creating a ‘Career MOT at 50’: Helping people keep working and save for later life |
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| Age UK – October 2017 |
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| Age UK commissioned YouGov to conduct polling exploring the idea of a ‘career MOT at 50’: whether or not people wanted it and what should be discussed in it. This paper aims to start a discussion about how such a service should be designed and implemented, and how people can be encouraged to save more into their private pension. |
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| Homes, neighbourhoods and communities |
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| Off the radar? Addressing housing disrepair to improve health in later life |
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| Adams S M, Working with Older People, 21 (4) Volume 2017 |
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| While the risk of poverty is proportionately greater among renters, the vast majority of households aged 65 and over living in non-decent homes (79%), are owner-occupiers. Warm, safe, suitable housing underpins health and wellbeing, particularly in later life when people spend an increasing amount of time at home. Despite this, and a past history of government interventions to improve housing stock, virtually the only source of government funded, means tested, financial help at present is the Disabilities Facilities Grant (DFG) which enables disabled people of all ages (but predominantly older people) to live independently at home. |
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| Green space and cognitive ageing: A retrospective life course analysis in the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936 |
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| Cherrie MPC, Shortt NK, Mitchell RJ et al, Social Science and Medicine, 196 January 2018 |
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| This study, which examined the association between lifetime availability of public parks and cognitive ageing using data from the 1936 Lothian Birth Cohort, found that the provision of local park space in both childhood and adulthood was important in explaining the change in cognitive function in later life. The association between childhood and adulthood park availability and cognitive scores was strongest for women and those in the lowest socioeconomic groups. Hence, greater neighbourhood provision of public parks from childhood through to adulthood may help to slow down the rate of cognitive decline in later life. |
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| Life in the rental market |
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| Generation Rent – 12 November 2017 |
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| This report examines the future for older renters in England. It estimates that by 2035, the number of households of retirement age in the private rented sector will nearly treble. |
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| The role of home adaptations in improving later life |
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| Centre for Ageing Better – 28 November 2017 |
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| A new report finds that making small changes to older people’s homes, such as installing handrails, ramps and level-access showers could play a significant role in relieving pressure on the NHS and social care and reduce costs by millions of pounds each year. |
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| Sources of unsafe primary care for older adults: a mixed-methods analysis of patient safety incident reports |
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| Cooper A, Edwards A, Williams H et al, Age and Ageing, 46 (5) September 2017 |
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| Two to three percent of all primary care encounters in the UK result in a ‘patient safety incident’, 4% of which may cause serious harm. It is estimated that 170,000 older adults per year in the UK may receive primary health care that causes death or severe adverse physical, or psychological, outcomes. In this study of 1,591 primary care patients, the main source of unsafe care was found to be in the prescribing, dispensing and administering of medication, followed by communication problems, particularly across care boundaries (hospital /GP/care home). Clinical decision-making errors were the ones most likely to result in serious patient harm. |
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| Will the cap fit? What the government should consider before introducing a cap on social care costs |
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| Independent Age – 3 November 2017 |
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| This report argues that introducing a cap on social care costs could bring much needed clarity and simplicity to the care and support system. It presents new insights on the impacts that different approaches to introducing a cap, and changing the means-test in England’s publicly-funded system of social care, could have on pensioner households who need care. |
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| Saving social care: a fair funding settlement for the future |
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| Independent Age – 13 November 2017 |
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| This report examines four options for the future of social care funding: means testing Winter Fuel Payment, scrapping the triple lock on the State Pension, increasing National Insurance contributions and an increase in inheritance tax. It estimates that a rise in National Insurance contributions by one per cent would immediately raise up to £5 billion towards social care funding. When compared with other options for filling the funding gap, it tested as the most progressive and politically achievable option. |
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| Who are the baby boomers of the 1960s? |
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| Young A and Tinker A, Working with Older People, 21(4) 2017 |
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| 'Baby boomers’ often refers to the generation born, after the Second World War, between 1946 and 1964. In the UK there was a spike in births in 1946 followed by a fall and a broad bulge in the 1960s. This article looks at the characteristics of the later bulge of UK ‘baby boomers’, born in the 1960s and now approaching older age. With higher rates of childlessness and divorce, they are more likely to be living alone. Although the prevalence of disability, affecting activities of daily living, is lower than for previous cohorts, the 60s boomers are likely to spend a higher proportion of their lives with at least one chronic condition. Despite high levels of home ownership and increased rates of employment in older age they are likely to be less wealthy than previous cohorts. |
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| Disability trends among older adults in ten European countries over 2004-2013 |
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| Verropoulou G and Tsimbos C, Ageing and Society, 37 (10) November 2017 |
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| Using data from the Survey of Health Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) between 2004 and 2013, this article identifies a general improvement, across Europe, in the less severe forms of disability measured by mild/moderate activity restriction or functional limitation, especially for men and women aged 65 and over. For severe disability there is no obvious trend across Europe and trends are often linked to changes in the number of chronic conditions. |
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| The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel: international retirement migration on film |
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| Bell C, Ageing and Society, 37 (10) November 2017 |
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| “For a generation that grew up in a consumerist culture, upward mobility in the senior life stage has become a purchasable commodity through exodus to a developing country.” With reference to the two Best Exotic Marigold Hotel films, this article looks at the growing phenomenon of international retirement migration (IRM) for a generation with typically better health and longer life expectancy than previously. |
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| Caregiving, volunteering or both? Comparing effects on health and mortality using census-based records from almost 250,000 people aged 65 and over |
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| O'Reilly D, Rosato M, Ferry F et al, Age and Ageing, 46(5) September 2017 |
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| Caregiving and Volunteering may separately, and together, contribute to lower mortality risk. This study of quarter of a million over 65s in Northern Ireland identifies the particular value of ‘light’ caring. Other findings include caregivers and volunteers are, on average, younger than those who do not participate while caregiving intensity is inversely related to volunteering. |
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| Longer lives: 2017 annual update |
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| Public Health England – 7 November 2017 |
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| Longer Lives highlights levels of premature mortality across local authorities in England. The latest data for 2014 to 2016 presents premature mortality rates for the most common causes of death in England, including heart disease and stroke, cancer, lung disease, liver disease, and injury. |
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| State of the nation: older people and malnutrition in the UK today |
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| Malnutrition Task Force and Age UK – 15 November 2017 |
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| This report highlights the scale of malnutrition in later life in the UK and how it can seriously affect an older person’s health and wellbeing and increase hospital admissions and long-term health problems. |
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| Read more > |
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| Calling time: addressing ageism and age discrimination in alcohol policy, practice and research |
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| International Longevity Centre - UK – 20 November 2017 |
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| This report has found that ageism and age discrimination in alcohol policy, practice and research is denying older people the treatment they need to recover from harmful drinking. |
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| Read more > |
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The Centre for Ageing Better received £50 million from the Big Lottery Fund in January 2015 in the form of an endowment to
enable it to identify what works in the ageing sector by bridging
the gap between research, evidence and practice.
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