'Age Unlimited' - will the promise of an age-friendly society ever be realised?

By Judith Cork - 14/05/2009

 My stomach slightly fluttered with excitement.  I was at the NESTA launch event where “innovation” and “ageing society” were mouthed in the same sentence.  Sir Chris Powell’s aperitif of an introduction continued to tickle my taste buds as “revolutionary” not “evolutionary” change was promoted. 

My eyes glanced at the blurb in the handout “the search begins for the UK’s most innovative teams who have ideas with the potential to transform the working lives and livelihoods of older people.” 

Wow!  (Just to put this in context.  I have long believed that if we starved the tapeworm of ageism and negativity in our society by focusing on the positives of getting older, we could stimulate our collective creative juices into a feast of innovation and improvement.)  With my appetite whetted for the rest of the speakers that morning, I sat back to be served.

The launch of Age Unlimited was the latest initiative from NESTA (the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts).  The messages were positive “re-think, re-design” existing services, engage the user, challenge assumptions about ageing, create new systems for innovation, focus on individuals’ participation and contribution.  Money was there to be spent on two key areas.  The first, “age management,” with a call for ideas for experimenting with ways to reverse the premature exit from the workplace and extend working lives beyond the current default retirement age.  The second, “age readiness” - experimenting with new types of services to help older people transition from work to retirement and develop the necessary behaviours and attributes to be an optimal ager

Charlie Massey, Director for Ageing Society, DWP admitted quite 

frankly that innovation was not a strength for the Government (!).  

However the Government will “shortly” (no timescales mentioned) be publishing its new ageing strategy.  It will focus on four key areas, culture change, preparation for later life, participation, protection and resilience and Massey reiterated his support for the new NESTA initiative.  All good stuff, but it really needs to be.

If a 50 year old loses their job they are 8 more times less likely to find another job than a younger individual.  If you’re made redundant in Wales, for example, when 50+ you’re  more likely to die than find another job.  The latest Labour Force Survey out in April this year reveals that unemployment’s amongst the 50+ population has increased by 40%.  So much needed radical change is urgently required to address these increasingly problematic issues.

The broad range of speakers gave worthy examples of practical case studies.  Caroline Waters, Director of People and Policy, BT Group covered their employee mental health initiative reducing mental health problems by 35% in 5 years.  Journalist Rosie Boycott talked about the success of an intergenerational farm project.  “Reading grannies” was another case flagged up by innovation expert Charlie Leadbetter where English was read by “grannies” to children in Indian schools using Skype technology.

The audience had many questions for the experienced panel of speakers.  How were they to pick the right sustainable project from this “sweetshop” of initiatives?  Good question, but I was already sucking on acid drops.  The themes were just so familiar.  I’d been hearing them for years.  Was there anything new?  The whole radical recipe for change seemed to becoming a bit Delia, nice, safe and comfortable.  The potential hotpot of an Oliver-Ramsey frenetic shake- up seemed watered down somehow.  I suspect that without proper, sustainable funding we’re back to the traditional, slightly boring, meat and two veg approach to progress.  What was really being talked about was a transformation of attitudes towards ageing more akin to the Lucozade effect.  It took the brand 30 years to move its positioning, successfully, from a pick-me-up drink which replaced lost energy for children and their exhausted mothers, to a sporty energising drink for athletes and rally drivers.

But I’m being unfair.  I’ve sent the dish back without properly tasting it.  The call for ideas has only just started.  A copy of the call can be downloaded from the website http://www.nestalab.org.uk/ age-unlimited-call-for-ideas/.  The closing date for submissions is Friday 19th June, with a grant of up to £50,000 available from NESTA to organisations to enable them to realise their ideas.  I really do hope that the NESTA initiative and forthcoming Government paper can create a Red Bull effect, helping experimentation and innovation to fly and making ageing more palatable and age unlimited.  I really do.

Judith Cork runs her own consultancy, Judith Cork Consulting, focusing on the issues and opportunities arising from the ageing 

population.

www.judithcork.co.uk