Age management specialists in my prime have urged the government to take incisive action to encourage employers and individuals themselves to bring about swift and comprehensive change in respect of a wide range of factors which have emerged from demographic, economic and social developments. Their call accompanies in my prime’s recent response to the government consultation paper, Building a Society for All Ages which outlined proposals for future policy and initiatives across a range of issues relating to the UK’s ageing population.
Many of the proposals and initiatives in the paper are seen as being too slow in terms of the urgency of the situation, too restricted in their remit, and being introduced at a stage which is too late for many people to act upon, as Richard Ciechan, co-founder of in my prime, explains:
“The issues raised by increasing longevity have taken a long while to be acknowledged with little so far having been done in response to the inevitable course that the demographic changes are taking in terms of the levels of health, wealth and engagement people need to successfully sustain longer lives.”
“Responsibility for change must be adopted more widely. Individuals need to understand the implications of their lifestyle choices and carry out serious reality checks of their finances over their lifespan, employers need to understand both their own and their employees’ needs and not hide behind repressive legislation, and government must take a longer-term, non-partisan and more responsible approach to the issues, both as they affect people now and into the future.”
“These are not issues that should be thought of as ‘pre-retirement’. By the time people reach that stage of their lives it is very often too late to make many of the necessary changes. Health, lifestyle and financial issues must be addressed from a much earlier age. People must be made aware, and constantly reminded, that their future health and financial well-being depends on their laying down solid foundations early on.”
Commenting on the government’s paper overall, Richard Ciechan concluded,
“A serious and concerted attempt to change awareness, culture and attitudes throughout the country is needed and that will require action by government, employers, health and care providers, the financial services industry and individuals themselves. Of course, changing the detail is necessary but it all has to be put into an overall context. At a fundamental level that context requires that we clarify exactly who such initiatives are directed at. For example this report talks about “older people” yet uses the term to cover people in their fifties to those aged well over a hundred. Vaguely lumping together such an age range is unhelpful and assumes a level of similarity between individuals which simply does not exist.”
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