Build Back Better and the Ageing Society
Our plan to Build Back Better, with older people, is a combination of practical projects to build new, better housing and services, and sponsoring outstanding academic research into ageing and care | Credit: Legal & General
We are determined to reduce health and longevity inequalities; support the creation of a new and better system of long-term care, and ultimately, improve the way that we look after each other as we age.
Legal & General has campaigned on Build Back Better issues for a decade, with regeneration projects across fifteen UK cities and a huge commitment to modular, low-carbon, energy-efficient housing (all our new build housing will be operational net zero carbon by 2030) as well as working to meet the housing needs of an ageing demographic.
The coronavirus has brought into sharp focus the difficulties faced by the country’s carers, formal and informal.
In broad terms, 1.8m people seek care each year and only 600,000 of them get it. Even when care need is met, funding is based on a means-tested system that is poorly understood.
The ageing society remains one of the great achievements of our time: in 50 years there will be an additional eight or nine million over 65’s and five million over 85’s.
In the UK, the development of the welfare state and the NHS has led to significantly better life expectancies. However, 70 years after their introduction, there remain distinct inequalities in Healthy Life Expectancy: for example HLE is 53.3 years in Blackpool compared to 71.9 years in Richmond-upon Thames for men and 54.2 years for women in Nottingham versus 72.2 years in Wokingham.
Our plan to Build Back Better, with older people, is a combination of practical projects to build new, better housing and services, and sponsoring outstanding academic research into ageing and care.
Over the next five years, we will build 3,000 new homes for older people in unique retirement communities focused on wellbeing and healthspan. In existing communities, we have already seen a 46% decrease in the number of planned GP visits; an 80% reduction in planned hospital admissions and the duration of stays has dropped from an average of 8-14 days to 1-2 days. Retirement village residents are also less likely to need to move into more costly institutional accommodation like care homes – research shows a 50% drop in need to do so amongst residents.
We have invested £20m into the Advanced Care Research Centre at the University Edinburgh to understand more about long-term care, and ageing.
We have also gifted £5m to the city of Newcastle to build a new model care home with infection control and the best use of materials and technology in mind.
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) also chose Legal & General this year to deploy £6 million of grant funding to early stage companies that are making a difference in the healthy ageing market.
Using this combination of practical projects and robust research, we are determined to reduce health and longevity inequalities; support the creation of a new and better system of long-term care, and ultimately, improve the way that we look after each other as we age.
Are you interested in the role of Inclusive Capitalism in Britain’s housing and cities? Join our Webinar on Wednesday 25th November at 9:30 here.
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