Ideal Queen's Speech: Age UK calls for a Great Place to Grow Older Bill

“My Government will introduce a Bill to... help make the UK a great place to grow older. Living longer is a cause for celebration, as is our vibrant and diverse older population. This new legislation will make this possible; overcoming the current barriers faced by older people."

This is a wide-reaching cross government Bill designed to enable everyone in later life to be able to enjoy life and feel well. The Bill will allow them to feel comfortable, safe and secure at home, and have enough money to enjoy later life. It will ensure that everyone in later life can participate in their community and feel part of our wider society. To make all of this possible, all of us should receive high quality health and care services as we age.

All public services need to adjust and reform to meet the needs of an ageing population. To achieve this vision for later life, my Government will introduce a properly resourced, on-going public education campaign on how to stay as physically and mentally fit and well as possible through later life. At present, only 3% of housing in England is accessible to people with restricted mobility. To enable older people to feel safe at home, this Bill will make it a requirement for all new housing to be built to the accessible ‘lifetime’ homes standards, which means it can be easily adapted for people with reduced mobility.

With 1.6 million older people living in poverty in the UK, and 900,000 of them in severe poverty, the Bill will ensure the state pension provides a decent income for all by guaranteeing the ‘triple lock’ in legislation to maintain its value. We know the contribution older people make to the economy amounts to a massive £61 billion each year through work, caring and volunteering, but the barriers they face prevent many from having a fulfilling, independent later life. The Bill will provide access to really good training and support for older workers at risk of long-term unemployment, from day one of a Job-Seekers Allowance claim.

Loneliness has a profound impact on quality of life, with serious implications for physical and mental health, and a million older people say they are often or always lonely. The Government will ensure Health and Wellbeing Boards give increased priority to preventing and tackling loneliness in their community.

Finally, older people should be able to expect high quality health and care services that are joined up around them. We need services which look after the person, and we know that while the number of us needing care is growing, funding for social care is shrinking. My Government will introduce urgent steps to reverse the cuts to social care and give additional funds to the NHS, to meet the needs of our ageing population.

The Great Place to Grow Older Bill is centred on a vision for a world where everyone is able to love later life.”