Silk and Tweed

Compulsory retirement still legal

Keely — Wed, 16 May 2012 09:00:26 +0000

The UK Supreme Court has recently ruled that as long as an organisation can prove a specific public interest justification (such as making it easier to recruit younger employees, being able to promote middle managers and being able to end a worker’s career with dignity), rather than just the commercial interest of the business, it is still legal to force workers to retire at the age of 65. This is despite the Government’s scrapping of the default retirement age. More on this story is available from the Daily Telegraph.

Try something new – Adult Learners’ Week

Keely — Tue, 15 May 2012 09:00:33 +0000

May 12 – 18 is 2012′s Adult Learners’ Week, and if you haven’t already done so, check to see what events are being held in your area. The purpose of the week is to inspire people to explore and continue learning, both in method and topic.

£1 billion funding gap for social investment

Keely — Mon, 14 May 2012 09:00:57 +0000

Civil Society Finance reports that there is a £1 billion gap in funding for social investment. UK organisations have met and discussed the barriers to social investment and will publish a report for Cabinet Office minister Nick Hurd in June 2012.

Council jobs cuts raise concerns over social care

Keely — Thu, 10 May 2012 09:00:29 +0000

CommunityCare.co.uk reports that councils in England and Wales have so far sliced £1.4 billion from the their annual pay bill, mainly by reducing staff numbers. The reductions have been achieved through voluntary redundancy and not replacing workers who leave. The main concern is that the volume of work is increasing (as more people live longer and thus need more care) at the same time that the number of workers are decreasing.

New research on why recessions are good for your health – if you are an older woman

Keely — Mon, 07 May 2012 09:00:08 +0000

As reported recently by the National Bureau of Economic Research, “One notable and now well-established fact is that mortality rates rise during periods of economic expansion and fall during recessions.”

Delving into the detail of this fact, the researchers focussed on “why older women face higher mortality risk when the economy strengthens. They suggest that there may be cyclical changes in the quality, quantity, or nature of health care inputs, which may have a greater effect on women over age 65 because they use health care more intensively.” Additionally, “The authors show that the employment of nursing aides, who are used more heavily by nursing homes and other skilled nursing facilities, falls when the economy strengthens, while the employment of more highly-skilled doctors and nurses rises.”

The researchers’ conclusion? ”Our findings provide new evidence that staffing difficulties among relatively low-skilled nursing occupations may be an important focus for efforts to improve the quality of health care.”

Ageism on the increase?

Keely — Tue, 01 May 2012 09:00:25 +0000

Anecdotal evidence of ageism in the workplace is growing and is something economists are already warning will be detrimental to full economic recovery. Unfortunately for the over-50s, much of the political and societal focus on employment is for young people. But the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) says that, “UK employers are expected to need to fill around 13.5 million vacancies in the next 10 years but only 7 million young people will leave education over that period.” CIPD also says that “immigration alone will not fill the gap and that employers will increasingly need to rely on older workers.” More information is available from The Observer here.

Older and happier

Keely — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 09:00:55 +0000

The Mature Times reports on the University of Warwick’s study that shows that the older we get, the happier we are. “It’s obvious that people’s physical quality of life deteriorates as they age, but what is interesting is that their mental well-being doesn’t also deteriorate – in fact it increases.”

Rethinking definition of “old”

Keely — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 09:00:06 +0000

As part of World Health Day, celebrated every 7 April, the World Health Organisation called for urgent action to ensure that “at a time when the world’s population is ageing rapidly, people reach old age in the best possible health.”

“In the next few years, for the first time, there will be more people in the world aged over 60 than children aged less than five. By 2050, 80 per cent of the world’s older people will be living in low- and middle-income countries.”

How exciting to hear a call for a change in attitude to aging coming from the very top. Now, let’s all do what we can to make that change in our daily lives. And influence others to do so as well.

Here’s to a world where 40 isn’t considered old!

Take care of carers

Keely — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 09:00:02 +0000

Charity Vitalise recently published a report revealing that many of the six million people who voluntarily look after relatives, friends, children or older people who are sick or disabled “do not consider themselves to be carers because they do not get paid for the work they do.” The danger of such a situation is that the majority of carers in informal arrangements “do not realise that they can take advantage of the many services available to enable them to recharge their batteries every now and again.” The full Press Association article is available from Age UK here.

Products designed for the elderly

Keely — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 09:00:57 +0000

Age UK has launched a business accreditation scheme to encourage “more businesses to design services and products with the elderly in mind.” Recent research by the organisation showed that 72 per cent of UK adults think the idea of products being designed with older people in mind is a good thing. Businesses can now apply for the Engage Business Network Accreditation kitemark, with submissions being evaluated by a panel of business and academic experts.