One-stop shop pledged to help people plan for older age

Middle-aged people will get support to plan their future health, financial and career needs from a new interactive one-stop shop, as part of a new ageing strategy published by the government today.

Ministers also promised to bring forward a promised review of current arrangements which allow employers to make staff retire at 65, which the Equality and Human Rights Commission and others have labelled as discriminatory.

The strategy is designed to help the UK meet the demands of a fast ageing population by enabling people to stay active for longer and ensuring public services and housing are designed to meet older people’s needs.

The new “one-stop shop” would draw together support available online, over the telephone and face-to-face across government and the third sector and signpost people towards specialised services.

The strategy also includes measures to improve support for people caring for grandchildren, with a summit due this autumn to help grandparents maintain strong relationships with children after parental separation.

Counsel and Care welcomed the strategy. Chief executive Stephen Burke said: “All older people, their families and carers must feel the benefits of the strategy’s range of proposals, because the demographic clock is ticking. The ageing society is not coming, it is already here.”

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