Retired workforce spends over 300 million hours a year in part-time work

Citation

(2013), "Retired workforce spends over 300 million hours a year in part-time work", Quality in Ageing and Older Adults, Vol. 14 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/qaoa.2013.55914aaa.005

Retired workforce spends over 300 million hours a year in part-time work

Article Type: News and events From: Quality in Ageing and Older Adults, Volume 14, Issue 1

Research from MGM Advantage reveals that 9 per cent of the retired population, over 1 million people, are still in work, 832,000 are aged 65 and over, and 278,000 are between 55 and 64. The reasons for the over 65s continuing to work are many and varied, including through choice as people enjoy their work, or increasingly through necessity, where people realise they are financially unable to retire. As the retired population faces up to the rising costs of living, the research found that they are notching up over 300 million hours a year in part-time work, or 5.78 million a week. The financial value of this is £2.40 billion and £46.24 million, respectively.

Over 70,000 retired people are spending 16 h or more a week in part-time work. MGM Advantage’s research reveals that one in five retired people – some 2.3 million people – are in a retirement nation category it calls “squeezed”. These are people whose income in retirement is less because of low savings and they may have to continue working if their health allows. A further 13 per cent are in a category MGM Advantage describes as “careful”, whereby retired people are independent, self-sufficient and want to maintain their same lifestyle in retirement, but they have a modest pension and investments which are making this difficult to achieve.

For further details visit web site: www.mgmadvantage.co.uk/category/retirement-nation/

Helping people live independently for longer

Age UK Personal Alarms assisted more than 11,000 customers during the first half of 2012.

Age UK launched its Living Your Way campaign to help older people stay independent and well for longer through information, advice, practical services and specially designed products. One of the tools that can help people in later life retain their independence is the Age UK Personal Alarm service. The device gives customers reassurance that should they need to call for help, support is available at the touch of a button. Around 45,000 people in the UK rely on a Personal Alarm from Age UK. In the first six months of 2012, the Age UK Personal Alarms team successfully assisted 7,183 customers by contacting their keyholders and placed 4,235 emergency calls for those customers in urgent need of help. In total, the call centre team took 374,862 calls during the first half of 2012, an increase of over 28,000 from the same period in 2011.

To find out more and for a free Living Your Way guide, or for more information about the Age UK Personal Alarm, call Age UK Advice free on 0800 169 65 65 or visit web site: www.ageuk.org.uk/livingyourway

First ever adult social care outcomes framework published

The first figures for the new ASCOF have been published by the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC). The report includes data for 14 measures which are designed to enable users to compare the effectiveness of care delivered by councils responsible for adult social care services. Six of the measures which form part of the ASCOF are drawn from the provisional results from the second year of England’s biggest social care survey – the Adult Social Care Survey for England. It shows that nearly two thirds of service users (63 per cent) were either extremely or very satisfied with the care they received – similar to the previous year.

ASCOF 2011-2012 provisional release is at: www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/adultsocialcareoutcomes1112