MANY “RESENTFUL” UNDER-24S WOULDN’T HAVE WORK WITHOUT OLDER COLLEAGUES.

EMMA SOAMES

SAGA

PRESS RELEASE

April 19, 2011.

MANY “RESENTFUL” UNDER-24S WOULDN’T HAVE WORK WITHOUT OLDER COLLEAGUES.

Commenting on research* by care provider Anchor that revealed more than 40% of 18-24s resented older people staying in work, Emma Soames, Editor-at-Large of Saga Magazine and over-50s champion, said:

“Young people perhaps underestimate the contribution of older people in the workplace. People notice fuss or flurries of activity around workplace decision-making, usually involving the less-experienced who will often ultimately ask an older person for advice anyway.

“But older people have the life and work experience to make business or work decisions more calmly, and consequently faster, simply because they’ve been there before.

“It’s therefore ironic that some of the most important workplace decisions, quietly and decisively made by older people at all levels, have and do create and maintain jobs for the younger generations.”

* Link to original story.

Ends

Further information:

Iain Macauley

07788 978800

im@pressrelations.co.uk

www.saga.co.uk

OVER-50S ARE GRUMPY, UNFRIENDLY AND “PAST IT”? NOT SO, SAY THE WHIPPERSNAPPERS.

DR ROS ALTMANN

DIRECTOR-GENERAL, SAGA

PRESS RELEASE

April 10, 2011.

OVER-50S ARE GRUMPY, UNFRIENDLY AND “PAST IT”? NOT SO, SAY THE WHIPPERSNAPPERS.

Dr Ros Altmann video

Oldies’ perceptions that younger people pigeonhole them as grumpy, unfriendly and “past it” are misplaced, according to independent research commissioned by over-50s lifestyle group Saga.

The research compares the perceptions 18-24s have of over-50s with what older people believe younger people think.

“The overall message is that perhaps crossing the boundary to 50 is nowhere near as life-changing as myth, Grumpy Old Men and Victor Meldrew would have it,” said Dr Ros Altmann, Director-General of Saga.

“Around 67% of over-50s believe 18-24s perceive them as ‘past it’, but the reality is that just 18% of 18-24s actually have that perception. And while only 11% of over-50s think younger people perceive them as friendly, the reality is that around 29% of 18-24s do actually think older people are indeed friendly.

“We’ve decided that all this is becoming such an issue we’re putting up a £10,000 reward for the video that best dispels the ’50-is-old’ myth.

“There are more myths to be shattered too: just 17% of over-50s think 18-24s consider them knowledgeable; however, the truth is that 42% of 18-24s perceive oldies as being great fonts of knowledge.

“Perhaps understandably, 18-24s are largely unenthusiastic about turning 50, with 39% of younger adults saying 50 seems old, but only 8% of over-50s agreeing once they reach and pass that milestone. 60% of over-50s consider 50 to be ‘just another birthday’, while only 16% of younger people dismiss it in the same way.”

The video competition is open to anybody over the age of 16 who lives or studies in the UK.  For example, you may be younger than 50:  As you think about the future, what do you hope life will be like when you turn 50?  What are you looking forward to?  You may be older than 50:  in a similar way, put yourself in the shoes of someone around 25 today, and think about their world when they will be 50.  

Video submissions: Full details on http://www.saga.co.uk/being50

The research was conducted by YouGov for Saga, sampling 1,148 UK adults on February 22 and 23, 2011.

Ends

Further information:

Iain Macauley

im@pressrelations.co.uk

07788 978800

www.saga.co.uk

CAMERON’S FIRST 50 DAYS: 1.5 OUT OF NUMBER TEN ON OVER-50S ISSUES.

EMMA SOAMES, SAGA.
PRESS RELEASE.

June 29, 2010.

CAMERON’S FIRST 50 DAYS: 1.5 OUT OF NUMBER TEN ON OVER-50S ISSUES.

Fifty days in for the new government, and the UK’s over-50s are seeing little sign that their 44% share of the vote is yielding 44% of the Cameron administration’s attention.

Emma Soames, editor-at-large of Saga magazine, says that while government is moving fast in some areas, it’s not moving anything like as quickly as it should to address the issues facing people who, in some cases, are quite literally running out of time.

“Forty four per cent of the voting age population is aged over 50; 94% of those 21 million over-50s claimed to have voted, according to independent research we commissioned, but have we had 44% of the government’s attention and interest so far? Far from it – we estimate it’s more like 15% of the coalition’s time and attention,” said Emma Soames.

“The pre-election Saga Manifesto, representing the views of the country’s over-50s with 14,000 survey participants, identified six key areas older people wanted addressing.

“The government’s attention to fairer finance – how older people will deal with both day-to-day expenses and retirement finance - I’d rate as two out of ten, to abolishing ageism one out of ten, age balance in Parliament zero out of ten, support for carers three out of ten, intelligent retirement one out of ten and safer streets two out of ten – an average of 1.5 out of ten for issues important to the over-50s.

“Yes, there are big issues to tackle with regard to the economy and our armed forces abroad, but in other areas they’re tackling issues in the wrong order.

“Benefits issues, big initiatives and ideas relating availability for work are all well and good, but the people involved are not in danger of dropping dead before they’re sorted out as would be the case for the very old and infirm.

“Older people in their end of life phase, especially those providing or receiving care, are on a defined time line: they’re old, they’re sick, they’re going to die – they’re running out of time.

“The closest we’ve seen to decisive action is the introduction of an eight-PCT personal health budget pilot; everything else is up for review or subject to a commission: care funding, crime, pensions.”

Ends

Further information:
Iain Macauley
im@pressrelations.co.uk
07788 978800
www.saga.co.uk

Emma Soames, editor-at-large, was editor of Saga Magazine from 2002-2008. Previously she edited the Telegraph Magazine for seven years and before that was editor of ES Magazine, Tatler and the Literary Review.