GOVERNMENT’S ACCIDENTAL AGEISM OVER YOUTH EMPLOYMENT PUSH.

DR ROS ALTMANN
DIRECTOR-GENERAL, SAGA
PRESS RELEASE

July 1, 2011.

GOVERNMENT’S ACCIDENTAL AGEISM OVER YOUTH EMPLOYMENT PUSH.

The Government is in danger of driving an accidentally ageist employment policy amongst UK companies who might follow guidance given by Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith in a speech today (Friday, July 1, 2011).

Mr Duncan Smith said that as the UK Government is putting so much effort into improving the employability of young people, companies must do their bit by taking on more young Brits rather than migrant workers.

But Dr Altmann, Director-General of over-50s organisation Saga, said while Saga welcomed the move to increase youth employment levels, British companies employing migrant workers are robbing not just one but two groups of British unemployed of new or start-up careers – young adults, and older people starting afresh following the abolition of the Default Retirement Age

 “Iain Duncan Smith is 100% correct on 50% of the issue. Yes, companies must do their bit to take on more young British people - but there are also many older British adults who are also effectively just entering the job market anew following the abolition of the Default Retirement Age,” said Dr Altmann.

“For many older people it is a second lease of working life – ‘bonus years’ I’d call it – in some cases starting a career afresh just as a young worker would; for some it is for stimulation and enjoyment, but for many it is because they simply have no money because of pensions issues or are having to cover the cost of caring for a family member.

“Special measures should not be confined to encouraging companies to take on younger British people seeking work. The fact is that 44% of Britons aged 50 to 64 who are unemployed have been looking for work for longer than 12 months - this compares with 30% of those aged under 50.

“Saga supports Iain Duncan Smith's call for UK companies to take on more British workers - indeed Saga will recruit some 1,000 people this year – but ageism, whether accidental or not, has no place in either UK economy or UK society.”

Ends

Further information:
Dr. Ros Altmann
Director-General, Saga
ros.altmann@saga.co.uk
www.saga.co.uk
07545 504513
Twitter @SagaRosAltmann

Iain Macauley

im@pressrelations.co.uk

07788 978800

ROS ALTMANN: WELFARE REFORMS WILL BE DEVASTATING FOR OVER-50S.

ROS ALTMANN

DIRECTOR GENERAL, SAGA

PRESS RELEASE

November 11, 2010.

SAGA WARNS GOVERNMENT THAT WELFARE REFORMS WILL BE DEVASTATING FOR MANY OVER 50s.
 
THEY ARE HAPPY TO WORK BUT CANNOT FIND JOBS.
 
RAISING THE STATE PENSION AGE, WHILE REMOVING WELFARE SUPPORT, RISKS PLUNGING OVER-50s INTO POVERTY.
 
AGE DISCRIMINATION IS HUGE BARRIER TO OVER-50s JOBSEEKERS

 
Today's announcements on welfare reform are heading in the right direction for many, however they do not reflect the special needs of the over 50s, says Ros Altmann, Director General of Saga.  

“Saga surveys consistently show that older people are keen to keep working, far more respondents now express the desire to work part-time in later life, in order to supplement inadequate pensions,” said Ros Altmann.  

“However, the labour market is not enabling this to happen.  At the same time, the Government is planning to remove the Pension Credit from the over-60s, as the age for Pension Credit receipt is set to rise in line with increases in women's state pension age.  Many of those in their early 60s will thus be forced to survive on much lower benefits, desperate to work but unable to find employment.”
 
Saga is warning the Government that this group will need special consideration when tackling welfare reform.  Most of the over -0s who have lost their jobs are anxious to get back to work, but they face significant age discrimination in the labour market and those who need part-time work often cannot find it.  
 
Once unemployed in their latter years, people find it far harder to re-enter employment than younger people.  To force such people onto benefits, when they do actually want to work, will be devastating for them.
 
Saga supports the Government's initiatives to reform the welfare system and to 'make work pay'.  However, it is not as simple as that and, especially for older jobseekers, the labour market simply is not working.
 
As millions of baby-boomers are set to enter their 60s in the next few years and as Government is drastically reducing the welfare support available to them, there is a serious risk that those who are desperate to work will be unable to find employment and will be consigned to the scrapheap far too early.
 
Ends

Further information:

Iain Macauley

im@pressrelations.co.uk

07788 978800

www.saga.co.uk

NOTES
 
A recent Saga Survey show that one-in-five (19%) over 50s said they planned to continue working in their current job once they reach retirement age and 9% plan to continue working past retirement age but in a different job to currently.  A further 9% plan to do voluntary work when they retire.

For those planning to continue working, the desire to continue making money is the prime motivation – 61% cited this as one of their reasons for working after retirement age. Nearly as many, however, 59% said they wanted to keep their mind active and half admitted to simply enjoying working.

Populus received 13,040 responses from people aged 50 and over to its on-line poll for SAGA between 11th and 17th June 2010.

PENSIONS EXPERT ROS ALTMANN, SAGA: REFORM COULD FINALLY START TO ADDRESS OUR PENSIONS CRISIS

ROS ALTMANN

DIRECTOR GENERAL

SAGA

PRESS RELEASE

October 25, 2010.

PENSIONS EXPERT ROS ALTMANN, SAGA: REFORM COULD FINALLY START TO ADDRESS OUR PENSIONS CRISIS.

Ros Altman, Director General of Saga, says the government is finally getting to grips with the inadequacies of the UK state pension system – and a “pensions revolution” may well be on the cards.

Before the General Election, Saga conducted a nationwide poll of the over-50s and drew up a list of the top six policy changes that older citizens want.  This Saga Manifesto called for “a flat-rate state pension for all citizens without means testing”. 

“It could be that we are one step closer to achieving that now,” said Ros Altmann..

“After years of watching our pension system falling apart, it seems that the new Pensions Minister, Steve Webb, may finally be getting to grips with the inadequacies of the UK state pension.  If today's reports are accurate, and they do seem mightily well-informed, a pension revolution is about to occur.

“For years, Government has tinkered with our current inadequate state pension system, adding to its complexity, while failing to address the fundamental problems associated with mass means-testing of pensioners.

“As the OECD recently pointed out, the UK has just about the lowest state pension in the developed world - and it is by far the most complex.  Most people have no idea what state pension they will be entitled to.

“This is because anyone retiring can receive many different elements of State Pension.  There is a Basic State Pension, a Second State Pension, plus some State Earnings Related Pension - or SERPS - plus the Graduated Pension.  All of these have different qualification criteria and come from contributions made in different years.  And if all these are not enough, nearly half of pensioners can claim a complex, means-tested Pension Credit, which consists of a Guarantee Credit and a Savings Credit.  What a mess.

“Before 1997, Gordon Brown told the Labour Party Conference that he wanted to end the means test for the elderly, but he actually increased means-testing dramatically.  While advising the Labour Government from 2000 - 2005, I kept highlighting the complexities of our pension system, also warning of the dangers and disincentives entailed in mass means testing.  I advised introducing a universal flat-rate pension.  But this was ignored.  In 2005, the Turner Commission again failed to grasp the opportunity for such radical reform.  So many missed opportunities.

“The fundamental problem is that our State Pension system undermines private pension saving.  If around half of pensioners end up entitled to means-tested benefits, their private pensions will be penalised and some may see their whole private pension effectively taken away.

“As we are about to launch a national system of auto-enrolment, and a new national pension scheme (called NEST) specifically targeted at low to moderate earners, we would be at risk of putting these workers into a pension which would ultimately be partly or totally removed from them by the means-test.  It is particularly those low to moderate earners who are most likely to lose out and they will be unable to save enough to float themselves off means-testing.  Therefore, in order to alleviate some of the problems of auto-enrolment and the official NEST pension system, it is really important that the Government sorts this out.

“The increase in State Pension Age, announced in the Comprehensive Spending Review, was supposed to be 'fair' because it was in exchange for a decent state pension.  However, the current proposals for slowly raising the Basic State Pension each year would not be sufficient to really pay a decent pension, whereas radically reforming the system, as suggested in today's papers, would be a far better deal, especially for women.

“If there was a flat-rate state pension, the Government would be able to end the current practice of allowing people to 'contract out' of the state second pension.  This could bring in an extra £8billion in National Insurance contributions each year - £5billion of which would come from public sector workers and employers.  This extra revenue would also save money in the longer term, because public sector pension schemes would not have to pay the replacement State Second Pension from scheme pension age, it would just be paid from state pension age.

“This could be the best news for pensions in years.”

Ends

Further information:

Iain Macauley

im@pressrelations.co.uk

07788 978800

www.saga.co.uk

SAGA GENERATION STUDY: OVER 50S: TONED, TANNED AND TINTED.

EMMA SOAMES

SAGA MAGAZINE

PRESS RELEASE

September 16, 2010.

OVER 50S:  TONED, TANNED AND TINTED.

• · Saga Generation making most of cosmetic treatments to maintain their looks
• Plastic surgery doubles in popularity
• Fake tans and teeth whitening becoming more prevalent
• Over half feel the same or better about their appearance than 10 years ago 

Men and women over 50 are taking full advantage of cosmetic treatments to keep them looking young and beautiful according to a new study by Saga.

The survey of more than 10,000 people looked at changing attitudes towards personal appearance over a generation and revealed that spending on treatments such as hair tinting, fake tanning, teeth whitening, cosmetic surgery and other beauty treatments is soaring as they grab with both hands the opportunity of ‘staying sexy’.

The report discovered that people over fifty are more appearance conscious than ever, with two thirds (62%) believing they are   more likely to be judged on their appearance than previous generations.  One woman in seven (15%) said they wore padded bras.  Five times more women today would use such breast enhancers than their mothers at the same age. Cosmetic surgery has almost doubled in a generation, although fewer than one in fifty women have taken this route.  Almost two thirds of women colour their hair to disguise the grey (compared to 4% of men).  This compares to one third of women a generation ago (2% of men).

In addition to this, compared with a generation ago, today’s over 50s are:

·         Twelve times more likely to exercise to ‘tone up’

·         Ten times more likely to use ‘fake tan’ tanning lotion or sun beds than they were a generation ago

·         Seven times more likely to have had their teeth whitened

·         Fourteen times more likely to use anti-wrinkle cream (men) with 10% now using  age defying serum

Emma Soames, editor-at-large, Saga Magazine said: “Today’s over 50s are a generation that has successfully re-defined attitudes to age and ageing finding itself confronting the ‘politics of beauty’ at ever-later ages in life.  Perhaps ‘age positive’ images of the likes of Helen Mirren simply create a new ‘beauty myth’ for older people (especially older women) to have to contend with.  However they are clearly taking matters into their own hands and using every method possible to remain as young looking as possible.” she said.

The survey reveals a generation who are more fashion conscious than their parents at the same age  – completely updating their personal look regularly. Women over fifty update their appearance every four and a half years.  However, men are much less concerned about ‘keeping up with the times’, updating their appearance only every 19 years.

Men and women in the North East are the most fashion conscious, typically updating their style and personal appearance every six years on average.  But it is over-fifties in Northern Ireland who are most self-confident about their style, with almost three quarters (71%) saying they are happy with their ‘look’, and with the average length of time between ‘style make-overs’ being eight years.

How do over 50s feel about themselves?

Today’s over 50s are comfortable in their own skin.  Over half (54%) say they feel the same or better about their appearance than they did 10 years ago.  The study also shows that satisfaction with appearance becomes significantly less important to overall happiness for people as they move through their sixties and seventies.

The increased opportunity for people to fight the signs of aging has fuelled a spectacular rise in over-fifties’ spending on their appearance in the last 10 years:

§         Share of total cosmetics spending rises from £1.9bn to £2.1bn

§         Spending on beauty treatments and hairdressing rises from £2bn to £2.2bn

§         Spending on clothing and shoes also rose sharply (35%) from £4.7bn to £12.2bn

Emma Soames added: “Today’s over-fifties are embracing the opportunities available to them to keep looking as young as they feel.  It is however also heartening that as we move into our sixties and seventies, our looks become ever less important to the quality of our personal relationships and our overall happiness.”

-       Ends –

Ends

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. Emma is also an occasional columnist for The Daily Telegraph.

Notes to editors:

Regional table - regions who are happy with their ‘look’, and average frequency of ‘updating’ appearance, by region

	London	South East	South West	West Midlands	East Midlands	North West	North East	Yorkshire & Humber	East Anglia	Scotland	Wales	Northern Ireland
Average number of years between makeovers	7.3	6.6	7.2	5.8	7.6	6.5	6.1	7.8	8.2	8.5	6.9	8.2
% who are happy with their 'look' (appearance when fully clothed)	61%	63%	63%	63%	62%	66%	65%	67%	65%	65%	61%	71%

Methodology

Data was collected using Saga’s Populus panel, which delivered a total sample of 10,803 people aged 50+. Using quotas established by the Government Actuaries’ Department and the National Readership Survey, a nationally representative sample of over-50s was derived from the Populus panel, with an effective sample size of 3,483 (having taken design effects into account). This sample is nationally representative of UK over-50s by age, gender, social grade, and (broadly) by mobility (reported ease of walking one mile or more, and climbing stairs). Mobility measures were repeated and checked against evidence from the same questions asked in the BHPS (2007/8) – this revealed that the (weighted) Populus panel sample is not significantly different from the UK population in terms of mobility, allowing a derivation of a robust indication of the health activities and attitudes prevalent in the UK 50+ population. Unless otherwise sourced, all data presented in this report is based upon this derived nationally representative sample.

Alongside the main source of original survey data, analysis of the Family Expenditure Survey and the British Household Panel Study was used to provide broader perspective and an insight into trends in health and over the past generation.

OVER-50S SAY CUT INTERNATIONAL AID BUDGETS IN LINE WITH UK AUSTERITY PLANS.

EMMA SOAMES

SAGA MAGAZINE
PRESS RELEASE

August 9, 2010.

OVER-50S SAY CUT INTERNATIONAL AID BUDGETS IN LINE WITH UK AUSTERITY PLANS.

Three-quarters of over-50s say that overseas aid budgets should be cut in the same spirit as domestic austerity measures.

Of 13,391 over-50s surveyed by Populus on behalf of Saga - the lifestyle, financial services and travel organisation catering for the older generations - 76% say that a pragmatic and realistic approach should be taken when it comes to spending abroad, and budgets should be cut.

Emma Soames, editor-at-large of Saga Magazine, said: “We’re a generous nation, but the elderly in the UK have been told they, like the rest of us, must accept austerity plans laid down by the government.

“But there is danger of injustice if international aid budgets favour foreign needs over domestic spending needs.

“The Saga Generation recognises that there’s an ebb and flow to the financial fortunes of the UK, and when there is plenty to go round then we should help the less fortunate abroad.

“However, when times are tight then the money should stay within our shores; by looking after our own in the short-term in difficult times, we are able to amass financial momentum and mass which means we can return to international support for the needy when financial times improve.”

Populus received 13,391 responses from Saga members aged 50 and over to its online poll for Saga between 9th and 16th July 2010.

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.

OVER-50S IN NO-NONSENSE YORKSHIRE SUPPORT MORE USE OF PRISONS AS PUNISHMENT.

EMMA SOAMES

SAGA MAGAZINE
PRESS RELEASE

August 4, 2010.

OVER-50S IN NO-NONSENSE YORKSHIRE SUPPORT MORE USE OF PRISONS AS PUNISHMENT.

Working class over-50s from Yorkshire and the North East are far more likely to support criminals being thrown in jail than anywhere else in the UK – and believe prisons should be used far more for punishment. 
 
More than 40% of over-50s in the UK overall say there should be more use of prisons in the UK, with men far more likely than women to recommend somebody be locked up for committing a crime. 
 
That’s the finding of an independent survey of 13,391 people for Saga, the over-50s lifestyle, financial services and travel organisation. 
  
“Older people’s values are rooted in the past, and they like to see wrong-doing punished - they’d probably also say that an old-fashioned clip round the ear, if it weren’t likely to draw a huge fine or prison sentence, would probably have played a big part in discouraging youngsters from lives of crime and violence,” said Emma Soames, 60, editor-at-large of Saga Magazine. 
 
“But it’s good to see that Yorkshire upholds its image and reputation for no-nonsense attitudes. The Saga Generation in the region clearly takes a very dim view of crime, and although this obviously does not affect sentencing, it would certainly indicate how intolerant the community would be of criminal behaviour." 
 
The survey revealed that people in Yorkshire, Humberside and the North East are most supportive of imposing custodial sentences – 47% of those surveyed said more use should be made of prisons, while over-50s in the South West were least supportive of custody – 37% supported more prison use. 
 
Of those surveyed in the London area, 36% said there should be less use of prisons, but Yorkshire and the North East disagreed, with just 22% of those surveyed saying prisons should be used less to punish crimes. 

Populus received 13,391 responses from Saga members aged 50 and over to its online poll for Saga between 9th and 16th July 2010.

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.