Responding to the Government’s Levelling Up White Paper published today, David Sinclair, Director of the International Longevity Centre UK argues:

“It is unacceptable that where you live in the UK impacts on how healthy you are, how long you will live and what job opportunities you might have.”

“The Government must deliver a meaningful plan to meet its target of increasing healthy life expectancy by at least 5 years, while also reducing the gap in life expectancy between the richest and the poorest groups. An ambitious focus on preventative health must be at the heart of the levelling up health agenda. This will need behavioural incentives, as well as regulation and greater investment in the areas that need it most. We need to heed the lessons from the pandemic, continue to work with communities and the expanded care workforce and use data and technology to improve health outcomes for all.”

“There’s currently a mismatch between the skills we have and the skills our economy needs. 2.7 million jobs will be created in the UK by 2030. However, at the same time, the UK workforce is ageing rapidly, which could leave 2.6 million jobs unfilled by 2030 – almost double the workforce of the NHS. To plug this gap, we need to ensure that the opportunity to learn is open to all. Age discrimination must not prevent people from continuing to develop their skills throughout their lives. And most importantly, we need to make sure that we design jobs that people want and can do for as long as they wish.”

Notes

ILC’s esitmates of workforce shortages are available from: Plugging the gap: Estimating the demand and supply of jobs by sector in 2030 – ILCUK