From the reality of retirement to the future of social care, ILC-UK sparked a number of national discussions and influenced public debate in the last quarter of 2015.
In the final quarter of 2015, ILC-UK published 7 reports: The costs and benefits of paying all the lowest-paid care home workers in the UK the living wage, Take the long road, Pension pots and how to survive them, Moved to care, Understanding retirement journeys: Expectations vs reality, The end of formal adult social care?, and Financial advice market review: A response from the International Longevity Centre – UK.
’The costs and benefits of paying all the lowest-paid care home workers in the UK the living wage’ investigated the potential costs and benefits of extending the living wage to care home workers, and considered how this pay increase could be funded. The report was a collaborative effort between ILC-UK, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, and the Work Foundation, and JRF’s Clare Turner was interviewed on BBC 5 Live and LBC. Details of the report also reached a potential Twitter audience upwards of 483,000 people.
Pension pots and how to survive them, a provocative research report produced by Cass Business School argued that most people are better off drawing down, rather than annuitising their pensions. The report was covered by The Telegraph, the FT Adviser, and The Mail on Sunday; it was also featured in the SOLLA newsletter, and reached a potential Twitter audience of nearly 384,000.
Our groundbreaking ‘Moved to Care’ report maps the size, shape and scope of the care workforce in England. Based on original research from Independent Age and ILC-UK, the report warned of imminent care workforce deficits if action is not taken to ease migration restrictions, and to make the sector more attractive to British workers. Representatives from Independent Age were interviewed on the Radio 4 Today Programme, and the stark figure of a 200,000 care worker deficit by the end of this Parliament caught the attention of The Mirror, The Telegraph, The Mail, The Independent, The Guardian, and The Times.
Understanding retirement journeys: Expectations vs reality busted the myth of older people splashing their retirement cash on leisure and holidays, as it explored how different consumer groups really spend their pension savings. Cesira Urzì Brancati, one of the reports authors was interviewed on Share Radio, and the report was featured in The Daily Mail and The Express, and twice by The Telegraph (here and here),and the FT Adviser (here and here). The report also reached a potential Twitter audience of more than 72,000 people.
The end of formal adult social care acted as a provocation, and featured detailed analysis of the social care funding measures outlined in the Comprehensive Spending Review. ILC-UK’s Research and Strategy Director Sally-Marie Bamford was interviewed by Sky News, and report author and Head of Economics of an Ageing Society Ben Franklin was interviewed by BBC 5 Live. The report made the headlines of all hourly BBC news bulletins and was reported on by ITV; after it was covered by the Press Association was also featured in more than 80 publications.
If you would like any further information on previous ILC-UK reports or any of our research, please contact Dave Eaton at davideaton@ilcuk.org.uk.