Socio-economic inequalities continue to present challenges to the Government’s Fuller Working Lives programme, and research conducted by the ILC-UK in 2015 found that although 1.1 million people are currently working beyond state pension age, 1 million people aged 50-64 have been forced out of work through a combination of redundancy, ill health or early retirement.

This one day conference, hosted by the ILC-UK and research teams from renEWL and the Uncertain Futures consortium allowed policy makers, business leaders, civil society organisations and academics to engage with new research findings on the socio-economic inequalities preventing some sections of the population from achieving longer, fuller working lives. The conference examined the current barriers to extending working lives: health inequalities, work place practice, and the policy barriers that Government, business and civil society can work collectively to address.

Speakers included:

• John Cridland, Independent Reviewer of the State Pension Age
• Professor David Armstrong, Department of Primary Care and Public Health Sciences, King’s College London
• Professor Jenny Head, Professor of Medical and Social Statistics, UCL
• Prof. Sarah Vickerstaff, Professor of Work and Employment, University of Kent
• Dr Mai Stafford, Reader in Social Epidemiology, MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing
• Dr Charlotte Clark, Reader in Environmental & Mental Health Epidemiology, Queen Mary, University of London
• Peter Kelly, Senior Psychologist, Health and Safety Executive
• Nicola Lee, Employment Relations Adviser, RCN
• Dr Ewan Carr, Research Associate, UCL Department of Epidemiology and Public Health
• Professor Wendy Loretto, Dean, University of Edinburgh’s Business School, and Professor of Organisational Behaviour
• Patrick Thomson, Senior Programme Manager, Centre for Ageing Better
• Denise Keating, CEO, Employers Network for Equality and Inclusion
• Yvonne Sonsino, Innovation Leader, Mercer Europe and Pacific
• Dr Emily Murray, Senior Research Associate, UCL Department of Epidemiology and Public Health
• Professor Chris Phillipson, Professor of Gerontology and Co-Director of the Manchester Institute for Collaborative Research on Ageing
• Russell Taylor, DWP Fuller Working Lives Team
• Caroline Abrahams, Charity Director, Age UK
• Professor Stephen Stansfeld, Professor of Psychiatry, Queen Mary, University of London
• Dr Joanne Crawford, Head of the Ergonomics and Human Factors section at the Institute of Occupational Medicine
• Rachael Saunders, Business in the Community

Slides presented during the conference.