Charity Calls for Commissioner for Older People as Life Expectancy Stagnates
The Centre for Ageing Better is calling for the establishment of a Commissioner for Older People and Ageing to ensure older people’s needs are considered within measures to build a healthier nation.
The call comes as the charity warns that stagnating levels of long-term progress in life expectancy, revealed in new data released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), are the latest indicator of the nation’s poor state of health and widespread inequality.
The new life expectancy data shows that while there have been some small incremental increases in the short-term, the overall, long-term trend remains extremely worrying.
The ONS data shows that life expectancy has marginally increased in England for the 2022-24 period compared with 2021-23 – now standing at 83.3 years for women and 79.5 years for men.
Key Warning Signs
However, the data reveals several concerning trends:
Life expectancy in the UK is no better than it was a decade ago. This compares unfavourably to sustained increases in preceding decades, including an increase of 1.7 years for male life expectancy and 2.4 years for female life expectancy at birth between 2000/02 and 2008/10.
A stark ten-year life expectancy gap exists between the richest and poorest areas of the country. In England, the lowest life expectancy at birth was recorded in Blackpool (73.7 years for males and 79.1 years for females), while the highest was in Hart for males (83.7 years) and Kensington and Chelsea for females (87.1 years). This gap has increased steadily from 4.5 years in 2003-05 to 7.1 years for women and from 6.9 years to 10 years for men.
Men’s life expectancy remains lower than pre-pandemic levels in all regions except the South East and London, where it has reached a new high of 80.4 years. For women, life expectancy is still lower or the same as pre-pandemic levels in every region except the East of England, London and the South East.
By 2022 to 2024, male life expectancy was at or above pre-pandemic levels in just 36% of all local areas; for female life expectancy, this figure was 50%.
‘A Concerning Picture’
Dr Aideen Young, Senior Evidence Manager (Research, Impact and Voice) at the Centre for Ageing Better, said the latest data continues to paint a concerning picture.
“Life expectancy in this country is stagnating and remains well below pre-pandemic levels,” she said.
“The picture is even more damning at a local level where the difference in the life expectancy of some of the most prosperous places in the South and the poorest parts of the North are as much as ten years. Unfortunately, where you are born has a very strong bearing on how long you can expect to live. The poorest health is seen in the poorest places in the country.”
Dr Young emphasised that change is needed not only for those dying early and living through the majority of their later life in poor health, but also for the benefit of the country and economy.
“Our growing ageing population is often seen as a looming and unaffordable crisis. This doesn’t have to be the case. But unless we adopt a more preventative approach, and give people a better chance of ageing well and having good health in later life, then it will become a reality,” she said.
Call to Action
To reduce the significant income-related gap in life expectancy, the Centre for Ageing Better believes the government should establish a Commissioner for Older People and Ageing who could ensure that older people’s needs are considered within measures to build a healthier nation.
This should include work to tackle the wider determinants of poor health such as lack of access to good work, poverty, poor-quality housing and social isolation, the charity says.
