Social Care Time Bomb Warning:
Hourglass Pushes for Safer Ageing Agenda with landmark OATH Campaign
With an extra NINE MILLION older people, a population the size of London, set to populate the UK by 2050, Hourglass calls on the Labour Government to underline their Safer Ageing plans – and take the OATH – a campaign to increase awareness of the social care timebomb.
Hourglass, the only UK-wide charity dedicated to ending the abuse and neglect of older people, launched its own manifesto entitled ‘A Safer Ageing Society by 2050’ and urges the political elite and general public alike to sign up to support it HERE: The campaign, OATH (Older Age Tomorrow’s Hope) is a pledge to support their 2050 target and to work alongside older people, the age sector and Hourglass itself in raising the profile of this often-unspoken issue.
The charity points to the creation of a London-sized city, full of over sixties by 2050. That’s 9.6 million more older people in the UK. And, they say, for the first time they’ll be more over 60s than under 16s. The charity underlines that this is a social care timebomb waiting to explode.
As the charity’s Policy Director and Deputy CEO, Veronica Gray, illustrates,
Hourglass’s big ask isn’t quite as unreachable as it first appears: “Let’s think about it from the opposite perspective. If we knew there was to be nine million extra bouncing babies in the next twenty-five years, governments across the UK would be planning now. There would be a strategy to accommodate and ensure their safe arrival into the world.
“There would be new schools, nurseries, perhaps maternity hospitals and safeguarding teams. Early years planning, investment into midwives and ante- natal units would be on the horizon. Our parliamentary representatives would be falling over themselves to promise a safe future for the impending influx of babies. Not just kissing them for the cameras.
“This is unquestionably a population boom – just at the other end of the spectrum. This ageing population needs to be celebrated, safe, independent and free from abuse. This seems like a fairly obvious step and worthy of support and understanding. Hence the Hourglass target of creating a Safer Ageing Society by 2050.”
In 2024, Hourglass scrutinised what plans the political parties in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland outlined in their manifesto. There, in terms of protecting older people from abuse, harm, exploitation and neglect, the charity believes there had been precious little forward planning at all. However, Hourglass pushes the Labour administration to rectify this.
Richard Robinson, CEO of Hourglass, explains:
“Hourglass believes, with the impending older population surge and 2.5 million people affected by the abuse of older people annually, we need as many active voices as possible to make the case. The political dial now needs to move to address this significant upsurge and the social care needs of this population shift.
Hourglass, which has been working to support older-victims of abuse and neglect since 1994, has a unique 24/7 helpline, instant messenger and Knowledge Bank service. These services are already under threat due to delayed decision-making on future funding mechanisms. Richard Robinson continues:
“The Labour Government, has to urgently secure service provision and agree funding for charities like Hourglass. This will go some distance in paving the way for a Safer Ageing future – but this is the bare minimum. The Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) commitments, whilst inspirational and much-needed, need to be replicated for older victim-survivors. This is another key consideration for the current Downing Street resident.”
The charity was recently in the headlines for working to develop and script the story of Yolande Trueman, in BBCs EastEnders. This, along with many other factors has seen the charity’s calls hit over 700 a week and with a likely 50,000 contacts per year.
