Medical advances, the NHS, better quality food and increased knowledge about keeping healthy mean that people are living longer, creating an aging population.
The World Economic Forum suggests that it might be possible to live to 150 under ‘ideal conditions’.
And, in a separate report, it states that businesses and policy-makers must plan for the future of ‘their workforces’ social programmes and health plans as people live longer.’
We might be living longer, but are we living better?
"It’s rapidly becoming obvious that pensions and savings are not going to be sufficient"
The pension age has risen to compensate – up from 60 to 67 for women – and will probably go up further. But it’s rapidly becoming obvious that pensions and savings are not going to be sufficient for their potentially extended retirement needs.
There’s also a crisis in long-term care - whilst people might be living longer, the inevitable impact is that they are likely to have greater care needs as they age.
And the system is already buckling under the strain, there are not enough carers to go round, councils don’t have the funding to support everyone and many older people hadn’t factored paying for private care in their later life financial planning.
And sadly, with costs rising, our customers are telling us that a traditional funeral is rapidly becoming inaccessible to many – it’s a worry for a quarter of over-50s and an estimated 3 million say that they’re currently not planning to have a funeral at all.
"The system is already buckling under the strain, there are not enough carers to go round, councils don’t have the funding to support everyone and many older people hadn’t factored paying for private care"
How we're helping:
- We encourage older people to apply for our roles and provide flexible contracts that suit experienced team members who may have caring responsibilities or no longer wish to work full-time.
- We invest in and reskill our team so that they remain up to date. They’re our biggest asset, so we need to grow and develop their skills to fit the evolving needs of our dynamic business.
- One of our products is designed specifically to take away the worry of funeral poverty.
- OneFamily has a friendly telephone based customer service team for our older customers who prefer talking to a real person – not everyone wants to do everything online or feels comfortable with it. They’re also trained in spotting vulnerable customers and we have a dedicated team who are there to support their needs.
- As a mutual, we choose to use our profits to help the charities and good causes that support our communities. So we provide support for age related charities both financially and by volunteering the time of our team who get hands on to help local people and organisations.
We believe it makes a difference.
Jim places great value on the importance of education, citing it as the foundation stone upon which social mobility can be built. As OneFamily’s CEO, he wants to hold out his hand of support to those who don’t know where to turn and to use his platform to lift people up and inspire them to fulfil their potential.
He encourages thinking big, having great aspirations and setting audacious goals to free potential. With education, encouragement and empowerment he thinks that any child can achieve their biggest and most colourful of dreams.
Jim was appointed as Chief Executive Officer of financial mutual, OneFamily, in December 2023.
OneFamily is the UK’s third largest mutual with over 2m customers.
'Five key trends' series
We’ve identified five key trends that we think will need to be addressed by the financial services industry and our new government over the coming years.
'The 100-year life' is one, the rest are:
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