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Social Justice ...a Scotland where everyone matters - Annual Report 2002

Every Older Person Matters

Our Vision

A Scotland where every person beyond working age has a decent quality of life.

The challenges facing older people

• Many older people have concerns about their income. At a time when income generation can be limited there may be concerns over bills and living costs.
• Older people are more likely to suffer from ill-health, and may have concerns about the level of support needed in order to go on living independently.
• Fear of crime can limit a person's life. Some older people are scared to go out after dark.

Our long-term targets are to:

• Make sure older people are financially secure.
• Increase the number of older people who enjoy active, independent and healthy lives.

Every Older Person Matters - case study

Celia Baird

Up until Christmas last year, Mrs Celia Baird and her husband had never lived in a house with central heating. For all of her life in Edinburgh, this 60-year-old woman, who lost a leg in a serious accident at the age of 7, had lived in a number of properties throughout the city all of which had no central heating system. Even her current property, a homely bungalow in a suburb of Edinburgh only had one gas fire in the living room and a couple of electric fires. There was no heating in the bedrooms, the bathroom or the hall. In the wintertime, especially, the house got very cold and the damp made the wallpaper peel off the walls. This meant having to redecorate every Spring.

Every time she and her husband had saved up enough money to pay for central heating, some more pressing need for the house used up their hard-earned cash. They were resigned to spending the rest of their lives without central heating.

This was all to change however, when Mrs Baird heard on the radio about the Scottish Executive's scheme to provide free central heating for eligible householders in the private sector aged 60 or over who were without any form of central heating system.

She registered an interest and was then placed on a list by Eaga Partnership Ltd, the company who are delivering the programme in the private sector, to await the start of the scheme. Then when the programme started in November 2001, the wheels were quickly put in motion to provide the Bairds with a warm home.

Only three weeks after their house was surveyed, the workmen moved in. Even though the installation of a central heating system can lead to major disruption and upheaval to the householders concerned, Mrs Baird was delighted with the quality of the workmanship. She recalls:

"The workmen were great. There was absolutely no problem with them. They came when they said they would and were really efficient and worked very hard. I couldn't fault them and they cleaned up after themselves and left no mess. I was totally impressed by their workmanship."

When all the work was completed the Bairds had not only received a central heating system which covered all the rooms in their house but were also provided, as are all recipients of the scheme, with loft insulation, cavity wall insulation, insulation around their windows, a cold alarm, smoke detector and a carbon monoxide detector.

Asked to sum up what difference having the central heating has made to their lives, Mrs Baird says:

"It has been really great. We had it installed 10 days before Christmas which was a really freezing time. We had the grandchildren down and the joy of not having to shout at them to shut the doors all the time was brilliant. It is really nice to be able to get up each morning to the warmth. It has also helped to get rid of the damp in the house. It really has been a Godsend."

Central Heating Programme

The Scottish Executive's Central Heating Programme provides free central heating, insulation, advice and other benefits to 70,000 householders in the private and social rented sector who are currently without any form of central heating system. The programme will be completed by March 2006. The programme in the social rented sector has been accelerated by two years and will be completed by 2004.

The programme is aimed at Scotland's most vulnerable households: those whose health or general wellbeing may be at risk from cold and damp housing. Delivery will be made by local authorities and housing associations for their tenants and Eaga Partnership for the over 60 in the private sector. Eaga are working with organisations such as Care and Repair to ensure that delivery is targeted at those most in need.

This is the first programme in Scotland to offer free central heating and insulation to its most vulnerable members of the community.

What we are doing

Fuel Poverty

• We are improving older people's living standards whilst saving them money, to help those whose health may be at risk from cold and damp.
• All pensioners in Scotland will have central heating by 2006 through the Central Heating Programme - worth around ?2,500, and saving a yearly average of ?550 on fuel bills.
• Over 140,000 low-income and pensioner homes have already benefited from improved insulation, through the package of insulation measures offered under the Warm Deal Programme.
• All pensioners may get help with fuel bills through the UK Government's ?200 Winter Fuel Payment.
• The UK Government has also introduced reduced VAT on domestic fuel, from 8% to 5%.

Housing

• We are improving housing through better access to improvement and repair grants, provided by the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001.
• Last year almost 90% of the 5,352 new or improved homes funded by Communities Scotland were designed to "Secured by Design" standards. In the last three years Communities Scotland's policy of promoting Secured by Design has resulted in the proportion of housing designed to these standards rising by two-thirds.

Community Care

• We have introduced Free Personal Care for older people to take away the burden of financial worry so they can be confident they will receive the personal care and support they deserve.
• We are ensuring higher standards of care in both care homes and at home, by the Regulation of Care (Scotland) Act 2001, and the new the Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care.
• We are increasing resources to support carers (e.g. short breaks and other services) under the Carers Strategy.
• Older and poorer carers will get more income from the UK Government's increases in the carer's premium in the Carer's Allowance, and Invalid Care Allowance earnings limit, making part-time employment more financially worthwhile.
• We are improving support for Scotland's Carers through the Community Care and Health (Scotland) Act 2002.
• A home care package has been provided for local authorities to develop Rapid Response Teams; intensive home support; augmented home care schemes; short breaks for carers; shopping/household/maintenance services; and the provision of up to four weeks' free home care post hospital discharge.
• The Delayed Discharge Action Plan sets out a range of measures to improve services in the community for older people, backed by additional resources.

Health

• We are reducing the number of older people dying from, or disabled by, Coronary Heart Disease, linked to smoking, alcohol and lack of exercise. This is one of the three clinical priorities for NHSScotland.
• We have published a forward strategy, through the Coronary Heart Disease/Stroke Strategy for Scotland.
• We are reducing the chance of a second or fatal heart attack, through changes to clinical standards following the report of the Clinical Standards Board for Scotland.
• We are investigating strategies for reducing coronary heart disease through the demonstration project, Have a Heart Paisley.
• We are improving Scotland's health through the Health Improvement Fund to local NHS Boards.
• The Physical Activity Task Force (PATF) strategy will consider the specific needs of older people in relation to raising levels of physical activity including the role of local authorities and/or SIPs in increasing provision and accessibility of sporting/leisure facilities. In addition to disease prevention, physical activity has a critical role in maintaining functional ability, preventing disability, immobility and social isolation.
• Residents' opportunities for improving their health through physical activity are now assessed in care home inspections, following the Review of Care Home Standards.
• Older adults will have fewer falls and fractures, and improved strength and balance, as part of the HEBS Health in Later Life programme.

Crime

• We are allowing older people to have a say on local safety measures through Community Safety Partnerships, and establishing the Scottish Forum on Community Safety to build on and progress this work.
• We are reassuring older people, by improving the visibility of police on the beat and public transport, through the Safer Scotland policing initiative.
• We are enhancing the safety of older people in our communities through funding extra police officers and new police technology and increasing the number of CCTV cameras in public places.

Transport

• All pensioners and disabled people will have improved independence and quality of life through free off-peak local bus travel which was introduced in October 2002.

Income Levels

• On average, Scottish pensioner households are 1,200 a year better off in real terms as a result of measures introduced by the UK Government since 1997 - around 23 a week. These include:
• Above inflation increases to the Basic State Pension.
• Above inflation increases to the Minimum Income Guarantee guaranteeing an income of ?98.15 for single pensioners and ?149.80 for couples from April 2002. This will continue to rise in line with earnings so that by April 2003, no pensioner will have to live on less than ?100 a week, and pensioner couples will receive ?154 a week.
• Older people are being encouraged to claim their entitlement to social security benefits through the Partnership Against Poverty. This working group is led by the Department for Work and Pensions and includes the Scottish Executive, local government and voluntary organisations.

What we will do

• Support the UK Government in giving everyone the chance to save for a comfortable retirement through pension reforms.
• People who could afford to save but had no way of doing so, and non-earners such as carers and disabled people can join the Stakeholder Pension Scheme.
• Around 350,000 pensioner households in Scotland will get over ?400 extra a year due to the Pension Credit available from October 2003.
• The State Second Pension will ensure that low earners will get at least double what they would have got from the basic State Pension. Carers and disabled people with broken work records will be entitled to a second tier pension for the first time.
• Provide additional respite care across Scotland through new resources to local authorities.
• Reduce the number of persistent young offenders who commit the vast majority of crime, to help reduce the fear of crime amongst older people.

Trend

Improvement: The proportion of pensioners living in households with low incomes in relative terms has fallen by 4 percentage points to 24%, the lowest since the 1996-97 baseline figures. In absolute terms there is a continued trend of constant improvement with a fall of 14 percentage points to 14%.

We have worked with the Department for Work and Pensions to improve the methodology used to calculate low income statistics, and are now able to report estimates of the number of pensioners in low income households. The latest figures reveal that there are around 110,000 pensioners living in absolute low-income households (after housing costs), compared to 230,000 in 1996-97. In relative terms, there are around 200,000 pensioners currently living in low-income households.

Table 19: Proportion of pensioners age people in households below 60% of the median GB household income

Source: Households Below Average Income: Department for Work and Pensions

Trend

Broadly constant: The proportion of people aged 20 to state-pension age who are contributing to a non-state pension was 43% in 2000-01, or 61% of employees. More men contribute than women.

Table 20: Working age people contributing to a non-state pension

Source: Family Resources Survey: Department for Work and Pensions

Trend

Improvement: There has been an increase in the number of people receiving intensive home care visits per 1,000 people aged 65 and over.

Table 21: Proportions of older people receiving intensive home care

Source: Scottish Executive Health Department Community Care Statistics

Trend

Exercise: No new data

Coronary heart disease: Improvement

Respiratory disease: Broadly constant

Chart 22a: Taking physical activity

Source: Scottish Health Survey 1998

Chart 22b: Mortality rate from coronary heart disease among people aged 65-74 per 100,000 population (65-74 years)

Source: General Register Office for Scotland

Chart 22c: Mortality rate from coronary heart disease among people aged 65-74 per 100,000 population (65-74 years) by deprivation category

Source: General Register Office for Scotland

Chart 22d: Prevalence of chronic respiratory disease per 1,000 population aged 65-74 years

Source: Continuous Morbidity Recording Scheme: ISD National Health Service in Scotland.
Note: Owing to the small sample size, care must be taken when comparing change over time.

Trend

Improvement: The Scottish Crime Survey only takes place every four years, and therefore we have no new information to report.

Chart 23: Over 60s worried about crime

Source: Scottish Crime Survey, Scottish Executive.

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