Transport and getting around in later life

Getting out and about is important to older people’s independence, access to services and social networks. Transport is a key factor in preventing social exclusion and enabling older people to play a role in their communities. This paper draws on research with older people aged 65-84 conducted over a two-year period. It looks at changes in older people’s needs and experiences of public transport, car driving and mobility scooter use

Housing transitions: older people's changing housing needs

The home environment becomes of greater importance to older people in later life, especially if their health or mobility deteriorates. This paper draws on research with older people aged 65-84 conducted over a two-year period. It looks at changes in people’s home circumstances including moving home and what helps or hinders the transition, as well as changes experienced when people stay put, including making adaptations or alterations to the home, and changes in warden services

Making ends meet below the minimum income standard: families experiences over time

This paper presents some preliminary findings and emerging themes from a second round of interviews in the Bringing up a Family: Making ends meet study conducted by the Centre for Research in Social Policy (CRSP). The purpose of this initial analysis is to bring together some general findings drawing on the longitudinal focus of the study to provide some insights into the ongoing experiences of families living on an income which falls below the Minimum Income Standard (MIS). The paper focusses in particular on how changes are experienced and managed, the extent of choice and constraint, what these mean for people’s incomes and lives and how families continue to cope when living below what in the context of MIS is a minimum acceptable living standard. The findings presented here are based on an initial overview of a second wave of interviews. It is hoped that a third round of interviews will be possible in 2019 allowing additional analysis and reporting in the future

Managing finances in later life

Progress has been made in reducing pensioner poverty, however, around a third of pensioners do not claim the benefits they are entitled to. Older people have less opportunity to increase their income through paid work and have been particularly affected by rising energy and food prices and reduced income from savings. This paper draws on research with older people aged 65-84 conducted over a two-year period. It looks at what helps or hinders people to manage their finances, what can protect against or help manage change, the impact of benefit receipt and personal skills and attitudes to money

The additional cost of disability: a new measure and its application to sensory impairment

This article introduces a method using consensual budget standards to estimate additional costs incurred by households that include disabled people with specified impairments. The article reports on a first application of this to UK single adults with sensory impairments. Using the Minimum Income Standard method, the research aims to identify the cost of disability by working with groups of disabled people to agree what additions to minimum budgets for nondisabled people are required for someone with a given impairment. This provides a more tangible account of the cost of disability than economic analysis of living standards achieved by disabled and nondisabled people, and adds to surveys of actual spending on additional items, which do not account for unmet need. The research on vision and hearing impairment yields new insights into costs arising from the way disabled people live their everyday lives, not just from spending on adaptations and equipment

‌Family sharing – a minimum income standard for people in their 20s living with parents

‌Family sharing – a minimum income standard for people in their 20s living with parent

Experiences of living with visual impairment: matching income with needs

Experiences of living with visual impairment: matching income with need

Managing resources in later life: older people's experience of change and continuity

This report explores the changing lives of older people and shows how resources are used to manage change and maintain stability. An ageing population continues to be of policy concern, in relation to meeting the needs of older people now, and for future welfare provision. This research explores how older people plan, use and value the different resources available to them. Resources are broadly defined, to explore the relative value of different structural, social and individual resources and how they interlink. This holistic overview highlights the complexity of older people’s lives, the variety of resources that people draw on to help manage change and the work involved in maintaining continuity and preventing change. In-depth interviews with people (aged 65–84 at the first interview) were conducted two years apart to explore their changing needs and resources as they move through later life

Living on a low income in later life

Living on a low income in later lif

The role of social support networks in helping low income families through uncertain times

In times of labour market insecurity and retrenchment of state support, low income families rely on friends and relatives as a safety net. This article explores the enhanced role of this ‘third source of welfare’ in light of these developments. It draws on qualitative longitudinal research to demonstrate how families’ situations fluctuate over two years and the importance of social support networks in hard times and periods of crisis. The research illustrates how social support is not necessarily a stable structure that families facing insecurity can fall back on, but rather a variable resource, and fluid over time as those who provide such support experience changing capabilities and needs. A policy challenge is to help reinforce and not undermine the conditions that enable valuable social support to be offered and sustained, while ensuring sufficient reliable state support to avoid families having no choice but to depend on this potentially fragile resource as a safety net.</p