ACTIVE AGEING IN THE UK-ISSUES,BARRIERS, POLICY DIRECTIONS

Active ageing is defined as allowing people to remain independent and achieve their potential regardless of age. However, age is also a device used widely in society for assigning or taking away responsibilities, allocating resources or determining access to services on age grounds, or as a proxy for mental and physical well being. This paper is one of several prepared by the Active Age consortium funded by the European Union to undertake a review of the institutional framework in each participant country and how this shapes policies towards older people, including the barriers and opportunities affecting active ageing1 1. Austria, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Poland, Switzerland and the UK. The aims are to identify policy goals, policy instruments, and institutional mechanisms of current active ageing policy agendas in each country. It considers not only public policies, but also includes some ageing initiatives from other sectors. View all notes. The expected outcome of this phase of research is a comprehensive overview of active ageing strategies in Europe, including barriers to active ageing, as well as a map of the socio-institutional and political landscape in which active ageing policies operate. This paper argues that the UK is quite well advanced in preparing and defining policies, but that some of the high public profile is as a result not of ageing as such, but issues arising in specific areas such as employment, education, pensions, health and health care.