Elderly 'should carry on working'

05/09/2008 09:08:07

Older people should carry on working as long as they are physically capable, ex-minister David Blunkett has said.In a speech to the Counsel and Care charity in London he said it should not be assumed the government had "prime responsibility" to support the elderly.Mr Blunkett also said people should use equity release schemes to raise money from their homes to pay for care.The former work and pensions secretary said it was important to raise the debate over the UK's ageing population.Mr Blunkett said: "My presumption is this. That all of us, every one of us who is capable of doing so, should aspire to continue with some meaningful activity to the point of our incapacity overtaking us.

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"Preferably work, of course, increasingly part-time, flexible and in many cases, very different to the work undertaken in our earlier lives."Perhaps, increasingly, volunteering - within our own family and immediate circle as well as outside. Offering what we can and receiving from others what we cannot."Home ownershipMr Blunkett said £700bn was tied up in home ownership by those who had retired."In our endeavour to protect people's inheritance, have we not made enough of, and are we not clear enough about, the release of equity from the enormous home ownership that exists in Britain and the divide of those with and without assets which this trend has accelerated?" he said."In my view, and I am open to persuasion, we should be looking to reinforce the responsibility and capability of the family and the immediate community to continue helping themselves."Mr Blunkett later expanded on his speech to the BBC."I'm suggesting that part-time work - often a different kind of job - is one way firstly of sustaining people but secondly of people remaining active," he said."Why should someone who's not saved, who's not put money by, expect those who have to sustain them to do so not just in working life but in retirement as well."