ISAS Interim Report 2004

STATES OF JERSEY
Island Wide Strategy for an Ageing Society (ISAS)
Interim Report

1.0 Executive Summary

This report briefly summarises the work to date of the ISAS interdepartmental officers group and provides strategic recommendations for 2004-2006 in line with the States of Jersey Strategic Plan 2005-2010 section 3.4, “Plan for a ‘long life’ society”.

2.0 Introduction

The older population in Jersey will change substantially over the next few decades. The issue of an ageing society is certainly not unique to Jersey. Governments across the world are wrestling with the implications with respect to health, work and public policy. Local factors pertaining to Jersey, including its land, labour and skills shortages, its high female participation in the work force and the fragmentation of the traditional family, suggest that the Island needs to be creative in its management of the changing demographic profile. This is not a temporary bulge, but rather a long term shift in demographic composition of the population which will result in a much smaller proportion of the population being of working age. This change will not happen overnight but will take place over the next five decades. There is a breathing space during the next decade when it is forecast that the working age population will be larger than ever before. This enables governments and businesses to prepare for the impact.
The strategic approach that the States needs to take will not simply focus on older people. It is essential to address the changes that will be required throughout the population to enable Jersey to meet the challenges of an ageing society.

3.0 Strategic recommendations and priorities

The ISAS group recommend that the following strategic principles are adopted to meet the needs of an ageing population:

• Develop innovative, integrated services without increased expenditure.
• Recommendations should be based on evidence and emerging trends.
• People should have their say about the services they use.
• Positive attitudes to ageing should be promoted.
• Improve access to and quality of information on transport and public services.
• Further economic analysis of the impact of an ageing society in Jersey and an examination of fiscal options should be pursued.

This section highlights the key strategic recommendations and priorities that have emerged from the work of the ISAS group. These address a range of issues including service developments, assessment and funding for long term care, building design legislation and economic objectives.

Strategic priorities	Time scale	Lead	Strategic partners	Success criteria
Carers Identify levels of informal support and develop an overarching strategy to support informal carers.	2005 2007	Employment & Social Security	Health & Social Services Jersey Association of Carers Incorporated	Quantify informal care provision in the Island. Identify services to support informal carers.
Health & Social Care Review access and equity of health care, exploring a single assessment process of health and social care needs and sustainable options for long-term care funding arrangements	2005 2006	Health & Social Services Employment & Social Security	Employment & Social Security Health & Social Services Finance & Economics Comité des Connetables	All assessments of health and social care need for long term care delivered by single assessment process All assistance with funding for long term care centralised
Environment and Access Adopt Lifetime Homes standards as a mandatory requirement through their incorporation as part of Building Bye-Laws.	2006	Environment & Public Services	Housing	Lifetime Home standards mandatory.
Work Encourage and enable people to work longer and develop a strategy to reverse the early retirement trend.	2011 2008	Employment & Social Security	Economic Development	Increase average exit age from labour market as identified in the census 2011 and changed attitudes to retirement as measured by ISAS Barometer 2008.
Retirement & Pensions Explore and promote new ways of encouraging people to save for their retirement.	2008	Employment & Social Security	Economic Development Education Sports & Culture	Increased early update of secondary pension identified in ISAS Barometer 2008.
Learning & Leisure Ensure high quality learning and activity opportunities for an older population. Support community activity. Secure high quality appropriate learning for all in full-time education.	2008	Education Sports & Culture		Achievement of cultural strategy, lifelong learning strategy, strategies for sports development and changes to the 14-19 curriculum following consultation period.