Retirement Decision Making

Heather OsborneAge UK Shropshire Telford & Wrekin

Issues & Challenges

• Issues in a rural county

• Challenges of delivering services & support

• What works

• What doesn’t

• What do you think?

Shropshire - the Rural Picture

• Mix of urban in Telford & market towns and very rural areas

• Thinly dispersed rural population over a wide area• Two and a half hours drive from one end of county

to the other• Lots of small villages and hamlets• Relatively poor public transport• High levels of fuel poverty• Some very well off, some not.

Telford

• Telford – higher levels of BME communities in more concentrated areas but has rural areas as well

• Population 65+ of 25,000 rising to 37,400 by 2025• 378 people from BME communities (excluding Irish)

or 1.51% of 65+ population• Majority of BME community are of Asian origin• Still growing and developing – people moving in

Shropshire

• Shropshire – very widely dispersed communities over huge area

• Population 65+ of 65,000 rising to 91,000 by 2025• 479 people from BME communities (excluding

Irish) or 0.73% of 65+ population• Small older POW population – mainly Polish• Majority are of Asian origin• Unlike Telford dispersed over wide area• People come to retire

What are the issues?

• Differences in Telford & Shropshire• Telford – come to work, Shropshire – to retire• Rurality – how do we find people across such a

large county?• How do we make contact?• What do we do once we have made contact?• Lack of funding due to low numbers• Costs delivering of delivering in rural areas• Incoming retirees with no local networks

Telford – what works

• Dedicated BME worker funded by Joint Commissioner – isolated older people

• Developed strong links with some parts of communities and working on others

• Established groups for Sikh ladies and men and working with other communities

• Intergenerational work with young and old• Time and continuity are essential to build trust

and confidence with communities

Shropshire – the challenge

• No funding to develop similar role• There has been some cross over from Telford

work, especially with faith communities e.g. people attending Sikh temple who live in Shropshire

• Seen increased take up in Benefits Advice and Information & Advice across the board.

• Lots of translation help needed

So – some thoughts

• Does it have to be paid staff – could it be community champions/volunteers?

• Could we develop an information pack our Parish Links could give out? Could Age UK help?

• How will we find people who are not in faith communities?

• We need to find people when they first move into the area

• Welcome to Shropshire pack?

• Over to you – what do you think?

• Ideas/suggestions• What works in your area?