Age UK – Written Evidence (NTC0089)

About this Call for Evidence

This call for evidence forms part of the second module of the Committee’s inquiry into new towns and expanded settlements. The second module, entitled New Towns: Creating Communities focuses on how to ensure that each of the new towns and expanded settlements create a sustainable community.

Key points

• There is a huge shortage of housing suitable for an ageing population. New towns provide an opportunity to address this shortage and build the kinds of low maintenance, energy efficient, accessible and adaptable homes that older people need. The New Towns Taskforce recognises this potential, and we welcome the commitment to housing for older people set out in their report to Government.
• It is vital, however, that we interpret the phrase “older people’s housing” in a way which fully reflects what older people really need. Too often discussion about the kind of homes that older people need is dominated by two solutions - specialist housing with support for the “older old” and encouraging older people to downsize. Both have a role to play but there are many other older groups needing other solutions and new towns must do more.
• The vast majority of older people will live in general mainstream housing.
• Looking at the age profile and characteristics of those moving in later life, one can see many different paths to an older life. Some will age in place; most will age in homes they move to when younger. New towns must build homes that accurately reflect the way an older population ages. 

About Age UK

Age UK believes every older person should be included and valued. We’re working locally, nationally and internationally to change the way we age. Together with our partners, we’re changing the day-to-day experience of getting older through essential services and local support. We transform older people’s wellbeing in the ways that matter most to them – whether that’s getting online or getting more active. Our specialist, impartial advice helps change older people’s worries into answers. And our friendship services change loneliness and isolation into comfort and connection. We campaign to put older people at the heart of public policy and shift the way ageing is treated and represented.

Consultation questions:

Question 8. How can new towns be designed to ensure they are inclusive and accessible to all groups through their lives?

1. With households headed by someone over the age of 65 forecasted to account for 84% of household growth between 2018 and 2043, it is vital that new towns are built to provide inclusive and accessible homes for all groups through their lives and into older age.[1]

2. Age UK welcomes the commitment to older people’s housing set out in the New Towns Taskforce report to the Government. The report recognises the impact of our ageing population, the severe shortage of housing for older people and the role that greater provision can play in freeing up family homes in the wider market. The report rightly points out that only 5,000-7,00 later living homes are built annually, significantly below the 50,000 homes identified as necessary by the Mayhew Review. These steps are welcome but are only part of the solution.

3. Too often the phrase “older people’s housing” is used synonymously with “specialist housing”, underplaying the needs of the vast majority of older people, over 90% of whom, will age in general mainstream homes. And within the general mainstream sector, the focus is usually on downsizer homes, ignoring other groups.

6. We need a broader strategy with a greater variety of housing types. Downsizing has a role to play but polling conducted by Age UK earlier this year suggests there are also many who will age in place and others who will move but at different stages of their life and not necessarily to somewhere smaller. In fact, if you look at all older movers about a third move somewhere smaller, but a third move somewhere the same size and a third actually choose somewhere bigger. This is partly because 80% of older people already live in homes with three bedrooms or less and older people rightly value a spare bedroom.[2] If affordable a spare bedroom offers room for friends and family, a carer, for a couple to sleep separately if one is unwell, for an office or a lodger.

7. It is also because large numbers of people are moving from 50 upwards looking for a home better suited to ageing and a relatively small proportion of movers are in their late 70s when people are more inclined to move to a smaller home.

8. The chart below shows the results of some polling commissioned by Age UK earlier this year. Respondents were asked whether they had moved since the age of 50.  Older people’s moving patterns are often misunderstood but important in establishing the kinds of homes that an ageing population needs.

Figure 1: Percentage of respondents who have moved home since the age of 50, by age band.

9. The results show that almost half of those aged 66 to 74 have moved since the age of 50. For those aged 85+ the percentage who have moved home is 59%. Other surveys suggest that 70% of those moving over the age of 55 are doing so to find a home better suited to ageing.[3]

10. The number of older people who move home is higher than sometimes assumed. Movers accumulate over time, moving at different stages of later life and amount to a significant proportion of the older population.

11. The polling also asked people over the age of 65 whether it would be difficult to move home at various ages. 72% of all respondents thought it would be difficult to move once they were 75 or over. Of these 30% thought it would be very difficult and something they could not manage - even with help. The process of moving and crucially the energy required to create a new life elsewhere becomes a significant barrier.

12. It seems, therefore, that if we are to work with the natural cycle of people’s lives this group between the ages of 50 and 75 is key. This group are up for moving and doing so in large numbers. This large group of “younger old” movers provides an opportunity – which we are currently missing – to see a substantial proportion of those in their 70’s living in homes that work better for ageing, pre-empting many of the problems we see further down the line. New towns must provide options for this key group.

13. Downsizing also has a role to play, and we may be able to get more people to move over the age of 75 with a better choice of options. However, they will be many moving when younger and many also who will age in place. Age UK polling showed 20% of 50- to 54-year-olds never expected to move home. There are others who evaluate the complex factors at play – where care needs will be best met, what the financial consequences of a move might be, their emotional attachment to an existing home and a community – and choose to age in place.

14. To remain inclusive and accessible to all age groups New Town plans must assume that there will be many routes to ageing and build in flexibility. Identifying specific homes for older people is too restricting and does not reflect the reality of people’s lives. We need homes that can adapt across a life course so that they work for a full and active life but also if people’s needs change as they age. The typologies must be broad, across all tenures and income levels and go beyond options for a traditional downsizer or specialist housing for the “older old”. We need more focus on the key group aged between the ages of 50 and 75.

15. The Government’s target of building 1.5 million new homes may represent just over 5% of the English housing stock but it is, for example, 34% of the total number of homes that currently have step free access. With small numbers of homes having the characteristics that older people might need, additional homes can change supply. By building the right kind of home, new build - and new towns in particular - could make a significant difference to the housing choices older people have.

16.To ensure that new towns remain inclusive and accessible to all groups throughout their lives, Age UK would like to see:

a) New towns embed the needs of an ageing population, recognising that people will take different paths to old age, moving at different ages or choosing to age in place.

b) New towns address the extreme shortage of housing suitable for an ageing population, looking at need amongst different demographic groups within the local area. Analysis needs to be detailed and nuanced looking at those approaching and beyond pension age and go beyond the usual focus on specialist homes for the “older old” and downsizer housing. We need to consider the many groups who do not often get mentioned in local plans, for example.

•                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Private renters: The number of older private renters is forecast to triple by 2042, accounting for 1.7 million households or 17% of the older population.[4] Over 50% of renters aged between 45 and 64 have no savings and many will struggle to afford their rent in retirement.[5] The Pensions Policy Institute (PPI) estimates that if current trends continue the cost of housing benefit for older renters will increase by 40% by 2041.[6] 70% of older renters say it would be difficult to find another property if they had to move and older renters urgently need more options.[7]
•                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   50- to 75-year-olds: The large number of movers looking for a home that is not necessarily smaller but is better configured to ageing and easier to maintain.

c) Ensure all new homes are built to the higher accessibility standards of Part M4 Category 2 of the building regulations. Accessibility is important. Only 12% of households in England with a household reference person over the age of 75 have step free access to their home and many of the cases Age UK deals with involve older people struggling to maintain their independence within the structure of their home.[8] New towns must help to address this shortage.

Adaptations can be difficult to get. The average time to receive an adaptation through the Disabled Facilities Grant was 247 working days in 2023/24 (346 calendar days, nearly a year), up from 223 days in 2022/23.[9] Age UK has seen cases which take several years.[10] Renters can find it difficult to get their landlord’s permission to adapt a home.

Adaptations are cheaper and quicker in a Category 2 home. Recent analysis by Habinteg suggests that stairlifts cost between 60% and 72% less in a home built to the higher accessibility standards of Part M4, Category 2, rather than Category 1, installing a walk-in shower 27% less.[11] The Bath-out-2 study recently undertaken by the University of York shows that adaptations are more beneficial to the individual, free up more time for unpaid carers and save more money for formal care and health services if installed quickly.[12]

Over half of the £711m DFG annual budget is spent on replacing baths with showers.[13]

We need to build as much accessibility into new homes as possible so that homes can flex to accommodate the varied paths people will take to older age. We need to build housing that is less reliant on adaptation, facilitates independent living and reduces pressure on social care, the NHS, and the cost of caring for an ageing population.