Active Ageing
In most Member States, “Active Ageing” is a catchphrase for strategies for examining the situation of older employees and achieving longer employment in this target group.
In Denmark, France and the United Kingdom, the pertinent ministries have set up specific websites and launched programmes addressed specifically to employers and providing information about the situation of older employees (the Danish website “Seniorpraksis.dk”, the French initiative “Pour l’emploi des seniors”, and the British “Age positive” programme). In order to encourage older people to work longer, the reformed British activation strategy “Get Britain Working” is expected to introduce targeted reintegration schemes for seniors in the course of 2011. For more information, click here.
Unter dem Stichwort „Ältere Arbeitnehmer/innen“ stellt das österreichische BMASK eine Reihe von Maßnahmen vor, die unter anderem auch den Verbleib älterer Arbeitnehmer/innen im Erwerbsleben fördert.
Under the heading “Older employees” the Austrian Federal Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Consumer Protection presents a series of measures intended in part to encourage the retention of older employees in the workplace.
The low-threshold advice and support programme “Fit2Work” was launched in July 2011 with the aim of maintaining the employability of older employees. It is a preventive programme to reduce the threat of disability through timely professional advice and case management. The programme is addressed to people of working age who have health problems, and it provides help in the form of one-stop shops. The first participating states are Vienna, Lower Austria and Styria. By 2013, consulting services will be gradually established in all Austrian federal states. Project coordination is in the hands of the Federal Social Welfare Office. The actual consulting services (“Fit2Work”) will be provided by external implementation partners in each province. € 28 million are being made available for this programme.
More information on this programme can be found on the website of the "Arbeiterkammer Wien" and the website of the Austrian Parliament.
Other focal points in the debate on “Active Ageing” are the promotion of civic engagement and the participation of older people in the community. In Spain, a “day of participation, voluntary engagement and active ageing” (Jornada de debate: Participación y voluntariado de las personas mayores y envejecimiento activo) took place in May, organized by the Institute for the Elderly and Social Services in cooperation with the Spanish Ministry of Culture.
More information on the Spanish conference is available here.
The British programme “Active at 60“ supports older people in the transition from work to retirement in an effort to avoid social isolation and loneliness. The programme provides grants to volunteer organizations in the amount of one million pounds. These funds are administered from the UK Community Development Foundation (CDF) and awarded to a total of 30 communities nationwide.
For more information on the British programme, click here.
