One hundred not out: a route map for long lives

In the UK, more of us can now hope to live for ninety or a hundred years. The International Longevity Centre (ILC) has published a route map for long lives that identifies the next steps for UK policy makers – aligned with expert consensus and current policy direction – to make the most of longevity, by exploring policies that affect us all, throughout our lives.

The ILC’s report details past developments in UK ageing policy and sets out the challenges facing communities in an ageing world and includes a mix of next-step solutions, bolder ideas, and international examples that they propose could be used to tackle them. The full report is broken down into 11 chapters, each of which relates to a certain challenge that increasing life span will pose for government, industries, society and individuals.

Three of the chapters detail the challenges and opportunitues around health, care and housing. The full report argues that housing policy has failed to adapt as our population has changed and aged and recommends solutions, including to review building regulations and requirements, launch a new ‘decent homes’ programme and encourage the retro-fitting and adaptation of existing homes by requiring that all homes put up for sale are certified against a ‘lifetime suitability rating'.