The council is developing an ambitious strategy for helping people in the Borough as they move into old age. A survey has been carried out among residents over the age of 50, with more than 1,500 residents taking part in mainly Zoom consultations.

Now, the council’s commissioning team has produced a series of tasks and action schedules, which have been put out for further consultation. The main themes on the schedule cover finance, employment, volunteering, and retirement.

Retirement: A special document for dealing with retirement supported by two public sessions on how to prepare for retirement;.

Finance: this covers advice on personal finances with more interventions and promotion by Newham Money Service There will also be special advice to residents who are struggling to manage their finances, but who are not entitled to benefits;

Employment and Volunteering: plans envisage production of an advice booklet for local employers on how they can support their elderly workforce. There will also be actions to support people who wish to work beyond retirement age;

Planning for Later Life: this theme confront the health challenges of retirement with advice on coping with onset of dementia, ways to get more frail residents to contact their GP; and more pain management courses;

There will also be preparation of a guide on sorting things out in preparation for end of life, including advice on preparing a will and setting up of powers of attorney.

For more information or comments, please contact lydia.drummond@newham.gov.uk

Other suggestions include support for volunteering projects by elderly people in schools and colleges. For example, reading for young children and organising social history talks on what Newham was like in the young days of elderly generations.

The council’s final report will also include suggestions to develop a council framework for resident engagement to encourage participation in meetings, to ensure good chairing and facilitation of meetings and to advise residents later how their meeting contributions have been followed up, so that they might not feel ignored.

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