It sounds like the shadow work and pensions team are busy. If I am correctly interpreting what she has said so far on the issue, the big reforms the party are considering could make a real difference for older workers.
And it is encouraging to hear that Labour are planning some specific proposals to make employment support work better for us when we reach our 50s and 60s.
In her next speech, we want to hear about a national programme of dedicated 50+ employment support – tailored, targeted support that older workers can feel confident will work for them.
We want to know that the Labour Party has taken note of the evidence of what works, or what is showing real promise, for improving outcomes on 50+ employment support: group coaching, in-work support, different routes in, and opportunities to trial a new job role before taking a leap.
Mid-life reviews are a policy that have been championed by the current government and should not be allowed to fade out if there is a change of governing party this year.
This idea was originally incubated by a Lid-Dem-led department in the Coalition years and should be viewed by all parties as an opportunity to help all of us take stock, look forward and potentially pivot as we reach the middle of our working lives. We want a commitment to retaining this from Liz Kendall.
DWP doesn’t hold all the levers to improve the prospects for older workers in this country. Under their proposed ‘New Deal for Older Workers’, it sounds like the shadow business and trade team is drawing up plans for a right to paid carer’s leave to give carers the best chance of balancing employment with their many other responsibilities. This should include provisions for ten days of paid leave, and six months of unpaid leave.
More than anything, we want a signal from all political parties that they will no longer tolerate a situation where fewer than one in five participants in their 60s are getting a job from public employment support (as is the case on the Work and Health programme).
If we do not reinvest some of the savings to the public purse from increasing the state pension age in helping people keep working in their late 60s, then those ‘savings’ will simply mean holding more people in poverty for longer.
And that’s not something any political party wants on their record.