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The Civil and Social Justice Needs of Older People
Age Concern England have published a report on the civil and social justice needs of people in later life. The report is based on an analysis of the LSRC’s Civil and Social Justice Survey that focused on the experiences of civil justice problems of people over 50. The analysis also considered the effects of being isolated on older respondents. The report defines isolated older people as aged 60 or over, single, without the use of motorised transport and without children under 18 living with them.
Occurrence of problems:
- Over a three and a half year survey period, just over a quarter of older people (aged 50 or over) reported having encountered one or more civil law problems
- Among older people, reporting of problems falls with age, dropping from 35% of people aged between 50 and 54 to 14% of people aged 80 or over
- Having a long-term illness or disability, being in receipt of benefits or having a very low income are particularly associated with civil justice problems in later life
The report points out that as the research sample consists only of private households, it excludes people living in hospitals, nursing or care homes or prisons. The survey also excludes categories, such as community care, that are more relevant in later life. This means that the report provides the lowest estimate of the incidence of problems that older people face.
Impact of problems
Suffering physical and stress-related ill-health as a result of the problem or problems were significant impacts for older people. 20%suffered physical ill-health and 24% stress-related ill health. Of those who reported physical health impacts, 83% had accessed health and social care services (a GP, hospital or other care worker) as a result. 23% of those reporting stress-related health impacts went on to receive counselling, mostly from GPs.
Being isolated had a significant effect on the amount of stress felt as a result of problems. Isolated older people were twice as likely to report spending all of their time worrying about the problem as non-isolated people; 16% compared to 8%.
Advice-seeking
51% of respondents obtained advice, 31% handled the problem alone and 10% did nothing. 5% tried but failed to obtain help and therefore handled the problem alone. 2% gave up.
More isolated older people were more likely to do nothing mainly because they thought the problem would sort itself out (32%) or that it would be too stressful to sort out (24%). The isolated group were more likely to try but fail to obtain advice and give up.
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