The power, expectation and wisdom of pensioners is unstoppable. Policy makers, governments and any new Prime Ministers ignore the older generation at your peril. Pensioners make up a significant proportion of voters in the UK and it was clear by attending the National Pensioners Convention Conference in Birmingham on the 21 September 2022 they are not happy to what is happening to them, and they are not going to keep quiet about it.
Many are digitally excluded from society, seeing face to face services disappear at banks, at shops and government services go online which they simply cannot access. Leaving them feeling isolated, vulnerable, and confused as the world races on without them, leaving them behind, unable to afford and adapt to the new technology which with every push of the button someone is out to scam them. Rob them of their passwords, personal data and money leaving them wide open to fraud, theft, and persecution by faceless thieves with no conscience. The answer is not pushing older people online it is ensuring all public and private services are accessible and age friendly. Ensuring a quality of service with a friendly face, with a smile and a welcoming voice, and a genuine willingness to help is priceless and can change someone’s day into something special, breaking the monotony of loneliness which, many older people face in their daily lives. Diversity of service delivery for all people’s needs is essential and companies not ensuring this are not only missing a golden economic opportunity but a beautiful opportunity to enrich their staffs lives through lost conversations with their customers who are later on in their lives.
Shared conversations about the weather, the news, the soap dramas on TVs, weddings, funerals etc that happen when people shop, get tickets, and go to the bank etc are all part of daily life. However, the big corporations and the government want to steal the art of conversation and personal service away from the very people who pay their wages and vote them into power. The latest proposed closure of train tickets offices across the UK illustrates how divorced the Government is to what service is actually needed for the safety, security and accessibility of all passengers, especially those who are blind, visually impaired, disabled, older and those who need help. The plans dreamt up by a failed Secretary of State for Transport now sitting in the back benches of Parliament need to be urgently rethought as they will make even catching a train impossible for many disabled people in the UK, plunging them into greater isolation and loneliness.
The MPs and politicians need to wake up and start acting on the voices of older people, just because their presence on social media is not on their phone and in their face 24 7, older people will make their vote count at the ballot box. The same is true for businesses who do not retain the human contact of service, older people will vote with their purses, they will take their money elsewhere and with them a lifetime of missed conversations and lived experiences.
The conference brought people together after the COVID years which separated, disconnected, and prevented many older people being able to be connected to campaign at the rapidly changing world around them due to lockdown. The conference was a call to arms and one which pensioners were very keen to take on, to hit the streets and start using their voices, their presence and their banners to make their needs heard. It would be foolish for any Government or big businesses to ignore an army of older people who demand proper access to services to ensure their health, social and economic needs are met with dignity, respect and they deserve, Pensioners do not want to just to survive, they want to thrive in older age and by excluding them in all aspects of life will only make them unite more and become an even stronger voice which will be unstoppable. Nobody can be left behind and it is clear the members of the NPC will not let this happen.
Sarah Gayton
Street Access Campaign Coordinator
National Federation of the Blind of the UK
