Planning for an ageing community

12 April 2005

Section C: Local government action

Priority

The change in demographics will require a proactive and innovative approach to population ageing that is responsive to the needs and aspirations of all Australians.

The Australian Government has developed the National Strategy for an Ageing Australia which provides a framework for responding to the opportunities and challenges of population ageing. The national strategy concluded that the implications of population ageing affect more than just aged care services and that an effective response to population ageing requires a whole-of-government approach, including leadership by local government.

Ninety-seven percent of local councils believe that they must plan now for the impacts of an ageing population. The breakdown is 70.26% for councils that strongly agree and 27.16% for councils that agree. Only 2.59% were uncertain about the question. Table eight shows that in responding to population ageing, 31.43% of councils rate it as a high priority, 45.24% as a medium priority and 21.93% as a low priority.

Table 8: Local council's priority in responding to population ageing

Priority	Number of responses	% of responses
High	66	31.43
Medium	95	45.24
Low	45	21.43
None	4	1.90

Planning

One-quarter (25.24%) of local councils have developed a strategy in response to population ageing. A number of councils have developed ageing strategies that focus on whole-of-council operations, while other strategies focus on specific areas such as health and wellbeing, access and equity, recreation, economic and community development, aged care services, accommodation, transport and long-life learning.

There are 159 councils that have not formulated a response to population ageing, however 35.22% are in the process of developing a strategy. For the majority of these councils, the completion date is within the next 12 to 24 months.

Figure 3: Completion date local council ageing strategies

Just under half of all councils (106 remaining councils) that responded to the survey, have not developed, or in the process of developing, a strategy to respond to population ageing. Nevertheless, 61.32% intend to develop a strategy to respond to population ageing. For the majority of these councils, the likely start date is in the next 12 months.

Figure 4: Start date for the development of local council ageing strategies

In terms of whole-of-council integration, table ten highlights that ageing and/or older people issues are integrated into 43% of council’s corporate plans. Another 18% believe ageing and/or older people issues are clearly integrated. In contrast, one quarter of councils considered that ageing and/or older people issues were not clearly integrated into their council’s corporate plan.

Table 9 – Integration of ageing/older people issues into corporate plans

Intergration	No. of responses	% of response
Clearly integrated	39	18.57
Integrated	92	43.81
Uncertain	17	8.1
Not clearly integrated	54	25.71
Not in	8	3.81

Initiatives

Services

Today, councils undertake a broad range of services to meet the needs of their seniors’ population. The key service initiatives that councils provide to support their seniors’ population include library services (63.33%), home and community care (46.67%) and volunteering services (34%). Other important initiatives local councils provide to support their seniors’ population include community grants, recreation and leisure services, carers support and seniors’ centres. The results also show that there are a number of emerging service initiatives which include health and wellbeing (22.01%), continuing education (15.2%) and housing (14.8%).

Table 10a: Services local councils provide to support seniors
(Number of councils from those who responded to the survey)

Service/program	Major	Minor	Emerging	None
Seniors centres	69	76	15	50
Residential aged care	33	31	11	135
Transport	40	74	20	76
Home and community care	98	31	10	71
Carer support	50	48	11	101
Employment	6	32	19	153
Continuing education	11	49	32	118
Health and wellbeing	47	74	46	42
Volunteering	71	67	30	41
Recreation and leisure	70	86	38	16
Housing	24	53	31	102
Community grants	73	90	22	25
Library services	133	52	7	18
Other	22	5	4	39

Table 10b: Services local councils provide to support seniors
(% of councils from those who responded to the survey)

Service/program	Major	Minor	Emerging	None
Seniors centres	32.9	36.2	7.14	23.8
Residential aged care	15.7	14.8	5.24	64.3
Transport	19.1	35.2	9.52	36.2
Home and community care	46.7	14.8	4.76	33.8
Carer support	23.8	22.9	5.24	48.1
Employment	2.86	15.2	9.05	72.9
Continuing education	5.24	23.3	15.2	56.2
Health and wellbeing	22.5	35.4	22	20.1
Volunteering	34	32.1	14.4	19.6
Recreation and leisure	33.3	41	18.1	7.62
Housing	11.4	25.2	14.8	48.6
Community grants	34.8	42.9	10.5	11.9
Library services	63.3	24.8	3.33	8.57
Other	31.4	7.14	5.71	55.7

Workforce

As the population ages over the coming decades, so will the Australian workforce. At present 170,000 people enter the Australian workforce each year. However, Access Economics predicts that only 12,500 people will enter the workforce each year during the entire decade of the 2020s.

These trends are likely to be reflected within local government. In 2001, local government employed 100,000 people, with 40% aged 45 years or older. As a consequence, it is predicted that half of the current local government workforce will have retired by 2020.

To assist mature workers continue employment, local councils have employed a range of workforce management initiatives. The three initiatives that received the highest response rates were part-time work, promotion of a healthy work environment and carers leave. Interestingly, over 60 councils do not provide assistance for their mature aged workers.

Figure 5: Council initiatives to assist mature workers continue employment

As illustrated in figure six, 118 local councils acknowledged that they did not have any initiative to support the skill utilisation of seniors. Of those councils that did respond to the question, most local councils utilised the skills of seniors in special projects or projects necessitating specific expertise.

Figure 6: Initiatives to utilise the skills of seniors within local council workforce

Partnerships

Currently, local councils have established a range of partnerships to optimise outcomes for older people. Service providers are the most common form of partnerships, with 144 responses. Other forms of partnerships that received a high response rate included the aged care sector (134) and state governments (117).

Figure 7: Partnerships established by local councils to optimise outcomes for seniors

Training

Despite the benefits of training, just 38 (18%) councils responding to the survey, have funded population ageing issues training or awareness programs for councillors, staff or the community in the last 12 months. Of the 38 councils, examples of awareness raising initiatives included:

• Community engagement through social planning conferences, forums and workshops;
• Information dissemination related to local council programs for seniors;
• Officers awareness training in the development of responses to population ageing; and
• Councillor briefings related to implications of population ageing, in particular budgetary and service impacts.

Recognition and support

Local councils provide an excellent vehicle to create positive change within the community. Recognition and support programs for seniors are important as they promote active citizenship and encourage seniors to be a part of the local community.

As figure eight highlights, advisory groups (141) were the most popular initiative that local councils employed to promote recognition and support of its seniors. Other popular initiatives that were employed were the council newsletter (122) and seniors’ festivals (76). In the other category, examples include seniors social groups, seniors expo and seniors service directories.

Figure 8: Initiatives established to promote recognition and support of seniors

Resources

Finances

Due to the wide range and variation in services provided by local councils for older people, ALGA did not attempt to quantify local government revenue and expenditure. However, in recent years a number of studies have investigated the impact of population ageing on local government finances.

The 2003-04 State of the Regions Report, found that much of local government could face serious budgetary pressure as it struggles to keep pace with increasing demand for human services while attempting to maintain and develop traditional services, such as road and infrastructure maintenance.

The report also identified that the most serious age-related threat to local government revenue was 'probably' the use of age-related budget stress by Commonwealth and state governments to cut financial assistance to councils. In addition, the Productivity Commission has examined the economic implications of an ageing Australian on all spheres of government. The Productivity Commission report found that:

• ageing of the population will place increasing pressure on local government expenditure;
• there is likely to be an emerging fiscal deficit at the local government level under current policy settings;
• the number of pensioners and pensioner rate concessions, is projected to increase significantly resulting in a lower rate base - local government's only source of taxation revenue;
• local government revenue is unlikely to increase at a greater rate than the growth in GDP and some components, such as Federal financial assistance grants to local government, will grow at slower rates.

Funding

Local government has three major sources of revenue: municipal rates (38% of Total local government revenue), user charges (32%), and grants and subsidies from other spheres of government (12%). Local government does not underestimate the importance of Financial Assistance Grants (FAGs) which accounts for more than 50% of council revenue in some rural and remote councils where own-source revenue raising capacity is severely limited.

In terms of population ageing, nearly one-third (30.95%) of councils responding to the survey had received a grant specifically to address ageing issues. As figure nine shows, the main source of funding was from the Australian Government (187 responses).

Figure 9: Number of grants received by local councils to address ageing issues

Staffing

Only 35% of local councils responding to the survey have a staff position that is dedicated to ageing issues. The key areas of focus for these positions range from community care, aged and disability services, community development and social planning.

Future resource needs

The most important future resource requirements identified by councils were specialised staff (118) and support systems and networks (102). In the other category suggestions included more general funding and financial assistance in the development of local ageing plans.

Figure 10: Future resource requirements to assist in responding to population ageing