Aging & Social Change: Tenth Interdisciplinary Conference

Abstract

This paper presents national-level analysis, discussing the impact of globalisation and neoliberalism on health and social care policy in the UK, using Grenier et al’s (2020) theorisation of precarity as a framework for analysis. They argue that a paradigm shift from welfare to active to precarious ageing has taken place. From the 1990s, neoliberalism and deregulation of employment protection and pension provision has led to an emphasis on extending working lives, participation in unpaid labour and the maintenance of independence. In contrast, since 2008, when the economic crisis hit, there has been an erosion of secure labour, increasing gaps emerging between generations and a weakening of rights to social protection in law. The analysis in this paper begins with a discussion of austerity policy and the ensuing erosion of social protections in relation to employment and working rights of health and social care staff. This is followed by discussion of the effects of large private shareholding organisations entering the (low-risk and high-yield) social care market. The conglomerates Southern Cross and Four Seasons are used as case studies, illustrating how asset-stripping, reductions in labour costs, and the weakening of employment law has led to greater precarity for both health and social care workers and for older people. The Covid-19 pandemic shone a very bright light on these issues and their devastating effects.