Our society is ageing. That is the stark reality, and we should have the grace to accept what we can’t control.

But, more importantly, we should have the courage to make the best of this massive demographic shift by radically rethinking the future of care in the UK. That will require brave leadership in dramatically overhauling our current policies, provisions and perceptions.

In other words, we can’t stop the population getting older, but we can make a huge difference to the quality of that ageing. It is entirely in our gift to determine whether more years of life translates into more healthy living, social well-being and economic productivity.

An ageing demographic is not a problem unless we choose to make it one. The trend can easily be translated into a great opportunity if we are prepared to step up, lean in and play our part in making it happen.

The logic is inescapable: a healthier older population will take the pressure off the NHS which currently spends 40% of its entire budget on the over-65s. It will also hugely boost GNP and improve the daily lives of millions of citizens.

Creating the roadmap to allow that healthier ageing to happen is of paramount importance. By making it a strategic priority, supported by targeted investment and innovation, we can reduce these costs and seize the incredible opportunities that longer, healthier life can offer.

There are three fundamental areas that we need to address: health, housing, and work.

Step 1: Health

The state of the nation’s health has been brought into sharp focus by the Covid pandemic: over 90% of deaths from the virus have been in people with at least one pre-existing health condition.

The sad fact is that many of us fail to enjoy the benefits of a longer life due to inequalities which are both unfair and preventable. The wealthy, for instance, are likely to have almost twice as many years of disability-free life ahead of them as those living in poverty.

But it is a myth that age-related health conditions are inevitable – they are not. Our chances of a healthy longer life are greatly improved by adopting the right behaviours – eating healthily, exercising regularly – and avoiding the ‘despair diseases’ of drugs, alcohol, obesity, isolation and alienation.

So, if we want more people to enjoy good health for longer, we need to do more to prevent and delay ill-health in the first place.

The NHS has a desire to focus on prevention and early intervention but to achieve this there needs to be a fundamental shift in attitudes, in culture and in resource allocation.

Step 2: Housing

It’s becoming increasingly clear that where you live has an enormous impact on how well you live. Most of us want to live in our own homes, close to family and friends in familiar communities, for as long as possible. Being able to do so is a strong indicator for prolonged healthy ageing.

Although nine out of 10 older people live in mainstream housing, millions of those homes are neither warm nor safe. That lack of safe, accessible housing undermines our aspirations to ensure that people stay well and stay connected to their communities for as long as possible.

Incredibly, just 9% of homes in England (a little over two million) meet the most basic standard of accessibility while one in five excess deaths in winter are attributed to cold housing.Vulnerable people are dying because their houses are poorly insulated, their boilers are inefficient and because they can’t afford to have the heating on.

Right now, the direct effects alone of poor-quality housing costs the NHS an estimated £2.5 billion per year. But by 2040, one in four of us will be 65 or older. Things have got to change. We need more homes built to a higher standard of accessibility along with more affordable and suitable housing options.

Providing warm, safe and suitable homes will greatly improve health and enable millions more to enjoy long disability-free lives.

The effect on care demand will be transformational. Stepping up and facing up to our housing challenge is front and centre. It is a core element of our future of care model.

Step 3: Work

The role of employers in the future of care is not often discussed. Working carers are often overlooked, a largely silent and invisible army.

Recent research shows that three in 10 carers worry about telling their employer about their responsibilities, fearing the consequences.

What does it say about us that carers experience such a hostile environment around the challenges they face? Juggling unpaid ­­and demanding care roles with the pressures of work – while often looking after children as well – leads to incredible stress financially, emotionally and physically.

Employers need to acknowledge these informal caring responsibilities and offer support, if working carers are not to be overwhelmed by the struggle to balance their multiple roles.

Caring for dependent aged people should be recognised as an accepted employment right in much the same way as maternity, and indeed paternity, leave.

Parents can already take up to a year off to look after their new-born children. Surely then, we can see the logic and compassion in allowing employees to take time off to look after elderly relatives. Carers’ leave is simply looking after someone who has become dependent at the other end of their life.

But whereas the campaign for parental rights took many years to reach its current stage, we need to learn these lessons quickly and move faster when it comes to implementing carers’ leave 

Research from the World Economic Forum found that employers who seek to create social value in precisely this way outperform their competitors who focus solely on financial results. Respecting these basic human rights makes hard business sense.

Improving healthy life expectancy goes hand-in-hand with social care reform. They are indivisible. The trend towards an increasingly ageing society is a given. Our choice is whether to embrace the opportunities it offers.

Investing to support our ageing society – across health, housing and the workplace – will be fundamentally important as we work together to improve the future of our society and the future of care.