Better Government for Older People (BGOP) is an exciting government initiative, which encourages local authorities to more actively engage with and better meet the needs of older people. It also enables older people to directly influence ministers and therefore to influence change.
The proportion of older people aged 50 and over has increased significantly over the past century, from one in seven in 1901 to one in three today. This trend is set to continue with an anticipated 40% of population likely to be over 50 by 2021.
Central Government, realising the impact this will have on society, is encouraging public authorities and the voluntary sector to actively engage with and re-align their services to better meet the needs of older people. This new integrated, citizen-centred approach is being led through the Better Government for Older People (BGOP) initiative.
The aim of the BGOP programme is to:
"To improve older people's lives by ensuring the public sector consider older people primarily as 'citizens' like everybody else.
To ensure that older people are fully engaged in developing local, regional and national strategies with all levels of governance and sharing good practice throughout the UK.".