How will the EU Referendum affect older people?

After the UK's vote to leave the EU on Thursday 23 June, Age UK Charity Director Caroline Abrahams offered this advice for older people:

'The outcome of the EU Referendum is likely to have a real practical impact on everyone in the UK. Already, even at this very early stage, we can imagine that the implications may be especially significant for some groups of older people - for example, for older British citizens living in other parts of the EU and for older people living in the UK who do not hold UK citizenship.

'For now though, please remember that for now your rights are as they were before the Referendum and they will only change if new laws are passed. Any existing entitlements you receive, including the State Pension, remain as they are now unless and until the Government brings in changes. 'Even if they decide to do so they will give you some notice. Most experts say that they do expect some changes, but not straight away and possibly not for a year or two, or even longer. We will be monitoring this closely.

The big questions are yet to be answered

'So much remains fluid at the moment that although we can begin to identify some of the big questions, it is too early to know what the answers will be. They will depend in large part on the decisions that policymakers make in the next weeks and months, both here and abroad.

'Today, we want to reassure older people and their families that at Age UK, in light of the result we will be working hard to do 3 things:

1. Tracking what is happening to policy, law and practice
2. Influencing the decisions to be made by policymakers in the best interests of older people today and in the future
3. Ensuring we continue to be the ‘go to place' for up-to-date information and advice at a time of considerable change

'As soon as there is some definite information to communicate affecting older people and their families, we will do so.

In the meantime, if you already have questions you would like answering, following on from the EU Referendum result, please let us know and we will add them to the list we already have, which we intend to respond to as soon as we practically can. You can email us your questions at policy@ageuk.org.uk

The denigration of older people following the refendum result is wrong

'Finally, we would also like to say that we think the denigration of older people that we have seen following the EU Referendum result, especially on social media, has been unfair and wrong. You can read more about this on our latest blog post.'