I am pleased to introduce you to a newly-founded association which will be overseeing and supporting retirement community providers, like ourselves.

 

Still regarded as a relatively new concept in the UK, retirement communities have emerged slowly over the last three decades and up until now have been existing as individual entities, with little effective measurement or any combined representation.

 

This week saw the launch of the Associated Retirement Community Operators (ARCO) – One of its primary aims is to raise the awareness of retirement community models as a credible solution to the pressing challenge of how we meet the lifestyle, health and social care needs of our ageing population.

 

Latest figures say that by 2030 the number of people aged over 85 will have doubled. There is an ever-increasing need for proper provision. In my opinion, it is vital that the retirement community model starts to be taken seriously as a mainstream option for this growing volume of older people.

 

ARCO will not only raise awareness of this model, it will help instill an enhanced level of confidence for consumers by setting standards for registration and future membership.

 

This will inevitably increase the volume and quality of expertise within this sector – a benefit which is to everyone’s advantage, and one which I am personally keen to see develop.

 

As chief executive of Retirement Villages Ltd I am delighted to take up the invitation to Chair the newly-formed ARCO association.

 

I strongly believe that the retirement community model is an intrinsic part of the UK’s social make-up, as it is already in many other countries around the world.

 

I look forward to bringing you more news from ARCO in the coming weeks and months.