Speaking to the Telegraph, he said: "There is a hectic and feverish obsession with youth that can lead us to use language that diminishes older people. I've heard myself do it, worrying aloud that there are not enough young people in the Church of England."
Lord Williams, a patron of Abbeyfield, which provides Anglican based sheltered housing and care homes for elderly people, also believes future pensioners should be more pro-active in planning for their later years, admitting that he and his wife Jane are already planning a time when they expect to be more dependent on others.
"It is a problem we see in families, that older people don't want to let go until it's too late. It's difficult to talk about this without sounding grating, but there is that tendency for us all as we get older to put off the moment of slimming down until we are forced to do so by a crisis," he said
The 64-year-old also said he would like to see a system introduced where people are allowed to ease into their retirement: "Many people of my age currently face a zero-sum-game choice. They either soldier on at work, feeling increasingly tired and not able to contribute as much as they once had, or else they retire and stop altogether. That's it, one or the other.
"I'd like to see many more people supported instead to opt for a new rhythm of work when they reach a certain age that is less hectic, less driven, but where they can still be and feel valued. At the moment, there is too much of the attitude that you work until you drop, or retire and die. That's not a real choice."
