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Northern European international retirement migrants are often viewed as affluent and use migration as a route to a better quality of life. However, as these migrants transition into the 'fourth age', the onset of age-related illnesses, frailty and care needs can lead to increased levels of risk and insecurity. Through 34 qualitative interviews with older British migrants in Spain, the paper explores how these migrants access and experience care as they age. It draws on a lens of precarity that allows an understanding not only of individual care needs, but of the political, economic and social context in which they are situated, including social protections and public safety nets. The findings suggest that distant family relationships and limited access to formal social protection can both create and exacerbate precarity. These older migrants therefore develop different strategies to access care that include drawing on informal relationships and voluntary organisations within the British community in Spain. The paper contributes to understanding how international retirement migrants manage their care needs, and theoretically extends our understanding of how the intersection of old age, migration and care can create new forms of precarity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the seminal research of O'Reilly, Karen [2000.TheBritish on the Costa del Sol. London: Routledge] and King, Russell, Anthony Warnes, Allan Williams [2000.Sunset Lives: British Retirement Migration to the Mediterranean. New York: Berg Publishers] about British citizens on the Costa del Sol there has been a surge in the publication of lifestyle migration papers, books and research. Nonetheless, there is a part of the lifestyle migration process that has been rarely explored: a return move to the country of origin following retirement migration. Research has indicated a broad increase in the number of older British returnees, yet there has been no substantive research on the topic. This paper therefore attempts to fill this gap by using Spanish registry data to examine the number of British retirees since 2009 who have returned to the UK. In addition, the results of an electronic survey to older British people in Spain are presented which suggest that considerable numbers of British citizens aged over 55 living in the Northern Costa Blanca are likely to return in the next few years. These data therefore indicate the relevance of return migration from Spain to the UK as a significant issue to the academic community as well as to British and Spanish policy-makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent years have seen a growth in research on retirement/lifestyle migration to Spain, however this has tended to focus on the reasons for moving, as well as the lifestyles adopted as part of a healthy and active retirement. However, ageing in Spain can bring challenges as a person's resources for independent living diminish. This paper draws on narrative interviews with vulnerable older British people in Spain, focusing on those who have encountered a severe decline in health, are frail and in need of care. It looks at the formal and informal networks and agencies that support these individuals, in particular the resources and strategies they employ to access care. Drawing on a framework of care provision developed by Glucksmann and Lyons, four broad modes of provision for old age care used by older British people in Spain are identified: state/public, family/community, voluntary/not-for-profit and market/for-profit. The paper argues that there are language, cultural, spatial and financial barriers when accessing care in Spain as an older British citizen. It is concluded that there are some frail, vulnerable people that may fall through a support gap, whereby they are no longer the responsibility of UK welfare services, yet not fully recognised in their new country of residence, and asks if more should be done to support this population. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Volunteering is a ubiquitous and distinct feature of the British retired community in Spain, and for many older migrants volunteering constitutes a significant part of their post-retirement life abroad. Especially in the management and organisation of health and age-related problems voluntary organisations have come to play a crucial role not only for the British community but also for the Spanish host society and public health-care system. Furthermore, volunteering represents a valuable sphere of activity offering personal benefits for those who are actively engaged. Based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in a charity organisation in the province of Alicante on the northern Costa Blanca, this paper examines the extensive functions that volunteering and charitable activities can offer British older migrants. The implementation of voluntary work within the specific context of retirement migration is identified as a multi-functional individual and societal resource. Volunteering for the retirees is described as a true means of adaptation to a new life context, and as a highly reflexive strategy of risk minimisation and self-realisation. This implies individual benefits and opens up possibilities of active ageing. Finally, volunteering will be analysed as a performative expression of transmigrants' cultural bifocality, reflecting both a high level of commitment to Spain as well as a specific feature of British community spirit and traditionalism. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]