@RamblingEclectic "hard choices and shifts in perspectives and expectations" - this sounds very much like dealing with decline. How are you understanding decline if its not preparing ourselves for live becoming harder in most ways?
Things being different to expectation and making choices people don't like because it goes against those expectations doesn't mean it's going to be "harder in most ways". For me, terminal is the key part of terminal decline and would mean we're past the point of no return to social collapse. As others have mentioned, sectors have their ups and downs, regions of the country have long been having their ups and downs, but on the whole, I think the UK has a lot of opportunities, part of why I immigrated here rather than staying in the States, but also a lot of nonsense social perspectives and expectations that will make adjusting involve hard choices and perspective changes (similarly in the US, though I think it will be even harder there).
One for example is older age and how we die
The chances of you just falling asleep one night peacefully and warm in your bed of old age I believe are virtually zero.
That's difficult to tell in the UK as it is heavily discouraged to put old age on the death certificate, especially if someone is under 80.
Many of the things listed on there so we have 'reason' for the death are basically old age. It's still fairly normal for older people to slowly need more and more sleep, possibly with a rally near the end, before they go to sleep, their breathing slows, starts pausing for periods of time, until it stops. Sometimes terminal agitation sets in, but even at home, that can be well managed in many cases.
While likely to increase as percent of population as our population ages, the last stats I saw said that in those over 60, the prevalence of all forms of dementia was 7.1%, with those in their 60s being less than 2%, those in their 70s being 3-4% and with those over 80 at just over 11%. While it's hard to have clear numbers for old age deaths, IME, those stats are all far less than who die at those ages peaceful in bed, and placing the cut off at 60 because of dementia makes very little sense.
There is a social expectation that once we're over 60, we're all going to fall apart, while at the same time, many of the people in powerful positions in society are also over 60. We need to both recognise that disabilities that prevent working can happen at any age though do increase with age and how socially and personally we want to handle that, but many can and do meaningfully contribute - for better and for worse - well after 60. If we expect it and there is more of a social expectation for people to retrain or have work adjustments that are actually supported, it may be different or unpopular to switch, it doesn't mean it'll be overall harder.
Also, much of the world has to go through the population bulge so that's a world issue, not a UK issue. The UK has the benefit that other countries are going through it faster, which may help us pivot as evidence on how to handle it comes. Not the nicest thought, but I think it may help.