Informal adult learning is any part-time learning that does not necessarily lead to a qualification. It can take place anywhere and involves anything from a computer class to studying wildlife.

In England, only nine per cent of 65-74 year olds and seven per cent of those aged over 75 participate in adult education.

Help the Aged believes that this needs to change and has launched the ‘Learning for Life’ campaign to call for all older people to have equal access to informal adult learning.

In January, the Government launched a consultation to find out what the public wants from informal adult learning. Help the Aged coordinated 640 older people to respond to the consultation and delivered the responses to David Lammy, Minister at the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills, on the 12th June along with the charity’s own detailed response.

The responses show that learning is an important part of older people lives but that more needs to be done to make sure classes are more accessible and better advertised. To find out more about what older people and Help the Aged said, download the ‘Executive Summary’ and ‘Help the Aged Consultation Response’ documents to be found on the right hand side of this webpage.

What we want
Read more about our campaign aims.

What you can do
Take action and make your voice heard.