What we have achieved

Poverty

We have:

• been a key player in the pensions debate, campaigning for a simpler, fairer and more sustainable pension system;
• pressed the Government to help the 2 million pensioners who live below the poverty line;
• identified almost £5.3 million in unclaimed benefits that older people did not realise they were entitled to;
• pressed the Government to develop the automatic payment of benefits, removing the need for older people to claim through a demeaning means-testing process; and
• persuaded the Welsh Assembly Government to give £100 to all older people whose homes went up by more than two Council Tax bands in the April re-banding.

Isolation

We have:

• equipped 3,360 more older people with the SeniorLink immediate response service;
• secured the homes of 16,000 older people through our HandyVan service;
• provided 54 vehicles to older people’s groups through our SeniorMobility scheme;
• distributed £93,000 to older people’s groups to provide hot meals at Christmas;
• launched the National Coalition on Active Ageing to encourage providers of exercise facilities to make them more accessible and relevant to older people; and
• provided computer training to older people in Northern Ireland, and to volunteer peer educators who can deliver training in their own communities.

Neglect

We have:

• launched the Help Stop Elder Abuse campaign, in support of which 168 MPs signed an Early Day Motion;
• launched two major reports to highlight the need for improvements in end-of-life care, as well as canvassing older people’s opinions on the issue;
• set up My Home Life, a major programme to improve the quality of life for care-home residents;
• published research highlighting the impact of poor access to NHS foot-care services on older people’s health;
• launched the National Falls Awareness Day to raise awareness of the risk of falls among older people; and
• acted as advocates for almost 2,000 older people through SeniorLine.

Ageism

We have:

• worked to bring about regulations banning age discrimination in employment;
• provided evidence to the equalities review led by Trevor Phillips to ensure ageism is properly recognised;
• continued to expand the Speaking Up For Our Age network, which supports older people’s forums;
• begun to develop forums for people with different cultural backgrounds so that the voices of those most difficult to reach are encouraged and heard; and
• raised the profile of lifelong learning, vocational training and career guidance for adults.

Preventing future deprivation

We have:

• provided nearly £1.2 million for biomedical research into age-related conditions;
• launched a National Coalition for Active Ageing in the House of Commons; which was supported by 160 MPs through an Early Day Motion;
• contributed to the Pension Commission’s final report on helping people to successfully extend their working lives; and
• led a joint research project to develop a new system of health forecasting for older people in the community.

Helping developing countries

We have:

• continued our three-year programme to help older people affected by the tsunami to rebuild their livelihoods;
• offered vital support to other developing countries affected by disasters;
• launched our new Sponsor a Grandparent scheme, which is now offering livelihood support to about 23,000 older people;
• called for a pension for older people in developing countries as part of the ‘Make Poverty History’ coalition; and
• begun to engage older people with our work in developing countries to increase support.