A difficult year, but you’ve helped us achieve positive change for many
Thanks to your support we’ve been able to make a real difference to the lives of older people in the UK
What a year 2021 has been. Rather than living up to the hope that COVID-19 would become a thing of the past, we’ve had another year of uncertainty and significant challenges. However, when I look at the policy change we’ve been working towards at Independent Age, I can see that it’s also been a year filled with positive steps forward.
I lead the Policy and Influencing department at Independent Age, and we try to ensure that the systems people in later life rely on are improved. It’s been amazing to see so many people supporting our activity throughout 2021. Every action — whether someone shared their story, signed a petition or shared our campaign content with friends and family — has helped us get the attention of the people who have the power to make the changes we want to see.
I wanted to take some time to reflect back and share what I consider to be our top 10 activities this year, and thank every single person who has helped make them happen:
1. Improving COVID guidance and approach — we’ve built up relationships with the government and the NHS to explain how the guidance and approach to COVID-19 could be improved. We shared feedback from our supporters aged 65 and over that they needed more practical information to attend vaccination appointments and we were pleased to see NHS England add more information to its website and leaflets. We also had productive conversations with NHS England to ensure more older people who were housebound received their vaccination at home. These small changes to policy were mainly possible thanks to our fantastic COVID correspondents — a group of older people who agreed to regularly feedback on key COVID topics, and for us to share their insight with the relevant decision makers. A huge thank you to all of them for taking the time to support our activity.
2. Reducing supermarket delivery charges and minimum spends — with everyone aged 70 and over being told they were at more risk of COVID-19, many opted for online supermarket deliveries instead of going into store. However, the knock-on impact was people facing ongoing delivery charges and minimum spend barriers which some older people told us they struggled to afford. As well as direct conversations with the supermarkets asking them to reduce minimum spends and delivery charges for those needing priority slots, we also enabled thousands of our supporters to send letters to their MPs and the supermarket CEOs, as well as coordinating a joint letter with over 20 signatures from top charities asking the supermarkets to rethink. We were pleased when one major supermarket agreed to refund delivery charges for those receiving priority slots, and that other supermarkets put measures in place to speak to people who were struggling with these additional costs.
3. Supporting people who are lonely — I had the privilege of co-chairing the Tackling Loneliness Network, working alongside organisations large and small including the English Football League, the British Red Cross, Age UK, Alzheimer’s Society, Scottish Older People’s Forum and Historic England. We gathered evidence to uncover the biggest problems lonely older people face, and what could help them. Our findings and recommendations were listened to when the government Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport released their own report supporting our recommendations alongside a £2 million funding boost to the Loneliness COVID-19 fund, to help organisations tackling loneliness.
4. Establishing the UK Commission on Bereavement — in 2021, we at Independent Age helped establish the UK Commission on Bereavement alongside friends at Marie Curie, Cruse Bereavement Support, the National Bereavement Alliance and the Childhood Bereavement Network. This is really important to me personally as I’ve had close family members die unexpectedly over the last few years and I know that support systems are not always in place. The Commission will explore the issues affecting people from across the UK who have been bereaved over the last five years. This evidence will be reviewed to develop clear recommendations for local and national Government and other organisations to help them understand how to improve people’s bereavement experiences. We’re very proud to have played a significant part in this work and will ensure that older people’s voices are heard on this important issue.
5. Exploring bereavement — as well working on the Commission, we’ve also gathered our own insight about how bereavement impacts people aged 65 and over, and what can help. In February we released a briefing which secured 150 pieces of press coverage highlighting how patchy bereavement support is depending on where you live. Then in May we launched our Time to Grieve campaign, and over 8,000 people signed our open letter asking the government to improve the emotional support on offer for older people following a bereavement. We delivered this letter to the government in November alongside some of our fantastic campaigners. We also launched our Grief Encounters report based on interviews with people in later life sharing their experience of accessing emotional support after a bereavement. We are using this evidence to keep the pressure on the government to improve support for people at this pivotal time in their lives.
6. Improving access to surgery — Throughout the pandemic, delays to surgery have come up as a huge concern for the people aged 65 and over that we’ve spoken to, with many sharing that they were living in daily pain with no idea of when their operation might happen. In 2021 we turned our attention to this topic, learning more about people’s stories and what could be put in place to make their experience better. At the end of September, we launched our Patiently waiting report, including our research, insight, and some strong recommendations to government and the NHS. The report received over 200 pieces of media coverage, and since then we’ve been meeting decision makers across the NHS and government to discuss what can be done to ensure people have the right support at the right time.
7. Contributing to social care reform — working with others can make the possibility of achieving change a reality, and this year has shown the power of joining together when it comes to social care reform. Social care is the support people can need in their own home, or in a residential care home, to complete tasks of daily life like washing, dressing and going to the loo. A strong and enabling social care system is essential if people are to live their lives with dignity, but sadly it’s not the reality for many. This is a particular passion of mine because my nan’s experience of the social care system was the catalyst for me to want to work in the charity sector and help drive policy change. Currently, the system is expensive, confusing and getting the help you need can be as struggle. At Independent Age, we are active members of the Care and Support Alliance (CSA), which includes over 80 charities. This year, together, we have been keeping the pressure up on the Prime Minister to fulfil the promise he made on the steps of Downing Street to fix social care once and for all. Coalition members secured lots of press coverage showing the impact of not receiving good quality care and support. We encouraged our supporters to sign petitions, send letters to their MPs and share content on social media. Thanks, in part, to this activity, this year we finally got a commitment from the Government to do something about it, this included introducing a new tax to fund the social care system, investing money in workforce training and development, and putting a cap in place on the amount people will have to individually pay. I’m not saying the proposals are perfect, but at least there has been an acknowledgment that something has to change and as we move into 2022, informing the government’s proposals and vision for social care to ensure older people can live their lives with dignity, choice and purpose will remain a priority for us.
8. Launching our mental health joint report — following on from our Minds that matter report in 2021, this year we wanted to ensure that older people weren’t left out of the conversations around what could be done to improve people’s mental health. We know that, for some people in later life, feeling low or blue — more clinically known as anxiety and depression — are challenges they face regularly. Yet much of the focus is often on other age groups, we want to ensure older people are not forgotten. In December we released our joint report with the Mental Health Foundation shining a spotlight on the experiences of people aged 65 and over during COVID and the impact the pandemic was having on their mental health. We are determined to ensure that more people are made aware of the support options available, and are able to access them. Thanks to our activity shining a spotlight on this important issue, we have now been invited to high level discussions with government officials to help inform and shape their plans for 2022.
9. Improving Pension Credit uptake — our Credit where it’s due campaign aims to increase Pension Credit uptake. Pension Credit is a benefit which is there for older people living on a low income, including those who don’t get the full state pension. It can be an absolute lifeline to many and stop them having to make decisions between heating and eating. However nearly half of those eligible are not receiving this money. We don’t think this is acceptable and we have been increasing the pressure on the government to take action. Our activity this year included press coverage highlighting the tens of millions of pounds denied to some of the poorest older pensioners, analysis showing that poverty in later life is on the rise, and we secured the support of over 70 politicians, across all political parties, for our campaign. Our activity has contributed to the government conducting a communications review to strengthen the signposting of Pension Credit — including information about Pension Credit being included in 11 million letters and new mentions of it being added across the government website. We hope some of this activity has resulted in more people finding out about Pension Credit and receiving it, but we will continue this campaign next year.
10. Ensuring older people shape our work — 2021 has seen the creation of our Lived Experience Advisory Panel (LEAP), a voluntary role for people aged 65 and over who want to help shape and inform our policy and influencing work. Since launch we’ve had really useful sessions discussing bereavement language and receiving feedback on our campaign communications and terminology. The thoughts and opinions this group share, shape our department’s activity and I’m excited to see what insights this fantastic group of volunteers provide in 2022.
Thanks again to everyone who has got involved with our work across 2021. You can find out more, stay up to date and support our activity by joining our campaigns network.
