Volunteer Stories: How Steve’s experiences help us improve our content

To mark International Day of Older Persons, we wanted to share stories from some of our brilliant volunteers about their contributions.

Steve lends his time as part of our Lived Experience Advisory Panel.

Having worked as a civil servant in the public sector all his life, Steve is now retired and lives in Yorkshire. His work included reviewing a range of issues, such as elderly care provision and health services, to see if things were being done in the most effective, efficient ways while being value for money. Through this type of work, he developed an interest in anything providing a public benefit. Steve feels that our work at Independent Age is an extension of that.

Having previously been a trustee for his local HealthWatch group, Steve stepped down from the role and found Independent Age’s Lived Experience Advisory Panel (LEAP) as another way to use his skills and experiences. He spoke to us about how he thought he could contribute to the panel, seeing it as an opportunity to give something back while using the training and skills he gained during his career.

As a LEAP volunteer, Steve is part of a group of people aged 65 and over who meet regularly to shape how Independent Age influences decision-makers about the most important parts of older people’s lives. The team achieves this by sharing their experiences and thoughts, while co-producing ideas and reviewing our content.

Through LEAP, Steve has participated in discussions over Microsoft Teams on a range of subjects, including how poverty affects people in later life. Having enjoyed being part of the panels and listening to other people’s perspectives, he would like the opportunity to be involved with more in the future.

After joining the Lived Experience Advisory Panel, Steve spotted an advert for our Readers’ Panel in a volunteer newsletter and decided to join that too.

Being from Yorkshire and living in the North East, Steve feels that both panels give him an opportunity to express the viewpoints and perspectives of older people who aren’t from London and the South East.

Through the Readers’ Panel, Steve has given feedback on a range of guides and factsheets on subjects including COVID-19, bereavement, managing difficult financial situations and loneliness. He felt that all the guides gave useful information and enjoyed the opportunity to give feedback on how things could be made clearer, as well as suggesting additional topics that could be considered. He received the finished products from the Information and Advice Team so he was able to see how the panel’s contributions had shaped the final pieces.

Steve told us about how volunteering has enabled him to maintain and pursue interests he gained through his work: “The role gives me something to do. I’m retired and have time on my hands and most of us had a lot of time on our hands through the pandemic. It’s good to keep the brain cells active! I find that most people do miss work when they retire, the good and the bad bits.”

Steve was also impressed when we changed our reference process for LEAP volunteers after he gave some feedback about his experience of the application process. He feels this has been one of the most satisfactory parts of his volunteering experience: that a national organisation has listened and acted on his feedback.

“I enjoy all of it. I enjoy the groups and giving feedback on the information guides. It gives me a chance to keep my skills alive, provides an interest in my life and an opportunity to get some points across.”

We loved having the opportunity to talk to Steve about his experiences volunteering in later life. We would not be able to create and publish our guides without our Readers’ Panel or develop our policy work without the help of our LEAP volunteers.

Find out how you can get involved with volunteering at Independent Age here.