Building Healthier Communities: The Case for Investing in Public Health
Explore how targeted, community-based public health strategies can improve lives, reduce NHS pressure, and deliver cost savings for local authorities.
Starmer announces U-turn on winter fuel payment cuts
21/05/2025 Keir Starmer has said he would review the winter fuel entitlement policy after critics warned it would impact pensioners struggling with the cost of living. |
Make a dent in the £100m compensation claim bill
19/02/2025 With stairs being the most common hazard in the home, AAT is giving local authority social care teams a best value tool to manage safety, fast. |
Council destroys belongings of missing tenant
25/10/2024 East Riding of Yorkshire Council destroyed the belongings of an elderly tenant who went missing after banning his family from entering his flat. |
Lib Dems call for cross-party talks on social care ‘postcode lottery’
09/10/2024 The Lib Dems have repeated their call for cross-party talks on social care after revealing a steep rise in the number of pensioners per care home. |
£68m in Pension Credit is unclaimed, Kent says
30/09/2024 Almost 18,000 households in Kent could be missing out on a combined £68m in unclaimed Pension Credit, according to the county council. |
Two million older people living with ‘unmet’ care need
27/09/2024 More than one in four (28%) people aged over 80 are living with some unmet need for social care, a new report by Age UK has found. |
Starmer defeated in winter fuel payment vote
25/09/2024 The Labour leadership has lost a union-sponsored motion at the party’s conference that called on ministers to reverse the cuts to winter fuel payments. |
Government urged to reverse fuel payment cuts
20/09/2024 Councillors in Stockton have backed a motion urging the Government to reverse its ‘deeply unfair’ decision to stop providing the Winter Fuel Payment to millions of pensioners. |
Supported housing ‘on a knife edge’
20/09/2024 The Local Government Association (LGA) has urged the Government to boost spending on supported housing and consider a ring-fenced fund in next month’s Budget. |
Councils step up to help pensioners hit by winter fuel scheme cuts
16/09/2024 Councils are working to help older people keep their homes warm after the Government axed winter fuel payments for about 10 million pensioners. |
Council slams ‘disgraceful’ plans to cut Winter Fuel Payment
09/09/2024 The London Borough of Bexley has criticised the Government’s ‘disgraceful’ plans to stop providing the Winter Fuel Payment to millions of pensioners. |
Why building more homes isn't the answer
02/09/2024 Nick Sanderson, CEO & Founder at Audley Group and co-chair of ARCO (Associated Retirement Community Operators), discusses delivering housing for retirees. |
Councils accused of ‘penny pinching’ over transport
19/08/2024 A think-tank has accused councils of ‘penny pinching at the cost of older people’s wellbeing’ over public transport. |
Nearly 30,000 elderly people die waiting for social care
20/05/2024 Almost 30,000 elderly people died last year before ever receiving the social care for which they were waiting, a new analysis has revealed. |
Elderly forced to wait over six months for home adaptations
30/04/2024 Elderly and disabled people are being forced to wait over six months for the installation of home adaptations due to poor administration at the local level. |
First-of-kind ‘health neighbourhood’ gets go-ahead
29/04/2024 A multi-million pound ‘health innovation neighbourhood’ has received outline planning permission from Newcastle City Council. |
Planning for senior housing ‘stalled’, survey reveals
21/03/2024 Less than a third of local authorities do not have clear policies in place to support housing for seniors, new research has revealed. |
Housing crisis forcing poorer older renters to move
22/01/2024 Older renters living on low incomes are being forced to move to more deprived areas with fewer services due to the housing crisis, new research suggests. |
Groundbreaking LGBTQ+ housing proposed for Manchester
04/01/2024 A pioneering LGBTQ+ extra care housing development has been proposed for the site of a former hospital in Manchester. |
End-of-life care issues ‘still far too common’
21/12/2023 Issues faced by people receiving end-of-life care 70 years ago, including poverty and isolation, are ‘still far too common’, according to a new report. |
Investment in local care services could save £2.5bn
20/11/2023 Investment in home-based care, community and reablement services would help free up more hospital beds and improve care for the elderly, council leaders say. |
Places must adapt for ageing population, says Whitty
13/11/2023 Places and infrastructure must be adapted to support an ageing population, particularly in rural areas, according to England's chief medical officer. |
Meals on wheels ‘heading for UK-wide collapse’
30/10/2023 The National Association of Care Catering (NACC) has called for meals on wheels to become a statutory responsibility for councils after it found provision of the services continued to fall. |
Fighting poverty at the local level
18/10/2023 This week for London Challenge Poverty Week John McGeachy, campaigns manager for Age UK London talks poverty amongst older people and what councils can do. |
Eviction fears affecting older renters’ mental health
06/09/2023 Every 16 minutes, a tenant aged over 55 is given two months to leave their home, according to Shelter. |
National review of low-traffic neighbourhoods ‘unnecessary’
31/07/2023 Local authorities are best placed to make decisions about whether to implement low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTN) or not, council chiefs have told the PM. |
Pedestrian crossings lights could stay green longer
25/07/2023 Active Travel England (ATE) is considering introducing new guidance for councils that could increase the amount of time people have to cross the road. |
Older adults who left workforce during pandemic facing poverty
07/07/2023 Nearly half of the older adults who left the workforce during the first year of the pandemic ended up in relative poverty, new research has revealed. |
Older people struggling to apply for Blue Badges, charity warns
29/06/2023 Councils need to do more to help older people who might not be ‘computer savvy’ apply for Blue Badges and access other digital services, charity says. |
Making communities dementia friendly
01/06/2023 To ensure our communities are inclusive, it is important that all places are dementia friendly, writes Ailidh Aikman, Dementia Services Development Centre. |
Voting reforms could ‘erect barriers’ for elderly, charity says
25/05/2023 The introduction of further checks on postal and proxy voting could disenfranchise older people, an elderly persons charity has warned. |
Care home accused of ‘contemptuous’ behaviour
27/04/2023 Ombudsman has accused a Leicester care company boss of sending ‘intimidating, abusive and threatening emails’ to an elderly woman who complained. |
Don’t force drivers to pay for parking with smartphones, Gove says
06/04/2023 Levelling-up secretary Michael Gove has told councils they must not force drivers to use smartphones to pay for parking spaces. |
Two million elderly at risk from digital switchover delays
06/03/2023 Council chiefs warn two million older and disabled people could be put at risk unless councils are given more support to help with upgrading digital networks. |
Pedestrian falls cost taxpayers up to £500m a year
01/03/2023 Pedestrian falls on dangerous pavements potentially cost taxpayers up to £500m a year, a new report has revealed. |
Charity calls for preventative care to save ‘overstretched’ NHS
17/02/2023 An older person’s charity has called for more investment into preventative care to help ease the pressure on the ‘overstretched’ NHS and social care system. |
Why councils should worry about digital exclusion
27/01/2023 Abigail Wood, CEO of Age UK London, urges local authorities to address the profound challenges of digital exclusion for older people. |
Check on the vulnerable this winter, council chiefs say
12/12/2022 Directors of public health and local authority leaders have urged people to check on the most vulnerable as temperatures across the country drop. |
Charity calls for better social care support from councils
07/12/2022 Almost four in five people in England say they know little to nothing about how paying for social care services works, an older person’s charity has found. |
One in 10 older people forced to stop social care
03/11/2022 Around 10% of over-60s have reduced or stopped their social care or expect to do so in the coming months because of the cost-of-living crisis, charity reveals. |
Extreme heat leads to over 56,000 excess deaths
10/10/2022 Council leaders have called for efforts to reduce carbon emissions to be increased as the figures reveal there were tens of thousands of excess summer deaths. |
Better policy required to link senior housing and social care demands
10/08/2022 Roger Black outlines how local authorities could help tackle the undersupply in age-appropriate housing. |
North-South self-funding split revealed
07/07/2022 The South East has the highest proportion of self-funders in community care services and the North East the lowest, according to the Office for National Statistics. |
Council chiefs urge pensioners to apply for cost-of-living benefits
15/06/2022 Local authority leaders today called on pensioners who are eligible for Pension Credit to apply for the top-up welfare payment to help with the cost of living. |
Welsh councils to receive £1.1m to become Age Friendly
20/04/2022 Local authorities in Wales will have access to £1.1m funding to help the country become Age Friendly. |
Councils offered £75,000 grant to test digital housing services
30/03/2022 Councils are being invited to apply for grants of £75,000 to test out with older people which technology tools and digital housing services work best for them. |
Government announces £2.5m mobility service
29/03/2022 The Government today announced a new funding package to roll out a mobility service to help people unable to drive access alternative forms of transport. |
Nearly a quarter of older households in England face ‘fuel stress’
11/03/2022 The increase in the cost of energy is set to impact one in four older households and four in five of the poorest, charity warns. |
Wider housing options would stop older people fleeing urban areas, report argues
06/12/2021 More should be done to slow the flow of older people from urban areas to rural and coastal communities, a think tank has argued. |
Scotland behind on housing-with-care provision
01/09/2021 Older people in Scotland are missing out on care options because the country is falling behind on housing-with-care provision, a new group has warned. |
Council chiefs call for care ‘fix’ after lockdown impacts mobility of millions
11/05/2021 The ability of one in four older people to do everyday activities has worsened during the pandemic, research from the charity Age UK has revealed. |
Housing-with-care ‘safeguarded lives’ during pandemic
29/04/2021 A new study looking at how housing-with-care has coped over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic has found that retirement village and extra care housing operators successfully ‘safeguarded lives’ of residents and staff. |
Care home residents 'barred' from voting booth says care group
14/04/2021 A care group has branded it a 'national scandal' that care home residents will be unable to vote in person in the local elections without self-isolating for 14 days afterwards. |
Charity warns of 'astonishing' level of underclaimed council tax support
14/04/2021 Older people on low incomes in Scotland missed out on £88m in Council Tax Reduction support last year, a charity has warned. |
MPs call for action to improve care options for older people
22/03/2021 A cross-party group of MPs and Peers have called on the Government to take urgent action to improve housing and care options for older people. |
Lords call for urgent action to improve health in old age
15/01/2021 The Government will miss its pledge of delivering five extra years of healthy living by 2035 without urgent action, Lords Committee has argued today. |
Local services need funding to support elderly impacted by COVID-19, council chiefs say
19/11/2020 Council chiefs call on Government to use Spending Review to ensure council-run services are able to look after elderly residents impacted by COVID-19. |
|
Charity calls for new standards for accessible housing
18/11/2020 A charity for elderly people is calling for national building standards to be raised to be ‘accessible and adaptable’ as a minimum baseline as a new survey reveals there is a shortage of accessible housing. |
|
Housing-with-care is 'critically low', report warns
22/10/2020 The UK has an ‘acute’ lack of housing-with-care for older people, a report has warned. |
|
Charity calls for end of domestic abuse data 'scandal'
01/10/2020 The Government has been urged to end the ‘scandal’ of only collecting domestic abuse data for people up to the age of 74. |
|
Supporting over 50s ‘crucial’ to building post-pandemic resilience, charity says
15/09/2020 Stronger action to support those in their 50s and 60s will be ‘crucial’ to building the UK’s resilience after the coronavirus pandemic, charity says. |
|
Government handling of social care during pandemic attacked
29/07/2020 MPs have delivered a blistering attack on the Government’s handling of social care during coronavirus. |
|
Thousands of people 'wiped out' by care bills, charity warns
24/07/2020 Fourteen people a day are being wiped out financially by care bills, new research has revealed today. |
|
Planning system is failing housing for the elderly, report finds
14/07/2020 The vast majority of housing-with-care planning applications are speculative, new research has revealed. |
|
Give councils the tools to incentivise retirement communities, says report
30/06/2020 Retirement communities could play a major part in addressing the adult social care funding crisis and keep people out of hospital for longer, a new report has argued. |
|
Older carers ‘forgotten’ by care system says charity
12/06/2020 Older carers have been ‘forgotten’ by authorities despite them bearing the brunt of the pandemic, a charity has warned today. |
|
Downsizing crucial to tackling ‘skewed’ housing market, says report
03/06/2020 Better housing options for older people in the UK could reduce the national housing target by 50,000 a year, a new report has found. |
|
Researchers propose a two-tier approach to ending lockdown
06/05/2020 The UK should adopt a twin approach to relaxing restrictions for lockdown in order to protect the most vulnerable, academics have said. |
|
First food parcels for vulnerable people are delivered
30/03/2020 The first 2,000 food boxes for those that are clinically vulnerable have been delivered this weekend. |
|
Older people face ‘litany of damaging stereotypes’, charity warns
20/03/2020 Older people in the UK are seen as incompetent, hostile or a burden on society, according to the findings of a new study into ageism. |
|
Two million over-55s in ‘dangerous’ homes
05/03/2020 Over two million over-55s are living in a home that endangers their health and wellbeing, an alarming new report has revealed. |
|
Care denied to 700,000 older people, charity reveals
07/02/2020 Around 700,000 older people have had their request for care turned down in the past year, analysis by a charity has discovered. |
|
Visionary housing for the elderly
19/12/2019 A project in London has linked private and public sectors to provide quality care for older people alongside a block of luxury apartments, Mark Whitehead says. |
|
Elderly save the state £23bn a year by providing unpaid care
19/12/2019 A new study has revealed how some of the oldest in society save the health and care system £23bn a year by providing free care to loved ones. |
|
Local leaders pledge to tackle ageism
01/10/2019 Mayors and council leaders have pledged to tackle discrimination on grounds of age. |
|
Older people face ‘significant barriers’ in applying for EU Settlement Scheme
27/09/2019 The Government has been warned it could face a ‘Windrush 2’ as vulnerable older people are failing to apply to the EU settlement scheme (EUSS) in time. |
|
Over 300,000 people forced to sell homes to pay for care
19/09/2019 Over the last 20 years hundreds of thousands of older people have been forced to sell their home to cover the cost of social care, charity reveals. |
|
Over 14 million living in poverty, think tank reveals
30/07/2019 Millions of people, including children and pensioners, are living below the poverty line, new research into poverty has revealed. |
|
Learning from Leeds
26/07/2019 Joanne Volpe the best of giving people the information they need to find a home right for them. |
|
Elderly people in rural communities have less social care provision, report warns
19/07/2019 The way adult social care is funded has led to deep inequalities in provision, the Salvation Army has warned. |
|
For local authorities, the social care crisis is about more than money
02/07/2019 David Cundy explains why reducing demand for social care means supporting people to age well. |
|
Calls to make cycling more inclusive for women, older and disabled people
06/06/2019 Women, older and disabled people are neglected in provision of resources to support cycling, according to a report. |
|
‘Postcode lottery’ for accessible homes
05/06/2019 Less than a quarter of homes built outside London by 2030 will be suitable for older and disabled people, housing experts have warned. |
|
Older people waiting too long for care, charity warns
28/05/2019 Four out of ten older people with critical or substantial needs are waiting more than six weeks for social care in Scotland, a charity has warned. |
|
Free social care for the elderly could save NHS £4.5bn a year, think tank says
23/05/2019 The introduction of free social care for everyone over 65 would save the NHS in England £4.5bn a year and help improve care in the community, think tank says. |
|
Charity calls for £2.4bn Dementia Fund
08/05/2019 A report calling for a new £2.4bn Dementia Fund has received backing from 68 cross-party MPs. |
|
Potholes in pavements preventing more older people from walking
01/05/2019 Cracked and uneven pavements are stopping nearly one in three (31%) older people from walking on their local streets, according to a new survey. |
|
Charity calls for free personal care for elderly
27/03/2019 Campaigners have called on councillors to back a call for free personal care for the over-65s. |
|
Charity warns people at risk of suffering poverty, ill-health and hardship in later life
13/03/2019 Action must be taken to create communities that enable older people to stay active, campaigners have urged. |
|
Women ‘bear the brunt’ of social care crisis, charity warns
08/03/2019 Women are paying the highest price for the Government’s continued inaction on social care, an elderly persons charity has warned. |
|
Britain faces ‘accessible housing crisis’, charity warns
25/02/2019 An elderly persons charity has warned that Britain is on the verge of an ‘accessible housing crisis’ due to planning policy failures. |
|
Councils should prioritise strength training to prevent falls
12/02/2019 Local authorities are not prioritising programmes which can help people at risk of falling strengthen their muscles and improve their balance, new research has revealed. |
|
Underfunding of bus scheme leaves elderly ‘isolated’
11/02/2019 Elderly and vulnerable people could be left isolated because the concessionary bus fares scheme is underfunded, local government leaders have warned. |
|
Council chiefs warn of scams targeting the vulnerable
16/01/2019 Local authority leaders have called on carers and families to be aware of fraud targeting older and more vulnerable people. |
|
Over four million older people do not have access to care services
13/12/2018 A long-term fix to pay for adult social care has been 'kicked into the long grass', local government leaders have warned. |
|
A 'wake-up call' for the sector
09/10/2018 With figures showing thousands of older people are living in hazardous homes, William Eichler finds out what can be done to provide more suitable accommodation for the UK's ageing population. |
|
Home adaptations ‘cost-effective’ means for improving accessibility
08/10/2018 Only 7% of UK homes meet basic national accessibility requirements, an ageing charity warned as they urged councils to provide adaptations to older people's homes. |
|
Number of elderly needing round-the-clock care set to double by 2035
31/08/2018 The number of elderly people requiring 24-hour care is set to double by 2035, social care experts have warned. |
|
1.4m older people ‘not getting the care they need’, charity warns
09/07/2018 The number of older people living with an unmet care need has risen by nearly 20% in two years, an ageing charity warns. |
|
Loneliness prevention initiatives can save councils £2m, council chiefs say
11/06/2018 National health policy needs to recognise the ‘cost-effective benefits’ of initiatives designed to tackle loneliness, local government leaders say. |
