The Campaign to End Loneliness, an initiative we have been supporting since 2011, is publishing a new tool and accompanying guidance on measuring the impact of services aimed at reducing loneliness today. In a recent report, published with Age UK, the Campaign demonstrates that there is a lack of good quality evidence on the impact of different types of services on loneliness.

As a response to the need for more ‘hard’ evidence on the effectiveness on loneliness interventions, this guidance offers information and advice on choosing and using a scale to measure the impact of services on loneliness in older age.

The tool and guidance aims to help service-providers understand and articulate the difference they are making in an increasingly competitive funding environment. Measuring loneliness amongst the people who use a service will help organisations to demonstrate the positive impact of their work on the way people feel about their relationships and connections.

This is also a useful tool for funders across the public, voluntary and private sectors, which face their own financial pressures and need evidence that the programmes they fund are delivering real change for the people they support.

In this guidance, four different scales are described, which have been developed by different people. The Campaign sets our the particular strengths and limitations of these scales.

The Campaign is encouraging anyone delivering services, support or activities for older people to start measuring the difference they are making to loneliness.

Further information on this is available on the Campaign’s website.

The full guidance can be read here.

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The Campaign to End Loneliness is a network of national, regional and local organisations and people working together through community action, good practice, research and policy to create the right conditions to reduce loneliness in later life. The Campaign was launched in 2011, are led by five partner organisations, Age UK Oxfordshire, Independent Age, Manchester City Council, Royal Voluntary Service and Sense, and work alongside more than 2,000 supporters, all tackling loneliness in older age.