Adult social services and other Government agencies are failing to tackle an epidemic of isolation and pensioner loneliness, according to a landmark conference organised today by the Centre for Social Justice and co-hosted with the Campaign to End Loneliness.

The think-tank will say that social isolation affects more than a million pensioners in the UK and failure to support this lost generation means more of them will end up in expensive residential care in years to come, and it calls on councils to establish expert units made up of community leaders, police officers and older people’s charities to find and target these pensioners with extra support.

The conference, Vital Connections: Building public and voluntary sector partnerships to tackle social isolation in later life, will call for a national campaign linking councils, charities and government agencies including the police, fire brigade and doctors to share data on the most vulnerable.

The conference is supported by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation within our Fulfilling Potential programme.
Read the Campaign to End Loneliness press release.