Skip to content

Age UK Ealing funding update, including National Lottery grant

Published on 22 June 2022 03:28 PM

A recent grant from the National Lottery's Reaching Communities Fund, along with funding from The Mercers’ Company and City of London Corporation City Bridge Trust, will allow our Information & Advice service to respond to the needs of older Ealing residents, as we continue to deal with the outcomes of COVID-19.

Age UK Ealing's Information & Advice service has been an invaluable resource over the past few years. The service, which is accessible to people aged 50 and over in and around Ealing, provides support to individuals as they navigate a whole range of situations, from financial concerns to relationship worries to issues around mobility and maintaining independence.
 

Over the past couple of years, the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has of course meant that the service has had to adapt. At times we were unable to provide face-to-face appointments and were only able to offer telephone support, but our team also made doorstep visits where needed: for example, to help with form-filling. 

The effects of the pandemic can also be seen in the changing nature of the services we provide. Throughout 2020 and 2021 our advisors received a growing number of calls from people reporting concerns about accessing food and medication, worries about travelling to doctor's appointments and hospitals, and feelings of loneliness and despair.
 
Throughout all this, our Information & Advice service remained open to all, with people able to contact us by phone, email, post, and through this website. Since the easing of COVID-19 restrictions we have also begun offering appointment-only in-person services. And, as we prepare for the coming autumn and winter, the National Lottery's Reaching Communities Fund grant is particularly valuable, as it will allow our Information & Advice staff and volunteers to continue helping older people in the community with their concerns.
 
Callum Stubbs, Funding Officer at the National Lottery Community Fund, said of the grant: "Age UK Ealing’s information and advice service provides invaluable support and guidance to older people across the borough. In light of all the challenges facing our communities this support provision is now even more important than ever before. The National Lottery Community Fund are glad to be able to support Age UK Ealing to continue providing this vital service."
 

"We would like to thank the National Lottery and their Reaching Communities Fund for their generous grant," Age UK Ealing CEO Reginald Parkinson says.

"Our Information & Advice team has done a phenomenal job in navigating over the past few years, and this money will enable us to continue that work, as we deal with the reality of living through a global pandemic. It will help us evolve our offering and work with older people in Ealing to maintain independence, improve wellbeing and navigate any challenges they may face."

David Terrace, Grants Programme Manager at the Mercers’ Company (Corporate Trustee to the Charity of Sir Richard Whittington) – who provided funding for our Befriending services earlier this year – said: “We are delighted to be supporting the Befriending Scheme at Age UK Ealing through a grant from the Charity of Sir Richard Whittington. The work aligns closely with our programme priorities to fund work that combats loneliness and isolation in older people.”

City of London Corporation City Bridge Trust Committee Chairman Dhruv Patel – who continue to support our Telephone Support service with a £145,000 three-year grant – said: “The service being offered by Age UK Ealing offers a real lifeline to older people, allowing them to enjoy the boost to their physical and mental wellbeing which comes from regular contact with other human beings.”

At Age UK Ealing, our Information & Advice service offers assistance in a variety of ways. Here is just one example of how our staff have helped a client access their money.

Mrs C's story

Mrs C visited our Information & Advice team regarding a large fuel debt that she had accumulated over a number of years.

During the normal due diligence checks completed by our team, they found that she had previously worked as a teacher but had not been receiving a pension from her former employer.

Our Information & Advice officer contacted the school authorities to enquire about Mrs C’s payment into the pension scheme and therefore her entitlement to claim her pension. After ongoing discussions between our team and the authorities, it transpired that Mrs C had unclaimed work pensions spanning over a 18 year period.

As a result, she was paid a lump sum of over £48,000 including backdated pension payments and received an ongoing monthly payment of over £400 per month.

Image posed by model

Find out if our Information & Advice service could help you