About us

Who we are

Age UK Milton Keynes is an independent local charity.  We have been working to improve later life in the city of Milton Keynes for over 45 years.  We have a dedicated workforce of around 150 paid workers (mostly part-time) and 350 volunteers who provide services and support to older people in Milton Keynes.

Age UK Milton Keynes works with and for older people to make a real and positive difference that contributes to their wellbeing and quality of life.  On Tuesday 1st June 2010 we changed our name to Age UK Milton Keynes, having joined the Age UK partnership formed from the merger of Age Concern and Help the Aged.  We continue to share the same values, standards and overall aims: to help all older people make more of life.

Where you can find us

Our main office is based at The Peartree Centre, 1 Chadds Lane, Peartree Bridge, Milton Keynes MK6 3EB.  

Visit our contact us page

Visit our charity shops page

Visit our job vacancies page

How we are funded

It costs over £120,000 a year to run our free Information & Advice Service which handles around 6,100 enquiries every year.  In the financial year ending March 2018 our advisers helped older people in the borough of Milton Keynes make successful claims for approximately £1.5 million in welfare benefits as well as resolving matters which were causing real anxiety.   Over 50% of our income is raised by our shops and this, and donations and fundraising activities, enables us to provide free Information & Advice, Advocacy and Befriending services.  Charges for our other services (domestic cleaning, shopping, toenail cutting, relief care service, gardening, handyperson and the Clubs and meal delivery service) are kept as low as possible and aim to cover our costs, sometimes making a small surplus.  The charge at our Long Lunch Clubs is supported by around £25,000 every year from general funds.

The support of individual donors and fundraisers, as well as contributions from local businesses is absolutely vital.  69p of every £1 raised is spent on charitable activities, enabling the charity to support some of the most vulnerable people in Milton Keynes.  Money raised in Milton Keynes stays in Milton Keynes.

Our history

In the late 1970s a group of concerned community activists met in Bletchley Methodist Hall to discuss the formation of an independent charity that would support local older people.  An action group chose the name  "Age Concern in Milton Keynes" before the inaugural meeting at the Old Civic Offices in Bletchley on 6th March 1978. We were registered as Age Concern Milton Keynes charity number 275833 on 19th June 1978 and adopted our constitution in November 1978. In 1979 Milton Keynes Borough Council allowed us to use an office in Lovat Bank, Newport Pagnell.  In 1995 we moved to offices next to our Furniture Store in Kiln Farm.

We became an incorporated charity on 1st April 2000, registered charity number 1079773 on 9th March 2000.  We moved to The Peartree Centre in January 2006 and the building was officially opened on 23rd February 2006 by comedian Al Murray.

Following the merger of Age Concern England and Help the Aged under the new name of Age UK, all Age Concerns were invited to share that name. In June 2010 we joined the new partnership and became Age UK Milton Keynes. We continue to be a local, independent, voluntary organisation, serving the needs of older people in our community and proud to be part of a national family which works to improve life for older people everywhere.