Funding for UK Organizations Fighting Poverty in Old Age

National charity Independent Age has allocated £3.1 million in grant funding to help 19 advice-based organisations across the UK reach and support more older people in their local communities.

In Scotland, two organisations, Hamilton & District Citizens Advice Bureau (who will be delivering the project in partnership with East Kilbride Citizens Advice Bureau and Clydesdale Citizens Advice Bureau) and Coatbridge Citizens Advice Bureau will receive a combined £291,181.

The funding will be paid over a three-year period to provide stability to organisations that will ultimately benefit older people.

The aim of the fund is to increase resources in the advice sector and enable local organisations to provide additional, much-needed face-to-face advice to people in later life. The advice and support will be aimed at those in financial hardship, ensuring older people get all the support they are entitled to and get help with unavoidable costs.

Independent Age recognises the importance of advice provision for older people and acknowledges that the sector is seriously underfunded. By providing funding over three years, the grants will provide additional stability, hopefully resulting in older people having more money in their pockets and increased financial well-being.

Hannah Lison, head of grants and partnerships at Independent Age, said: “We are delighted to support these organisations as part of our ongoing commitment to improve the lives of older people in financial hardship across the UK.

“Every organisation that applied for funding showed remarkable dedication to achieving positive outcomes for the areas and communities they support, and we are honoured to have the opportunity to work with them over the next 3 years.”

Joanna Elson CBE, chief executive of Independent Age, said: “Over 2 million older people are living in poverty in the UK, and many more are living precariously on the edge. Our ambition is to improve the lives of one million older people facing financial hardship by 2027, and our grants programme is an essential part of this.

“Key to tackling this problem is boosting older people’s income by raising awareness of the financial support available to them. For example, we know that up to 1.2 million eligible individuals are missing out on Pension Credit. We want to get straight to the heart of the issue by improving access to free advice services across the UK. The organisations we have awarded funding are trusted within their local communities and are located in areas with high numbers of older people in financial hardship.”