Welcome from Stuart Rogers and Julia Neuberger
The most recent accurate statistics show that of the 12.7 million people over 65 in the UK, 2.1 million live in poverty. And we estimate that up to another three million people are living with precarious finances.
2022 was a difficult year for people in later life facing financial hardship. The rising cost of living challenged everyone, but it was especially hard for those on low and fixed incomes with no savings. These were often the same people who face additional costs because of limited mobility or disability.
At Independent Age, we’d already resolved to ‘go back to our roots’ and focus our resources on those in most financial need: to be the charity dedicated to improving the lives of older people facing financial hardship.
In 2023 we want to put ourselves on the map as the charity for older people facing financial hardship. We will launch a new strategy and begin our work to reach one million older people facing hardship by 2027, across four new focus areas: income, costs, community and home. It is a challenge for which our experience and history make us uniquely qualified.