Help The Aged is an international charity fighting to free disadvantaged older people from poverty, isolation and neglect.

We research the needs of older people in the UK and overseas and campaign for changes in policy. We provide community services and publish information on finance, how to stay healthy as well as guidance on choosing a care home.

OUR VISION

Our vision is of a future where older people are free from the disadvantages of poverty, isolation and neglect, so they can live with dignity as valued, respected and involved members of society.

OUR MISSION

Our mission is to secure and uphold the rights of disadvantaged older people in the UK and around the world. Working with them, we will research their needs, campaign for changes in policy, and provide services to alleviate hardship today and prevent deprivation tomorrow.

OUR OBJECTIVES

WE WILL:

• combat poverty to achieve significant reductions in financial hardship and social exclusion, and mitigate their worst effects. We want a state pension that meets the needs of the poorest, a dramatic reduction in avoidable winter deaths, vast improvement in the take-up of the benefits to which older people are entitled, and improved livelihoods for deprived older people in developing countries.
   
• reduce isolation to decrease the number of older people experiencing loneliness and isolation. We want fewer older people feeling cut-off from society, protection from the harsh costs of basic services, reduced fear of crime and free bus travel across the UK.
   
• challenge neglect to secure the delivery of consistently accessible, good-quality care, addressing the biggest threats to health and well-being. We want social care services to meet demand, older people to benefit from biomedical advances and social policy developments, a lower incidence of falls, stroke and dementia, joined-up health and care services, and stronger protection against elder abuse.
   
• defeat ageism to win equality and human rights for disadvantaged older people, enabling them to escape from deprivation. We want age discrimination outlawed in employment, goods and services, older people to have equal rights in health and social care, and greater involvement of older people in shaping the policies and services that affect their lives.
   
• prevent future deprivation to reduce those at greatest risk in the future by stimulating prevention as well as cure, through research and other means. We want greater availability and better access to low-level social services support, better circulation of information on health, wealth and well-being so that people can change their lifestyles for the better, increased healthy life expectancy, and higher rates of employment, learning and physical activity.