Age UK, the national charity for the elderly, has launched its new brand and five-year strategy today.
The new strategy, Let’s change how we age, focuses on three key areas to improve life for older people and those approaching later life.
These areas involve working with older people to change public attitudes on ageing, tackling poverty and inequality among older people, and ensuring that older people’s health and social care needs are met.
Age UK plans to address these priorities by campaigning, working with local Age UK partners to enhance services, and expanding the scope and reach of its operations.
The charity has used part of its core marketing budget on the brand campaign and strategy, a spokesperson from Age UK told Civil Society.
A campaign film, directed by Oscar-winning director and producer James Marsh, and a series of posters will also be produced as part of the strategy. The film will be shown on television and the posters will be displayed in public spaces across the country.
“The charity wants to remind people that, along with climate change and the technology revolution, ageing is one of the biggest trends that is increasingly impacting society, yet it’s not often seriously discussed,” it states.
‘Ageing as a country’
Paul Farmer, Age UK chief executive said: “We want to start a national conversation about ageing and hope that by working shoulder to shoulder with older people we can make progress in transforming public attitudes, helping everyone to get the most from their own later lives.
“We don’t have to be ecstatic about getting older but nor should we be fearful or in denial.
“We are much more likely to be happy and healthy if we see ageing instead as a fact of life, for those of us fortunate to live long enough to experience it.
“We also need to think more about ageing as a country and how best to respond to it, and within government, business and other sectors too. If we don’t, we are sleepwalking into a national crisis, and we can no longer ignore the facts or consequences of inaction.
‘Contribution we can ill afford to do without’
Caroline Abrahams, Age UK charity director, said: “The realities of older people’s lives are often misunderstood, with too much reliance placed on stereotypes that are out of date.
“The fact is that there is increasing diversity among our big and growing older population, within which some are doing well but others are seriously struggling.
“As a charity we are committed to doing more to help those who really do need us, whether that’s because of low income, loneliness, an unmet health and care need or some other challenge.
“But the fact is that all of us stand to gain from a more balanced and informed view of ageing and of older people, and our country stands to benefit too, given how readily we seem to ‘write off’ the enormous contributions people make in their fifties, sixties and beyond, contributions we can ill afford to do without.”
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