Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Where do you work and what do you do outside the UK?

International work is a core pillar of the work of Age UK.  We have a vision of a world in which older people flourish and a mission to improve the lives of older people, not just in the UK, but all around the world.

In order to achieve this, we work in partnership with ageing organisations across the world to strengthen the global age sector and advocate for change at an EU and global level to create laws and processes that support the rights of older people.

We also support 1.3 million older people and their families to lead more fulfiling lives in over 40 developing countries, primarily through our sister organisation  HelpAge International, but also through a small number of direct partnerships in the Western Balkans and the former Soviet Union. We do this by:

What makes Age UK different? Why should I support Age UK rather than any other charity?

Age UK is the only UK-based organisation that supports older people in the UK, Europe and developing countries. We are unique. Many charities support children: we support older people and the children who depend on them.

Working through our sister organisation  HelpAge International, we also assist over 1.3 million older people and their dependants. One in 10 of the poorest people in the world are over the age of 60. Many are trying to survive on less than 60p a day, often while caring for grandchildren orphaned by AIDS. The grandchildren of their communities depend on them, but without enough food, the right medicines and the resources to make a living in the long term, life is very hard. Helping us support older people also benefits their families and their communities.

In an emergency situation, older people are particularly vulnerable. Older people are often amongst the most vulnerable to death, injury and disease. They are often overlooked in the usual aid efforts. Their lack of mobility and social isolation can prevent older people from accessing relief assistance: they may not be able to fight for aid packages or travel long distances to reach refugee camps. Many older people have weakened immune systems, so in an emergency situation they can be at risk of contracting various life-threatening diseases.

Charity begins at home. Why should we give money to international projects?

We're not suggesting that people should not support charities at home. However, poverty, disease and disasters are widespread in developing countries where governments are unable to meet the basic needs of their citizens (due to conflicts, natural disasters, climate change). Without the help of generous people like yourself, we would be unable to help more than one million older people and their dependants afford the basic necessities such as food, clean water, shelter and life-saving medicines.

Can you guarantee that my donation will not go to international work?

We recognise that our donors have different motivations for giving, and different areas of our work that they wish to support. Some of our supporters choose to support our UK work only, while others wish for their donations to be spent overseas.

So that we can accommodate individual wishes, the funds for our overseas work and our UK work are separate. We ensure that every appeal that we send out makes it clear how donated funds will be spent so people can decide which areas of our work – international or UK – they wish to support. We are proud of the range of work that we do and can assure you that our international work is not at the detriment of our work in the UK.

Governments in developing countries are all corrupt. How do we know our money will be reaching people in need?

The majority of our funds are channelled through our sister organisation  HelpAge International, which is a non-governmental organisation (NGO) - ie not part of a government. We also have a small number of direct partnerships in the Western Balkans and the former Soviet Union. 

Both Age UK and HelpAge International ensure funds are delivered to other NGOs in more than 40 developing countries around the world. Both organisations carry out thorough assessment, monitoring and evaluation of our joint programmes.

To receive funds every organisation also has to meet certain criteria to ensure money is spent appropriately and the activities are relevant and sustainable. Some of the work in projects we support helps older people hold their governments to account at a local and national level.

It’s not fair that overseas aid is not being cut. We’re all suffering in the recession. Why should our taxes be spent on foreign people when we have so many needs in the UK?

Aid is a small part of the UK’s budget - less than 0.7% of GNI is spent in developing countries. That translates as £9.1 billion. To put that in context, banks paid out £40 billion in bonuses last year. The UK has a long tradition of helping people in other countries. We only need to look at the overwhelming generosity of the British public following the earthquake in Haiti and the floods in Pakistan in 2010, as well as the crisis in East Africa in 2011 to see how much people still care about others in developing countries, despite a squeeze on their own incomes due to the global recession.

If a country is rich enough to make nuclear weapons, why should we support them? India has the world’s second largest economy – why should we support them?

The poorest people in a country cannot be punished for the actions of their government, even if that government has been freely elected. As we know from our own experiences in the UK, governments do not always follow the will of the people. Some might say that they do not always have the interests of the most marginalised people at heart.

However, it is worth noting that some of our work helps poor people to hold their governments to account; and to make demands on their government for policies and processes that improve the lives of older people and other poor and marginalised people.

It is also worth noting that in some countries that appear to be doing well economically, there is huge inequality of wealth within them. Even if a country is doing well on a macro-level, this does not always benefit people at a micro-level. Half the world’s people live on less than $2 a day. Trickle-down economics has, on the whole, failed to work.

• The income of the richest 1% of people in the world is equal to that of the poorest 57% 
• The assets of the 200 richest people in the world are worth more than the total annual income of 41% of the world’s people
• Three families – Bill & Melinda Gates (founder of Microsoft), the Sultan of Brunei and the Walton family (Wal-Mart) – have a combined wealth of some $135 billion. This equals the annual income of 600 million people living in the world’s poorest countries
• The UN Human Development Index states that the richest 20% of the world’s population receive 150 times the wealth of the poorest 20%.