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Age UK is the new force combining Age Concern England and
Help the Aged in England.
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Age UK is proud to release its second annual report, which can be downloaded below. In it, you can read about all aspects of our organisation and activity over the financial year 2010/11, including messages from our Chairman, Dianne Jeffrey, and our Chief Executive, Tom Wright CBE.
Download Age UK's Annual Review 2010 - 11 (short version, PDF, 1MB)
Download Age UK's Annual Report 2010 - 11 (full version, PDF, 2MB)
Last year, our first as Age UK, we delivered on several fronts and reaffirmed our resolve to be ever more ambitious for the future.
Age UK stands up for the 14 million people in the UK who have now reached later life, and also speaks for the long-term interests of every one of us so that experiences of ageing grow better for each passing generation. We work to make a difference in five key areas: Money Matters, Health & Wellbeing, Home & Care, Travel & Lifestyle and Work & Learning. We also aim to help improve later life around the world through our international work and close to home through our support for local charities across the UK.
Some of our key achievements this year include:
A first year of hard work transformed our organisation post-merger. We then launched as Age UK in April 2010, with our first television advertising campaign featuring distinguished actors Eleanor Bron, Brian Cox and Ian McKellen. All three waived their fees because they felt so strongly about the importance of our cause.
The launch also featured extensive media coverage of Age UK, and a direct marketing campaign to tell 2.3 million supporters and customers about our work. We succeeded in our aim of making the name of Age UK known – by the end of the year our research showed that two-thirds of people in Britain said that they had heard of Age UK.
The launch of Age UK was accompanied by the launch of Age Scotland, Age Cymru and Age NI, supported by events, media coverage, and campaigns in each country. By the end of the year more than 130 local organisations in England and six in Wales had decided to adopt the new brand, beating our target by more than 30 per cent. Age UK also rebranded more than 440 shops, meaning that up to 20 million people across the UK walk past a shop bearing our name each week.
This year, we also launched our new website. This is a platform that brings together all the separate parts of our Group – which were previously represented by numerous different websites – and allows our users to find what they need.
Our website unites the national and local, with a map on the front page of the site showing what Age UK does in your area. Local Age UK organisations’ sites are now hosted within the overall site, enabling users to find us all in one place online for the first time.
The Age UK website has been a huge success – since launch in May 2010 more than 2 million individuals have visited the site.
All these achievements took place against an economic and political background that required us to campaign strongly throughout the year, to protect existing services and benefits for older people and to press the case for the new coalition Government to tackle the long-term challenges of an ageing society. This year we celebrated the final victory in our long battle to end forced retirement, and in May 2011, we were voted Dod’s Charity of the Year by parliamentarians in recognition of our strong parliamentary campaigning work.
In summer 2011, we relaunched our flagship Sponsor a Grandparent programme, along with its new offshoot, Raise a Grandchild, which will bring help to grandchildren being brought up by grandparents in some of the poorest countries in the world. In summer 2011, we joined the appeal to help older people engulfed in the developing famine in Ethiopia, Sudan and Somalia, as part of our work as a member of the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC). We are continuing to support those affected by the disasters in Pakistan and Haiti.
We continued to grow and improve our flagship charitable service, Information and Advice. As we report, this year Age UK’s services reached 6 million people, through our free telephone and other information services. We are working more closely than ever with our local partners to deliver a service that combines the expertise of our national charity with the local knowledge and personal approach of local charities.
This year we are working with our partners to expand our services to help people to stay independent at home and to maintain their health and wellbeing. We continue to be very active in digital inclusion, and as a partner in the Race Online initiative for 2012, we hope to bring online more of the 6 million older people who are currently digitally excluded.
Age UK is determined to change later life for the better. This year Age UK has demonstrated its energy and its commitment by maintaining the pace of change inside the organisation, while making a positive difference to the lives of so many older people. There is much more to come and I look forward with confidence to the next few years.
Download Age UK's Annual Report 2010 - 11 (short version, PDF, 1MB)
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