Research into Ageing Fund scheme comes to an end
Published on 05 October 2015 11:01 PM
Age UK is to discontinue the Research into Ageing Fund (RiAF) programme through which it funds biomedical research in UK universities and hospitals into the diseases and conditions of ageing.
From its beginnings in the 1970s, RiAF was instrumental in establishing a basis of biomedical research on ageing in the UK.
The type of research that RiAF funds continues to be important today; however, it is nowadays funded by a range of government and charitable sources. Given this changing landscape, Age UK has made a decision to focus its resources on other types of research activity.
Age UK will continue to support all current RiAF research projects through to their planned conclusion. The majority of the projects will be completed by the end of 2015, with the remaining ones ending in 2016.
This means that Age UK will no longer be accepting donations to RiAF from 31 December 2015, including gifts left in wills to either RiAF or Research into Ageing (RiA), as RiAF was known in the past.
Any donations recently made to RiAF and any made up until 31 December 2015 will continue to fund the current projects in the RiAF programme.
If you are making regular payments to RiAF by direct debit or standing order, contact Age UK to discuss your donation.
Anyone who has included a gift in their will to RiAF, or its predecessor RiA, is strongly advised to consider changing their will to remove any future gifts to RiAF or RiA. If the gift is not removed, there is a risk that this part of the will may fail and the gift may not be left in the way it was intended.
Age UK remains committed to research and now carries out its own in-house research on many social and economic issues relating to ageing, such as wellbeing, loneliness, care for older people and pensioner poverty.
This research provides vital evidence that helps us to help everyone make the most of later life and provide the right support for older people when it's needed. Read more about Age UK's research.
More information
About donations - Please contact our Customer Relations team on 0800 169 87 87 or email us at contact@ageuk.org.uk
About gifts in wills - Please contact our Legacy Team on 020 3033 1421, email legacies@ageuk.org.uk or write to them at Age UK, Legacy Department, 7th Floor, One America Square, London, EC3N 2LB