Operation Sterling
Together with Fighting with Pride, Age UK's Advice Line is delivering Operation Sterling, a programme working to help older LGBT+ veterans in a range of areas – from claiming benefits to accessing social care.
Delivering vital information and advice
Our aim is to be the first port of call for people when they have an age-related need.
Why provide advice
Growing older doesn't come with a manual. We're there for older people, their carers and their families, to support them with the impartial, personalised and expert information and advice they need.
We want to be there for people to turn to, whenever they need us. Our information and advice helps people navigate tricky systems, know their rights and signpost them to specialist advice.
Ways we provide advice
We provide information and advice on everything from benefits and legal to health and care. From helping people find out the benefits they are entitled to claim, to discussing options that help make later life at home more manageable.
Through our national programmes, we aim to support our local partners to deliver high quality information and advice services to older people. We do this though providing grants, support and training to local Age UKs across the country to help them deliver the services older people need.
Other ways we provide advice include over the phone through our Age UK Advice Line; on our website, where we have hundreds of articles covering the most common issues that older people face; and information guides and factsheets.
Current programmes
Building Resilience
Our skilled advisers take the time to learn about an older person’s life and offer information, advice, support and referrals to help.
Building Better Lives
Our Building Better Lives programme helps older people build financial resilience by providing benefit checks and one-on-one information and advice sessions.
Bereavement Support Pilot
Our Bereavement Support Pilot programme helps older people who have experienced or are expecting to experience a bereavement by providing practical support through one-to-one sessions.
Scams Prevention Support Programme
Our Scams Prevention and Support Programme aims to prevent thousands of older people from becoming victims of scams, and to support older victims of scams, so they feel safer and less likely to become repeat victims.
Past programmes
Older Londoners' Programme
The Older Londoners' programme supported 22 local Age UKs in the Greater London region to deliver information and advice and other activities to support older people following the Coronavirus pandemic. Learn more.
Better Later Lives
Better Later Lives supported 987 experiencing a significant life event with a range of issues important to them through one-to-one holistic advice sessions. We also identified £1.34 in unclaimed benefits. Learn more.
Ambitions for Later Life
We supported 7,963 older people through their life events, and with the ambitions or goals that they wanted to achieve. As part of this work, we identified £13.6m in unclaimed benefits. Learn more.
Later Life Links
The Later Life Links programme supported local Age UKs to develop their 'First Point of Contact' services. This involved providing good quality information, signposts and referrals to other services. Learn more.
No Place Like Home
This programme aimed to reduce homelessness and the risk of homelessness through offering one-to-one advise sessions as well as awareness-raising talks about financial and other support available. Learn more.
Later Life Goals
Our Later Life Goals programme provides information, advice and support to help older people get the most out of later life. Learn more.