Have your say on plan to help OAP's

A hike in demand and a fall in funding have prompted Age UK Sheffield to outline a fresh strategy for how it plans to tackle the big issues affecting older people in the city.

David Campbell used the Age UK Chairs conference to call on the public, local and national bodies to come together to safeguard the support offered by charities like his, with more older people than ever before facing hardship alone.

David said: “Although Sheffield is a city of growing local need, the public do not seem to prioritise charitable support for older people in the same way as they do for other areas like overseas aid, animal charities, hospice and health related charities. Whilst all these causes play a valuable role in our communities, we are constantly surprised that there are not more people who feel compassion towards older people as they struggle through later life.

“Ironically, as demand on our services reaches record levels, our resources are diminishing at an even faster rate. Just six years ago we received £700,000 from Sheffield Council to deliver services to vulnerable people, but cuts to their budget mean that figure was dropped by around £100,000 from April 2018.

“Despite the challenges we face, we will not allow ourselves to be deflected from our core objective which is to enhance the quality of later life for people in Sheffield. Personal economic hardship, failing health and reducing immediate family support are affecting people regardless of class, race or gender and this should be all of our concern. We want local people’s views on how best to achieve that.”

To read Age UK Sheffield’s draft strategy 2018-21 visit www.ageuk.org.uk/sheffield and email your views [email protected]