13 Jan 2015
Centre for Ageing Better awarded a £50 million endowment
The Big Lottery's ten year endowment allows Ageing Better to support a good quality of life in later life and promote the benefits of an ageing society.
The Centre’s primary aim will be to support a good quality of life in older age and promote the benefits of an ageing society by bridging the gap between research, evidence and practice. The Centre will form part of the What Works Centres network in England.
The Centre will be a key part of the Fund’s work to help people to live a healthy and active life in their older age. The endowment is a key dimension of the Fund’s £148 million investment in England to support better ageing, and its wider commitment to supporting ageing across the UK, including a recent £25 million grant to Addaction for an alcohol-related harm prevention programme for the over fifties.
The Centre’s approach will be based on placing older people at the heart of its work, and informed by three key principles laid out by the Fund – empowering communities, increasing choice, and taking a preventative approach.
The Centre’s key customers will be older people themselves and VCS bodies, in particular those that specialise in ageing, and practitioners from organisations which deliver services for older people such as councils, and health and wellbeing boards. The aim will be both to help older people now and enable the next generation of older people to prepare for a better life.
Over its ten years, the Centre aims to help many more people have a better later life by addressing four fundamental areas where change is needed: better health, better finances; better social life and better places. It aims to be a force for evidence-based change that helps older people live a better life by developing the evidence base about what works to support ageing better; by funding projects that show promise; by helping proven projects to scale and by working with people, communities and organisations to bring about enduring change.
Nat Sloane, Big Lottery Fund England Chair said:
“The number of people in the UK over 60 is expected to pass the 20 million mark by 2031, so I am delighted that the Centre for Ageing Better can now put into action our aims to utilise National Lottery funding to help people prepare to grasp the opportunities which this brings, and to address the challenges. We want to ensure people are empowered to stay active, healthier and happier for longer, whilst increasing the recognition of the positive role that they play in society.”
Lord Filkin, Centre for Ageing Better Chair said:
“We are delighted to receive this substantial endowment from the Big Lottery Fund. We are here to bring about change that improves lives. We want our work to have lasting consequences to the lives of people as they age.
“The award gives us the chance to build practical evidence about what really works to ensure we all age better. Based on robust evidence, we will develop a credible voice for change, and be clear about the issues that need to be addressed and the best ways to address them.”
