Report to Age Concern England Information and advice needs of black and minority ethnic older people in England JULY, 2008 KAMILA ZAHNO AND CLARE RHULE ZAHNO RAO ASSOCIATES 94 STAPLETON HALL ROAD LONDON N4 4QA TEL 020 8341 2196 MOBILE 07767 811117 e-mail:
[email protected] www.zahnorao.co.uk 2 Contents Executive Summary 3 1. Introduction 7 2. Background Statistics 9 3. A Targeted Information and Advice Service 10 4. Issues of Concern to Black and Minority Ethnic Older People 18 5. The Information and Advice Needs of Black and Minority Ethnic Older People 23 6. Provision of Information and Advice to Black and Minority Ethnic Older People 29 7. Next Steps 37 Appendix 1: List of Consultees 38 Appendix 2: Statistical Summaries 39 3 Executive summary 1. Age Concern’s Community Support UK project aims to work with local Age Concerns and the voluntary and community sector across the UK to help them meet a high quality standard in the delivery of information and advice to older people. The project is being delivered jointly by Age Concern England, Age Concern Scotland, Age Concern Cymru and Age Concern Northern Ireland, with Age Concern England focusing on how the voluntary and community sector in England can improve the provision of advice to black and minority ethnic (BME) elders, and wishes to set up pilot projects to test what works in this respect. 2. ACE commissioned research to inform the location and design of the pilot projects. The research consisted of a literature review on the needs of BME older people, a statistical summary of different communities in England, focus groups with BME older people, interviews with information and advice practitioners.