Report of Trustees and Annual Accounts 2010–2011 Improving later life. Every day. Age UK has a vision of a world in which older people flourish. We aim to enrich the lives of people in later life by bringing together our talents, services and solutions to do more. We are one organisation ready to help. Every day. Chairman’s message 04 Chief Executive’s message 08 Our strategy and plans for 2010–11 13 Social impact statements 22 01 Information and advice 22 02 Independence at home 25 03 Have fun and stay well 31 04 Campaign for change and public affairs 38 05 International 45 06 Research 50 07 Supporting local communities 53 Public benefit reporting 59 Social enterprise 60 Planning for 2011–12 and beyond 70 Financial review 73 Corporate governance 83 Independent auditor’s report to the members of Age UK 92 Age UK 121 Chairman’s message In its second year, Age UK has firmly established our new identity, letting the world know that we have arrived and that we are intent upon changing later life for the better. Age UK stands up for the 14 million people in the UK who have now reached later life, and also speaks for the long-term interests of every one of us so that experiences of ageing grow better for each passing generation. We work to make a difference in five key areas: Money Matters, Health & Wellbeing, Home & Care, Travel & Lifestyle and Work & Learning. We also aim to help improve later life around the world through our international work and close to home through our support for local charities across the UK. A first year of hard work transformed our organisation post-merger. We then launched as Age UK in April 2010, with our first television advertising campaign featuring distinguished actors Eleanor Bron, Brian Cox and Ian McKellen. All three waived their fees because they felt so strongly about the importance of our cause. The launch also featured extensive media coverage of Age UK, and a direct marketing campaign to tell 2.3 million supporters and customers about our work. We succeeded in our aim of making the name of Age UK known – by the end of the year our research showed that two-thirds of people in Britain said that they had heard of Age UK. The launch of Age UK was accompanied by the launch of Age Scotland, Age Cymru and Age NI, supported by events, media coverage, and campaigns in each country. By the end of the year more than 130 local organisations in England and six in Wales had decided to adopt the new brand, beating our target by more than 30 per cent. Throughout the year, local partners organised launch activities generating publicity, calling attention to the services they provide and highlighting local issues. Age UK also rebranded more than 440 shops, meaning that up to 20 million people across the UK walk past a shop bearing our name each week. Age UK stands up for the 14 million people in the UK who have now reached later life, and also speaks for the long-term interests of every one of us. 04 This year, we also launched our new website. This is a platform that 2m brings together all the separate parts of our Group – which were individuals have visited previously represented by numerous different websites – and allows the Age UK website our users to find what they need. since its launch in 2010 Our website unites the national and local, with a map on the front page of the site showing what Age UK does in your area. Local Age UK organisations’ sites are now hosted within the overall site, enabling users to find us all in one place online for the first time. The Age UK website (www.ageuk.org.uk) has been a huge success – since launch in May 2010 more than 2 million individuals have visited the site. In the autumn, we celebrated the relaunch of Age UK Enterprises, our financial services business, under the new brand. It was marked by the launch of new equity release and annuity products – both areas in which the financial services industry needs to provide more and better products for later life. We hope not only to provide good value for money but to stimulate others to improve what they have to offer. The financial year 2010–11 saw an expected fall in fundraising income as we continued to hold back spend on fundraising to enable us to invest once the new brand was in place. As the year progressed we began to redevelop our fundraising to reflect the new organisation’s ethos and priorities, and to revitalise fundraising activities using our new identity and brand. Next year one of our major challenges is to stabilise Age UK’s income from voluntary activities and set it on course for future growth. All these achievements took place against an economic and political background that required us to campaign strongly throughout the year, to protect existing services and benefits for older people and to press the case for the new coalition Government to tackle the long-term challenges of an ageing society. As this Report of Trustees demonstrates, we certainly succeeded in making Age UK’s presence felt at Westminster, in Whitehall, in the media and around the country at grassroots level. This year we celebrated the final victory in our long battle to end forced retirement. 05 Age UK is determined to change later life for the better Age UK also increased its charitable expenditure this year, in particular by putting more funds into the pockets of local Age UK and Age Concern charities who faced an exceptionally difficult and uncertain environment. We also gave more to our international work, funding our partner HelpAge International to give more help to older people dealing with the consequences of the disasters in Pakistan and Haiti. We continued to grow and improve our flagship charitable service, Information and Advice. As we report, this year Age UK’s services reached 6 million people, through our free telephone and other information services. We are working more closely than ever with our local partners to deliver a service that combines the expertise of our national charity with the local knowledge and personal approach of local charities. This year, we will be building on our existing track record to start to grow the reach of our other services to match the impact of Information and Advice. Age UK is determined to change later life for the better. This year Age UK has demonstrated its energy and its commitment by maintaining the pace of change inside the organisation, while making a positive difference to the lives of so many older people. There is much more to come and I look forward with confidence to the next few years. I would like to thank my fellow Trustees, Tom Wright and his team, all our staff, volunteers, and supporters for their contribution this year. Dianne Jeffrey Age UK is determined Chairman to change later life for the better 07 Chief Executive’s message Age UK works to improve later life as a charity and social enterprise. The charity does this by addressing health inequality, reducing loneliness and isolation, improving retirement incomes and tackling poverty and discrimination against those in later life in all its forms. Our social enterprise addresses market failure and customer needs with a broad portfolio of market leading products and services. Together, our mission is to improve later life, and throughout the year we focused on how we could make a difference to the lives of older people locally, nationally and internationally. Last year, our first as Age UK, we delivered on several fronts and reaffirmed our resolve to be ever more ambitious for the future. Since the formation of the coalition Government in 2010, we have played a leading role in debates about the future of our health and care systems. In May 2011 we were voted Dod’s Charity of the Year by parliamentarians in recognition of our strong parliamentary campaigning work. By summer 2011, we also saw more than 160 local partners become Age UKs, covering well over 90 per cent of the country. We are proud to work with this uniquely important network of local charities that makes a huge difference to the lives of so many older people and that is not sufficiently recognised for its role. In 2011–12, working side by side with our local partners, we are extending our partnership to involve hundreds more smaller groups who help provide a web of friendship, support and practical help for older people in local communities. Age UK works to improve later life… by addressing health inequality, reducing loneliness and isolation, improving retirement incomes and tackling poverty and discrimination against those in later life in all its forms. 08 Last year we strengthened the delivery of our flagship service, 160 Information and Advice. This year we are working with our partners local partners became to expand our services to help people to stay independent at home Age UKs, covering and to maintain their health and wellbeing. We continue to be very well over 90 per cent active in digital inclusion, and as a partner in the Race Online initiative of the country for 2012, we hope to bring online more of the 6 million older people who are currently digitally excluded. We continue to build our support for international work. In summer 2011, we relaunched our flagship Sponsor a Grandparent programme, along with its new offshoot, Raise a Grandchild, which will bring help to grandchildren being brought up by grandparents in some of the poorest countries in the world.