You’ll forgive me for going slightly off piste with my article this month, but while we were all preparing for a Christmas and holiday period spent with loved ones, I wanted to spare a thought for those who won’t be so fortunate this year, or indeed any year.
Please don’t take this as a ‘guilt trip’ in order to try and get you to donate – I know that times are tough for everyone at the moment – but it’s just to highlight, particularly to those active within the later life lending space, that there will be a large number of older people, your customer demographic, who will not have been looking forward to Christmas at all.
We work with a charity called The Silver Line, founded by Dame Esther Rantzen, and set up to provide lonely older people with a phone line to call, to have a chat, to talk to someone who cares and is there to listen, at what can be a very difficult time of the year.
The Silver Line research suggests 50% of over-65s won’t have anyone to talk to this Christmas, which seems unfathomable but is where we are. Since The Silver Line was set up it has received over 2.5 million calls, and over two-thirds are made overnight or during weekends.
You can imagine that a period like Christmas and New Year would exacerbate those feelings of loneliness – look at this video below to see what the reality of the holidays is like for far too many older people.
Add in the fact pensioners are struggling financially at the moment, that social lives may have been curtailed a little more recently, and you can understand why we want to continue to support this amazing charity and the work it does.
As an aside, it is run completely by volunteers. Every single pound donated goes back into the work that The Silver Line carries out, and I think this is so important, especially when you see some of the huge salaries some charities are paying out.
I myself am going to be volunteering next year as it’s important to put my mouth where my money is, and I’m also very pleased to say that during 2022 we ran two fundraising initiatives for The Silver Line and have been able to raise over £5k.
Our Later Life Lending Awards Dinner & Xmas campaign Just Giving page is still open and is accepting further donations. You can find it here and I want to give a big thanks to everyone from within the later life lending and wider financial services community that has so generously supported us here.
As part of our Reward points programme, members can choose to donate their hard-earned points to charity, and I’m pleased to say that many have done this over the last year, and I’m sure will continue to do so in the future.
I appreciate this isn’t the normal sector-focused article but, at this time of the year, I think it’s important to recognise those who may be having a very different experience. If we can make their lives a little more bearable going forward then, in my view, it’s definitely worth doing.
Which just leaves me to say that may I wish all readers of The Intermediary a very prosperous 2023 – there’s no doubting that if it’s anything like the last 12 months, it’s going to be a very interesting year indeed.
Stuart Wilson is chairman of Air Club
