The Prime Minister has launched the Government’s Loneliness Strategy, to tackle what has been described as ‘one of the greatest public health challenges of our time'.
Evidence shows that up to a fifth of all UK adults feel lonely most or all of the time and loneliness can be as bad for a person's health as obesity or smoking. For example 200,000 older people have not had a conversation with a friend or relative in more than a month.
The strategy, which sets out the Government’s plans to change this and reduce isolation and loneliness, includes plans for GPs in England to be able to refer patients' experiencing loneliness to community activities and voluntary services by 2023. The practice known as ‘social prescribing’ will allow GPs to direct patients to community workers offering tailored support to help people improve their health and wellbeing, instead of defaulting to medicine.
The Prime Minister has also announced the first ever ‘Employer Pledge’ to tackle loneliness in the workplace.
A network of high-profile businesses – including Sainsbury’s, Transport for London, Co-Op, British Red Cross, National Grid and the Civil Service – have pledged to take further action to support their employees’ health and social wellbeing.
The Royal Mail is to pilot a new scheme which will see postal workers check up on lonely people as part of their usual delivery rounds. Postal workers will be speaking with isolated people to help link them up with support from their families or communities if required.
A £1.8m investment was also confirmed to increase the number of community spaces available – the funding will be used to transform under-utilised areas, such as creating new community cafes, art spaces or gardens. This new funding builds on £20m announced in June to help charities and community groups expand their programmes which bring people together to benefit communities.
The Prime Minister has today set out a series of further commitments to help all age groups build connections:
- Adding loneliness to ministerial portfolios at the Ministry for Housing, Community and Local Government, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, and the Department for Transport. This is in addition to the Department for Health and Social Care and Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.
- Incorporating loneliness into ongoing policy decisions with a view to a loneliness ‘policy test’ being included in departments’ plans.
- Embedding loneliness into Relationships Education classes so children in primary and secondary schools can learn about loneliness and the value of social relationships. Loneliness will feature in the Department for Education’s resources for teaching from September 2020.
- Pilot projects to support flexible and inclusive volunteering for people such as those with long-term health conditions, which will rolled out in up to five pilot areas in England.
- Meeting tech companies to discuss loneliness - Tracey Crouch and Margot James, the Minister for Digital and the Creative Industries will explore the impact technology has on loneliness and how they can help prevent it.
Justin Tomlinson MP said: “Loneliness has a huge impact on mental and physical wellbeing, and it is vital that we do all we can to address this problem. Nobody should be left to feel isolated and alone, and I welcome the Government’s efforts to ensure that everybody can experience a sense of community and companionship.”
