Report backs intergenerational projects

A new report promotes intergenerational projects that bring young and old together.

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Every nursery, childminder, parent/toddler group and children’s centre should link with a local older people’s care home or housing scheme – and vice versa, according to a new report.

The United for All Ages report also says that every primary and secondary school should involve and engage with older people in their community – from hosting older volunteers and services to linking with care providers.

It says media coverage of the growing number of intergenerational projects has tended to focus on the benefits for older people – from improving health and care to tackling loneliness. The report, however, looks at the impact for younger people who it says ‘face a growing crisis of confidence, loneliness and anxiety, often fearful about the future, fragmented families, segregated by age, with cuts in services and financial support’.

The report also recommends that every community should explore opportunities to develop places where younger and older people can mix and share activities and experiences – creating 500 centres for all ages by 2023 and that every local authority should develop a strategy for building communities for all ages “where meaningful mixing is part of everyday life”.

Other suggestions relate to encouragement for funding, investment and charities to focus on intergenerational projects and for Government to support and promote mixing between different generations through intergenerational
care, learning and housing, “explaining why it is key to creating better services, stronger communities, a stronger Britain and an end to ageism”.