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LGA responds to Age UK's Christmas loneliness campaign
Cllr Izzi Seccombe, Chairman of the LGA’s Community Wellbeing Board, responded to the launch of Age UK’s Christmas campaign, “No one should have no one”, to raise awareness of loneliness
“Loneliness is a serious public health concern with studies suggesting it can be as harmful as smoking 15 cigarettes a day.
“Christmas is the time of year when we rightly draw attention to the number of lonely older people who have nobody to spend the festivities with.
“It is saddening that nearly a million people are in this position at a time when for many it is spent with their close friends and family.
“But loneliness is not just for Christmas, it is an all-year-round issue.
“Councils across the country have programmes and initiatives in place to tackle loneliness and work closely with voluntary organisations and faith groups to support isolated older people in the community.
“We all need to wake up to this problem, which is placing an increasing burden on health and social care.”
