Today the 50 plus members of the Loneliness Action Group call on government to reaffirm its commitment to loneliness in its new report: A connected society? Assessing progress in tackling loneliness.
Our Director of Campaigns, Policy and Research, Robin Hewings, said:
“The Campaign to End Loneliness is delighted to have contributed to this excellent publication.
This report shows progress has been made in the last year, especially at the top of government and in the rollout of social prescribing. These measures have to be seen as early steps in a long and ambitious journey towards a society where no one is chronically lonely. The task now is to start delivering on the ground. We need to sustain action across government, implement the loneliness test and get ready to scale up learning from early pilots.
At the same time, the promise of social prescribing for tackling loneliness needs to be delivered while the community infrastructure people rely on to form connections needs investment, rather than the cutbacks of recent years.
The need for the work so far to be a platform for widespread delivery on the ground is shown in a survey of the supporter network of the Campaign to End Loneliness featured in the report. A mix of grassroots organisations and individuals, most said they did not know or were unaware of actions the government had taken so far.”
