Delivering for older people ...across Wales
Age Cymru value forums
trusted fantastic impact matters centres standards deliver quality internet active evidence challenge positive highest research network person impartial provide year advocacy befriending underpin individuals equality always comprehensive every topical able difference continuous diversity reach information extensive lgbt acknowledged opportunities issues change remain influencing inform authority telephone fulfilling experts ethnic varied live together recognise locally play shops age opinions accurate certain various networks hospital confidence undertake bilingual handyperson charity factsheet society flagship classes choices aftercare fundraise creative money thoughts real true opinion national
life
older
ageing partners expert services experience healthy abuse service
Wales people across
independent local advice help work relevant
delivering
Delivering the goods by: 11,000 +
There’s a certain confidence that comes with age; being able to draw from mistakes made, lessons learned and most of all from life experience itself. This can be applied to all of us as individuals and is just as relevant to Age Cymru as an organisation. Celebrating four years since our historic merger and with more than 65 years of experience to call on, Age Cymru truly is THE national charity for older people in Wales.
calls to our advice line
65,000 +
resources distributed
reaching out to
300,000
older people across Wales
5,000
Nordic Walking experiences
£13million in unclaimed benefits (Age Cymru network)
In this booklet you’ll see some highlights that demonstrate the breadth, reach and impact of our work for the twelve months to 31 March 2013. We hope you enjoy it and we trust we can count on your support; after all, it’s your future we’re working for.
90,000
Dr Bernadette Fuge MB BCH, LLM, MPH Chair
LIFT sessions
Robert Taylor OBE Chief Executive
individual visitors to our website
4,000
6,000 +
supporters of our Rule Out Abuse campaign 1
Let’s be independent even when we’re frail and vulnerable
Delivering quality Older people claimed
We all want to remain independent and well for as long as possible. Our flagship information and advice service covers a wide range of topics and is trusted to be accurate, relevant, impartial and expert.
in extra entitlements through our network
With our local partners across Wales we deliver to the highest standards. We launched our free bilingual advice line service and we added to our extensive suite of comprehensive factsheets and guides.
£13million 90,000 visitors to our website
570+
media articles published
We’re in regular contact with every care home in Wales
There may be times in our lives when we need someone to listen and speak for us – this is advocacy and its availability is essential to ensure we have a voice and a say when we’re in need. We know that older people in particular need access to advocacy and so we successfully established a national network of advocacy providers and practitioners. All aspects of their work are discussed and through sharing best practice and learning new skills from each other, we already know that it’s having a positive impact on the services already being provided across Wales. Our My Home Life Cymru programme became embedded in many care homes in Wales this year and its reputation of the way to do things in a care home setting has been further acknowledged. To this end we secured a partnership with the Burdett Trust for Nursing to provide grants of up to £10,000 to individual care homes during 2013/2014 for new projects that encourage dignity, respect and improve quality of life for residents.
In June we launched our Big Care Home Conversation to start a public debate; what do people want from them? How can care homes be better supported? We look forward to this debate continuing at all levels of society to ensure care homes can take their place in thriving and age friendly communities across Wales. We’re grateful to the Welsh Government for funding the My Home Life Cymru programme. Age Cymru continues to be recognised as a leading authority on all matters relating to ageing. Our website received over 90,000 unique visitors, our social media presence grew and our presence in traditional media resulted in more than 570 articles being published across Wales. We were runner up in the Best Communications category in the 2012 WCVA Awards.
Future work We will deliver a programme of grants through our partnership with the Burdett Trust. We will continue to develop our face to face information and advice service across Wales. We will continue to help make care homes a better place to live, work and visit.
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Let’s be equal
Delivering positive change Expert advisers
Piloting new approaches
Leading the social sector in effective communication with Assembly Members
We make a real difference to the lives of older people across Wales through our influencing work. Acknowledged as experts in the field of ageing we’ve been called upon by the highest authorities in Wales for our opinion.
In June 2012, through our Rule Out Abuse Charter, we presented a 6,000 signature petition to the Deputy Minister for Social Services calling on the law to be strengthened to safeguard older people. Our position is rapidly gaining support from all sectors.
During the year we were appointed as expert advisers to the National Assembly’s Health and Social Care Committee for their Inquiry into Residential Care for Older People. We gave oral evidence too through our My Home Life Cymru programme and were delighted to see our position reflected in the Inquiry’s final recommendations.
In our ongoing support of the Strategy for Older People in Wales, our Head of Policy was seconded by Welsh Government, to work on its third phase for 2013-2023.
We provided expert advice to the office of the Older People’s Commissioner for its review on advocacy services in care homes. We worked with Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales (CSSIW) to develop and deliver a pilot ‘Independent Visitor’ scheme for residential care, involving older people. We supported the ‘visitors’ to take part by ensuring they prepared for each visit and could also effectively deliver their findings when reporting to the CSSIW. This pilot project was well received and is being scaled up during 2013. Much of our influencing and policy work this year focused on the Social Services and Wellbeing (Wales) Bill. We’re delighted that a number of calls we made have been included in the draft legislation.
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Age Cymru was the highest scoring organisation (35.91 out of 40) in reputation tracking research with Assembly Members in the field of social care. Overall we achieved the best scores across all categories of our work with AMs, including knowledge, trust and effectiveness.
Future work To influence the Social Services and Wellbeing (Wales) Bill. To highlight the issue of older people’s poverty in Wales. To reduce the number of older people affected by scams.
Let’s make communities where we can have fun, take part and have a voice
Delivering locally The Age Cymru network reaches out to people right across Wales. We have fantastic local partners and with our newly acquired estate of retail outlets we’re making an impact on the high street too. From Chepstow to Holyhead and Cardigan to Wrexham you’ll be able to see the distinctive Age Cymru logo. Everything we offer is developed and delivered specifically for the older person. The Age Cymru network’s services are varied and include day centres, hospital discharge services, advocacy, internet classes, shopping, handyperson and befriending schemes. Our successful expansion into social enterprise is essential for us to secure a sustainable future. In addition to our new shops, we offer tailored insurances and services, as well as our trusted information and advice, through hubs in the local community. We came together with our national partners in England (Age UK), Northern Ireland (Age NI) and Scotland (Age Scotland) to analyse the provision of universal and means tested benefits across the UK and provided evidence to a House of Lords Committee exploring demographic change.
Many Age Concerns have adopted the Age Cymru brand. These are our local Age Cymru partners: Age Cymru Afan Nedd Age Cymru Ceredigion Age Cymru Gwent* Age Cymru Gwynedd a Môn*
Age Cymru Pembrokeshire (rebrand March 2014) Age Cymru Powys Age Cymru Sir Gâr Age Cymru Swansea Bay*
Our charity shops and trading outlets: Age Cymru Bangor Age Cymru Caerphilly Age Cymru Cardiff* Age Cymru Ebbw Vale Age Cymru Mold Age Cymru Monmouth
Age Cymru Pontypridd* Age Cymru Porthcawl Age Cymru Rhyl Age Cymru Shotton Age Cymru Wrexham
Financial services and products are available at the *outlets
Future work We will develop and deliver a ‘HandyVan’ service. We will open new community hubs combining a retail presence with insurance and services for the over 50s. We will expand our local presence in Wales. 5
Let’s enjoy better health for longer
Delivering healthy ageing “I can now walk further and faster, without getting out of breath.” 91% of participants said their health had improved as a result of Nordic Walking. “The room burst with fun, energy and community spirit – I defy anybody not to be moved! Gwanwyn festival is such an important and enjoyable event.”
“The most inspiring performance, workshop, interaction I’ve ever been involved in.”
To us, healthy ageing is being able to play a full role in society and to be independent with many choices available to us. Age Cymru provides opportunities to be active, creative and to make life as fulfilling as it can be. It was the European Year for Active Ageing and Solidarity between the Generations in 2012 and we promoted the year through our website and at the many events we organised and attended. Our work to prevent slips, trips and falls was highlighted during a hugely successful Falls Awareness Week in June 2012. A new suite of informative materials was produced and we saw an increase in the number of events taking place across Wales in the twelve month period jump by more than 300% from 32 to 132. Our physical activities work delivered more than 4,000 LIFT (low impact functional training) sessions and more than 5,000 Nordic Walking experiences across Wales. We know that we’re successful in what we do as we continue to recruit walk leaders from all over the country and we receive great feedback. Gwanwyn, our arts and creativity festival, continues to offer fantastic opportunities for older people to express themselves and be an inspiration for all. Gwanwyn works, we know because 85% of people who fed back said that they felt more confident after participating in a Gwanwyn event. Singing, photography, poetry, story telling, dance and many other genres were appreciated
at the 322 events that took place and by the 8,600 people that participated in 2012. We were delighted to see a large increase in the involvement of ethnic minority communities in Gwanwyn. A special Gwanwyn day was held in Cardiff involving women and children from Somali, Yemeni, Sudanese, Indian, Bengali, Pakistani and other communities. We also launched our ‘Shake a leg’ project with Rubicon Dance, a new toolkit for dance teachers and leaders to inspire and encourage older members of the community to participate in dance activities.
Future work We will look to increase opportunities for hospitals and residential care settings to engage older people in arts and creativity. We will grow our volunteer network and continue to create opportunities to participate. We will continue to provide access to active ageing activities to support older people to remain engaged and connected within communities.
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Let’s work together
Delivering together Older people inform our work through the various forums and networks we host and through the continuous research we undertake every year. These opinions, thoughts and issues provide us with an evidence base that underpins our work so we know we’re tackling what matters most to older people. Recognising equality and diversity is important and we ensure we cater for the views of older people who are in the minority in Wales. Our Older Minority Ethnic Network and our Older Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Network both recruited new members and both were involved with the Equality and Human Rights Coalition and the Welsh Government Strategic Equality Plan Board.
Future work We will ensure discrimination on the basis of age is challenged. We will promote and recruit new members to our networks. We will share the issues facing older people and demand action to make life better.
Age Cymru continues to fund and support Age Alliance Wales which has 17 national charities as members. We also fund and support the Welsh Senate of Older People, bringing together 57 organisations of older people. As part of our commitment to improving life for all older people, we work in partnership with other organisations and networks such as Homes for All Cymru, the Fuel Poverty Coalition and the Wales Carers Alliance.
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Let’s make sure we’re financially secure
Thank you for helping us deliver Estates of the late GC Bailey; LC Baldwyn; SI Collins; H Davies; T Davies; T Endall; B Evans; WJH Evans; D Hobbs; JC Howells Brown; GE Jones; J Jones; GH Ladlow; R Lowick; E Moore; MJ Owen; CE Smith; ET Wood.
Behnaz Akhgar
The pie charts opposite are representative of the figures extracted from the full Trustees annual report and consolidated financial statements which were approved by the Trustees and signed on their behalf on 12 August 2013.
Andy Bell Max Boyce Derek Brockway Andrea Byrne Gwawr Edwards Arfon Haines Davies The late Brian Hibbard Rhys Ifans Siân Lloyd Roy Noble Lucy Owen Daniel Phillips Carol Vorderman
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We would like to thank the following for their support during 2012/13: Age UK; Arts Council of Wales; Barchester Healthcare; Barclays; Burdett Trust for Nursing; Comic Relief; Community Pharmacy Wales; Compare the Market; Computer World Wales; Edwards Coaches; Football Association of Wales; Geldards Solicitors; Grundtvig; Hugh James Solicitors; John Lewis Partnership; Older People’s Commissioner for Wales; Roger North Long Architects; Taff Housing Association; Vodafone; Wales and West Utilities; Wales Council for Voluntary Action; Welsh Government; Welsh Rugby Union; Western Power Distribution and Wilkinson Stores.
On 23 August 2013 Broomfield and Alexander gave an unqualified audit report on the full financial statements. The auditors have confirmed, the summarised financial statements are consistent with the full financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2013. These summarised financial statements may not contain sufficient information to gain a complete understanding of the financial affairs of the Age Cymru group. The full Trustees report, financial statements and auditors report may be obtained from: Age Cymru, Tyˆ John Pathy, 13/14 Neptune Court, Vanguard Way, Cardiff, CF24 5PJ.
Charitable income
Charitable income Grants Social enterprise Retail Age UK
Charitable expenditure
Charitable expenditure Legacies, donations and events
Influencing policy and practise
Sustainable national organisation
Other including investment
High quality services
Support to partners
Engagement
Income resources
Strong evidence base
Retail Governance 11
Thanks A huge thank you to our many hundreds of volunteers whose continued support changes the lives of older people for the better. In our first full year of fundraising we embarked on a full programme of events including the Cardiff Half Marathon, Spread the Warmth concert, Big Jubilee Lunch, culminating in a gala fundraising dinner. We also held our inaugural Age Cymru Awards to acknowledge the fantastic work undertaken by amazing partners and older people themselves. There were five categories Campaigning; Active Ageing; Local Delivery; Gwanwyn and My Home Life Cymru. It was a memorable evening for anyone who was there and we’d like to thank everyone who took the time to nominate for the awards, all who attended any of the events and everyone who has supported us with generous donations through the last year.
Tš John Pathy, 13/14 Neptune Court, Vanguard Way, Cardiff CF24 5PJ t 029 2043 1555 f 029 2047 1418 e enquiries@agecymru.org.uk www.agecymru.org.uk facebook.com/agecymru
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Age Cymru Impact Report 2013
@agecymru
Registered charity number 1128436 All quotes and statistics can be referenced on request.