What is available in the UK
- Befriending schemes, including telephone befriending run by Age UK and local charities.
- Lunch clubs and day centres, often the cheapest and most sociable option going.
- Paid companionship visits, which many home care agencies offer separately from personal care.
- Faith groups, U3A, walking groups and community transport schemes.
- A rota of family and friends calling at agreed times rather than at random.
Regular beats spontaneous
A call every Tuesday at four is worth more than three unplanned calls a month, because it can be looked forward to. Anticipation is a large part of the benefit.
That is also why a reminder shortly before a scheduled call helps on both sides: the caller remembers, and the person is ready rather than caught unawares.
Building it into the week
Two fixed points is a reasonable target: one visit or outing, one regular call. Add more only once those two genuinely happen every week without effort.
You Care Reminders can prompt both parties, which quietly removes the most common reason these arrangements fade out.
When it is more than loneliness
Persistent low mood, loss of interest, poor sleep and appetite are depression, which is common in later life and very treatable. That is a GP conversation, not a social one.
The wider picture
around 1 in 14
people aged 65 and over in England report feeling lonely often or always.
Source: Age UK
3.9 million
people aged 65 and over in the UK live alone, around a third of that age group.
Source: Office for National Statistics