‘Tackle stigma to change attitudes and build caring communities’ – we respond to the Government’s Loneliness Strategy

Monday 15 October 2018

Prime Minister Theresa May has today launched the Government’s Loneliness Strategy.

Committing to tackle loneliness at all ages – including among young people who research shows feel lonely the most often – the strategy also features key pledges to:

• Standardise how loneliness is measured and build more evidence to better understand its impacts.
• Improve people’s access to services that connect those at risk of loneliness. This includes expanding social prescribing. Read how Co-op and British Red Cross are working together to connect communities.
• Build a national conversation on loneliness to help tackle stigma.

Responding, Jim Cooke, Head of the Co-op Foundation, said:

“Co-op Foundation welcomes the launch of the Government’s Loneliness Strategy and the commitment it makes to tackling loneliness at all ages, including among young people.

“We know from our work with the UK-wide Belong network that youth loneliness is widespread but still not widely understood. We hope the Loneliness Strategy will help address this, using learning from our £2m partnership on the Building Connections Fund Youth strand to inform longer-term funding and policy change that tackles youth loneliness. We look forward to working with Government to better support the youth sector so that more young people can find a place to belong and contribute positively to their community.

“We also welcome the Government’s clear commitment to tackle the stigma of loneliness. Our research has shown that young people face significant barriers to talking about loneliness, which can prevent them turning to others for help – findings that were echoed by the BBC Loneliness Experiment this month.

“With fewer than one in five young people believing that youth loneliness is taken seriously by society, and fewer than one in 10 feeling confident to talk about it, we hope to work together with Government and others to raise awareness of this issue, change attitudes and build caring communities.”

Follow our blog to read more from the Co-op Foundation and our partners on how we are tackling youth loneliness.

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