Our project will have a geographical focus in England, specifically within Greater London and the South East, which is home to 39.6% of England’s ageing population. This will be allied to our current work in community organisations in the UK allowing us to identify those most in need. There will be a primary aim of running train the trainer workshops to staff working in community organisations so that they can then train people in their community. This would include local groups, residents’ associations, care homes, faith groups and a range of local and national charities.

Over 1 million people, aged 50 years and over suffer from health issues such as early onset dementia, strokes, mobility issues and poor mental health and wellbeing in the UK which makes them an invisible and highly vulnerable population. They are more prone to issues with gambling, particularly scratch cards and land-based gambling such as betting shops, bingo halls and casinos; prevalence data suggests 3.7% of adults aged 45 – 54 are classed as being at risk of gambling harm, according to the Health Survey for England 2021 report, though the figure may well be higher because of grey areas such as spend on the National Lottery and other charity lotteries, cash betting on horse and dog racing and other areas of gambling where problems are neither reported not counted.

Our project will

  • develop the UK’s first awareness training and resources aimed at those 50 years and over, reaching 2,000 people.
  • train 100 professionals working in community organisations, supporting those over 50 years.
  • evaluate the effectiveness of the resources and training programme and publish an academic evaluation.