The document discusses the growing number of older people who are aging without children to support them. Research shows that the biggest fears of this group are having no one to advocate for them or help in emergencies when they can no longer care for themselves. The document calls for a national strategy to address the needs of this vulnerable population and ensure they receive proper support as they age.

1. Ageing without Children
Kirsty Woodard
Founder

2. The statistics
• Only data on women is recorded so figures are based on 50%
of population
• 20% of women born in the 1960s have no children
• 11% of women born in 1940s have no children
• by 2030 there will be 2 million people aged over 65 without
adult children, up from 1.2 million in 2012
• Estimates by European academics - Male lifetime
childlessness is highest (above 23% among men aged 45–49)
in Finland, Italy, Germany, the UK and the Czech Republic.’
• Dutch research estimates 10% of women actively choose no
children 10% are medically infertile and 80% are childless by
circumstances not of their choice.

3. The survey
“It’s a constant battle to get any help for my
mum even though she’s in her 80’s and has
dementia!! I feel like I am always having to
shout really loudly to get anywhere. I
wonder, who will be shouting for me? or will I
be the old lady dying alone in a hospital bed
because no one cares?”

4. Key findings
• Biggest fear (92 respondents) was having no one to
speak up for them or act in their best interests when
they could no longer do so for themselves
• 65 were worried they had no one to call on in
emergency
• 78 feared being lonely and losing their peer group
• 50 were afraid they would be abused or neglected
• Other major issues were; help with practical tasks (36),
being unable to afford care (24), end of life care (24),
poor care from the NHS (20)

5. “Nobody to speak up for me when I cannot
speak up for myself - especially where
healthcare is concerned. My mother died
recently, aged 93, and had she not had me
she would not have got anywhere near the
level of support from doctors, social workers,
carers etc, as she did.
“I will have no-one to look out for me and my
interests when I become frail, as I am currently
doing for my father who has been diagnosed with
dementia. The 'system' is not geared to doing this it
assumes there are family members to do this”
“when I am old, there will be no-one to do for me
what I have done for her, I will be at the mercy of
the system and the random decisions of people
who, even if they do their best, cannot possibly care
at the same level as a relative/loved one”
“You hear terrible stories of abuse at
care homes - often it is only exposed
because the children or grandchildren
become concerned and are able to
prove that it's happening”
“If I have to go to a nursing home I will not have an
advocate to make sure I have what I need and that I
am safe and well cared for”

6. “Someone to help care for me if I can't do it myself -
the speak for me, truly understand what I want, to
pick through the 'system' and make sure it works
for me”
“Advocates - to help individual older people
navigate health and other areas of life. When
people talk about children caring for elderly
parents, it is all the small pieces of support that are
so important, not whether they end up living
together with the child caring for the parent”
“Critical issues for older people include financial
planning, retirement planning, health
considerations, guardianship and decision
making if lose the capacity, housing considerations,
care and support in the community and in care. For
people with no children, planning around a number
of these areas are not as straightforward”
“No such much hands-on care (which
it can be arranged that I pay for) as
advocacy, championing me, and
being sure to have my best interests
at heart”
“not having an advocate on my side when I might
have to go into hospital. That is for me a very scary
prospect as I think people on their own without
family are very vulnerable when they go in the
NHS”

7. What needs to change?
• Government planning on ageing needs to take into account the increasing
numbers of people getting old without family support.
• Local authorities need to identify how many people in their area are likely to age
without children and incorporate this into their strategies on ageing.
• GPs, hospitals and social care services should identify people without family at an
early stage to ensure they are not left without help.
• There should be investment in advocacy services that can speak up for people
without children
• There needs to be investment in intergenerational programmes so that people
ageing without children are not cut off from other generations.
• Everyone should be given advice to help them make plans for their later life that
take into account what will happen if they do need care or lose capacity to make
their own decisions.
• There should be a national strategy for people ageing without children that brings
together individual people ageing without children along with national and local
Government, the NHS, housing providers and key bodies from civil society

8. “Who will do all the things I currently do for my
ageing parents, from helping them overcome
the terror of dementia, to buying their clothes
to standing up for them when they are being
ignored in hospital. And who will hold my
hand and tell me they love me when I'm
dying?”

9. Contact AWOC
• Email ageingwithoutchildren@gmail.com
• www.awoc.org
• @awocuk
• 01784 241060 (answerphone)