As the Government promises the biggest council house building programme since the post-war era, Intergenerational England launches The Age of Solidarity and calls on the housing sector to design generations back together 8.6 million people in the UK now live alone, and half of them are aged 65 or over Only 17% of UK adults regularly spend time with someone from a different generation outside their family Sovereign Network Group, Homes England and Fusion21 Foundation are alrea

When Andy Burnham became Prime Minister in July, we asked what his appointment might mean for an intergenerational Britain. We found that policies not explicitly framed as being about connection, such as affordable buses, support for pubs and a pledge to end rough sleeping, can still foster intergenerational connection by building and supporting the places where generations meet. Since then, Burnham has announced a run of visible, practical fixes, from a crackdown on illegal

By Emily Abbott, Co-Founder of Intergenerational England At the Ruskin College and WEA fringe at Labour Party Conference, I asked the room to turn to the person beside them and say what they'd had for breakfast. Not a relationship yet. But people had stopped coexisting and started noticing each other. That gap is what I came to talk about. I'm not a skills and labour market specialist. My argument was that lifelong learning is social infrastructure: it builds confidence, rela

Andy Burnham's appointment as Prime Minister on the 20th July is in many ways a familiar story: Britain's seventh leader in a decade, arriving via an internal party process rather than a general election, promising to be different from what came before. Admittedly, as an organisation with close ties to Manchester and familiarity with Burnham's work, his appointment is in many ways an exciting prospect - but across the political spectrum it could still be easy to read it as mo

England is entering its biggest wave of devolution since the creation of the first metro mayors. New Strategic Authorities are emerging, existing mayors are gaining powers and ministers are promising that decisions will move closer to communities. Yet one question is almost entirely absent from the debate; how will these new institutions rebuild relationships between generations? For many people, devolution can feel like another constitutional reform. In practice, it is much

A response to the Government’s Every Child Can announcement | June 2026 The Government is right. Every child, regardless of where they grow up or which school they attend, should have access to music, sport, the arts, nature and civic life. Not as an afterthought. Not depending on their postcode. As a common entitlement. The £132.5 million Every Child Can programme, backed by a new national Enrichment Framework and Ofsted scrutiny, is the structural commitment that can mak

Building civic pride and connection across generations Prepared by Intergenerational England and Intergenerational Music Making Executive summary Young men in England are in trouble, and the country is starting to notice. Suicide remains the leading cause of death for men under 50. One in four young men reports chronic loneliness. Economic inactivity among men aged 16–24 has reached its highest level in a decade. And a generation of boys and young men is forming its sense of

The third session of the Access All Ages Creative Community Hub at The Bridgewater Hall was unlike anything we had done before. For the first time, we partnered with nutrition students from Manchester Metropolitan University to co-deliver a morning that wove public health messaging seamlessly into music, creativity and intergenerational connection. The result was one of the most powerful sessions the programme has seen to date. A New Kind of Partnership The Access All Ages

Dr Daniel Mason Apr 27 10 min read An intergenerational approach to learning about blood pressure Summary Hypertension (high blood pressure) is a significant, often silent, risk factor for cardiovascular diseases such as myocardial infarction (heart attack), and stroke. Hypertension often goes unrecognised and undiagnosed in the community, especially where health care access and health education is limited. This project aimed to deliver teaching to students in year six o

Read the announcement here The launch of the Queen Elizabeth Trust marks a significant moment for communities across the United Kingdom. It signals a renewed national commitment to the places and relationships that shape everyday life to the spaces where people meet, participate and build a shared sense of belonging. In doing so, it reflects the enduring legacy of Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, whose life of service consistently emphasised neighbourliness, continuity an

As the UK’s ageing population grows, dementia care remains one of the most complex challenges facing the NHS and the broader social care sector. While pharmacological research continues its vital search for disease-modifying treatments, there is an urgent, parallel need for scalable, evidence-based psychosocial interventions. Among the most promising of these is the integration of Creative Health into standard care pathways. At Intergenerational Music Making (IMM), our work a

We are living through a paradox of modern society: we are more digitally connected than ever yet demographically and socially, we have never been further apart. As Lord Kamall recently observed: “For some, demographic and societal changes have led to communities fragmenting, isolation, disconnection and a lack of shared purpose.” This fragmentation is not just a social issue; it is a profound public health crisis. Loneliness and age segregation are eroding our collective well

Intergenerational England’s response to Protecting What Matters The Government’s paper Protecting What Matters: Towards a more confident, cohesive and resilient United Kingdom arrives at a moment when cohesion has moved from aspiration to necessity. It reflects a growing recognition that the strength of our society rests not only on economic stability or institutional capacity, but on the quality of relationships between people. Across the country, those relationships are und

The publication of Creating Intergenerational Communities marks a significant moment in the evolution of thinking around housing, place and social infrastructure in the UK. For some time, the direction of travel has been clear. A huge thank you to Housing Lin for driving this agenda forward. The UK is becoming increasingly age-segregated, not only in patterns of residence, but in how people participate in community life, access opportunity and relate to one another. While th

About Us We’re Nicola and Emily, Practitioner Researchers at The Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge. Nicola is interested in arts and cultural education in the early years, while Emily’s practice focuses on (older) adults living with chronic health conditions and non-visible disabilities. In early 2025, we teamed up to see what might happen if our practices came together. The result? ‘Creative lunches’ – an intergenerational project where art and food bring people t

By Charlotte Miller and Emily Abbott Secretariat, APPG on Tackling Loneliness and Connected Communities Intergenerational England A National Inquiry to Tackle Loneliness Through Connection On 22 October 2025, parliamentarians, civil society leaders, researchers and community practitioners came together for the launch of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Tackling Loneliness and Connected Communities. This session marked the formal start of a two-year national inquir

By Nick Gulliver,
Director of Advocacy, Economics of Mutuality Alliance Our recent Business vs. Loneliness report, published with The University of Manchester, reveals an insight that may surprise some. Based on a survey of 10,000 people across 5 countries, we found that loneliness decreases steadily with age. 29% of Gen Z reported feeling lonely, compared to 14% of Baby Boomers and the Silent Generation. We observed that, whilst loneliness is an issue across all generations

The importance of addressing ageism As a Community Housing Manager bids farewell at one of our recently introduced ‘Keeping in Touch’ visits, the customer asked if they could pass their contact to one of their neighbours. “Of course. Better still, I’ll pop over now and introduce myself”. In person contact will always play an important role, for some Customers more so than others, which is why we’ve increased the number of frontline Colleagues in the past year. I see it as our

From cohousing to home extensions, how the design of our homes and communities can reconnect families and build support networks. by Sam...