Raising your voice: Our new COVID-19 Correspondents are being heard
By: Oliver Steadman
Tags: Covid 19, Health, Shopping, Vaccines, Campaign

Independent Age Campaigns Officer Ollie Steadman explains how our campaigners enable us to speak with one voice.

The voices and experiences of older people are always central to our campaigning at Independent Age. This has never been more important than during the coronavirus pandemic.

At key points during the pandemic, we’ve asked our campaigners which issues are affecting them most, and were thrilled that more than 5,000 people completed our most recent survey. The experiences you shared allowed us to focus our work where it was needed most, such as around bereavement and access to food. We shared your stories directly with MPs, parliamentary committees and government departments — but we wanted to do more.

In November 2020 we put out a call to our campaigners asking for people to join a new group of COVID-19 Correspondents. We weren’t sure how many people would be keen on this, so were delighted when more than 300 campaigners signed up. Our correspondents have been answering weekly surveys on a range of topics related to the pandemic, such as receiving the vaccine, how lockdown is affecting their mental health or how they’re accessing food. The insight they’ve given has been immensely valuable and has kept our work grounded in the experiences of older people.

After our first survey about receiving the vaccine, we were pleased that the majority of our COVID-19 Correspondents said they would accept the vaccine when offered it — but the survey also allowed us to hear from correspondents who had concerns. They wanted more information from the government about the vaccine and some were worried about travelling to get vaccinated. We shared these results directly with the Department for Health and Social Care, including the vaccines minister, and with the NHS in England. Since then the NHS has reviewed and expanded their provision of information, including more details on what to expect at vaccination appointments.

Our new COVID-19 Correspondents are being heard

Our COVID-19 Correspondents also told us that their food shop had become more expensive since the start of the pandemic, with 40% of respondents saying this was down to the cost of getting shopping, such as delivery costs or minimum spends. We agree that these costs can have a real impact on people’s finances, so we’ve launched a campaign calling for the seven major supermarkets to offer free delivery to vulnerable people and reduce minimum spends. Independent Age has coordinated a joint letter signed by 24 other charities and has asked the public to add their names to the call. So far the letter has been supported by nearly 5,000 people — click here to add your name to the letter.

The past year has been a really difficult time for everyone. Independent Age has continued to call for older people to get the support they need during the pandemic — but we couldn’t do this without your help. Working alongside our campaigners, particularly our COVID-19 Correspondents, enables us to speak with one voice and raise the concerns of older people, their families and their communities.