Age UK – Telephone Friendship

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Telephone friendship services for older people.

Whether you’d like to speak to someone every week, or just want to talk when the need strikes, we’re here to help.

How does telephone friendship work?

We have two different telephone friendship services available. 

1. Regular telephone friendship service. We match over-60s with a friendly volunteer for a weekly chat. Our service has helped create hundreds of new friendships, and many people tell us their calls are the highlight of their week. To get started, just tell us a bit about yourself and we’ll do the rest. 
2. A 24-hour helpline service. This is run by our partner charity, The Silver Line. It’s a free 24-hour helpline which people can call for a chat, day or night. Whatever the reason, we’re here to listen.

Who are our services for?

Our services are here for people in later life who’d like to talk to someone. You don’t need to be feeling lonely (though if you are, we’d like to help), and you don’t need to live on your own. Sometimes it’s just nice to talk. 

To sign up for our regular telephone friendship service, where someone calls each week, you need to:

• be over 60
• have your own landline or mobile phone
• be able to hear and be understood over the phone.
• commit to a regular call at the same time each week.

Is there anyone who can’t use telephone friendship services?

Our telephone friendship services may not be as helpful for people with memory loss, dementia or mental health issues who need a higher level support. These conditions may affect the person’s ability to build a telephone friendship and, in some instances, people with these conditions may actually find the calls more distressing. 

As of 11 March 2024 – We’re currently receiving very high numbers of referrals for our service, meaning the wait to join the service may be longer than usual. Please continue to refer to our service and our team will get to your referral as soon as they can. There’s no need to contact us once you’ve made the referral – please be assured we will be in touch as soon as we can.

Information and Advice

Age UK also runs an Information and Advice Line.