AWOC – Frequently Asked Questions

AWOC was founded in 2014 by Kirsty Woodard, a third sector consultant and trainer. The first directors were Mervyn Eastman, Chair of Positive Ageing in London, Jody Day who set up Gateway Women for childless-by-circumstance women and Dr Robin Hadley from Keele University who is an expert in childlessness in older men. Read Kirsty’s article in The Guardian

There were three key factors that convinced Kirsty Woodard and others that a movement like AWOC was needed at the time it was conceived in 2014:

• despite population and societal changes which saw growing numbers of people ageing without children, their existence barely featured in any discussions about ageing either at national or local government level, in the NHS or voluntary sector organisations working with older people
• austerity and massive cuts to public services were backed by politicians saying that caring for older people should be the responsibility of families and not the state
• an awareness that older people without family to intercede on their behalf often have poorer experiences of health, social care, and related services.

Following its inception in 2014 AWOC received some small grants and support from other organisations in the ageing sector including the Beth Johnson Foundation, Age UK London, Transform Ageing, Prama Care and Independent Age. These were for specific pieces of work or local projects. However, we have not been successful in obtaining new national funding since becoming a charity in 2021 and we are dependent on the contributions of volunteers and donations for most of our activities.

This is a frequent, but incorrect assumption.

What research there is on post-fertile women, suggests that approximately 10% of women choose not to have children, 10% were unable to do so for medical reasons and 80% are childless due to other circumstances. Unfortunately, the statistics for men and for those who are transgender or non-binary are not available. It is our view that it doesn’t matter why people arrive at later life without children; the issues people face will be much the same whether they chose not to have children or wanted them and couldn’t have them.

We don’t. We are very aware of the stresses faced by the 6 million family carers in the UK and many of our members are or have been carers for their parents or older relatives. We are also aware that many older people who have families say they don’t expect or want their children to look after them in their old age.

However 92% of informal care is provided by family members and most older people who do have adult children do get support from them when they need more help to stay independent. It is often a surprise for people trying to access care and support at a time of crisis to realise both how difficult it can be to both navigate social care systems and how high the thresholds of eligibility for support are.

Providing informal support to ageing parents or other older relatives is often a trigger point for people ageing without children who realise that the same support they are providing will not be available to them. AWOC surveys show that a key concern for most people ageing without children is the lack of someone to speak on their behalf or advocate for them should they lose capacity. There is a particular concern for people ageing without children about the prospect of living alone with dementia.

Alongside other movements like Social Care Future and When I get Old  AWOC would like to see a different narrative around accessing social care and more varied, flexible and tailored options for older people who need advocacy and practical support in later life.

Our Local Groups page lists contact details and information about the established groups which have signed up to our partnership agreement. There are also other purely social groups springing up too in different areas and these advertise their meetings on Facebook.

We have produced a guide for organisations interested in setting up a local AWOC group and some of this will also be relevant to individuals interested in  coming together to form groups too. AWOC can facilitate introductions for new would-be group leaders to other members of established groups that can share helpful information.  The Board can also advise about the development of an AWOC peer support group but we are not able to provide financial support as we are currently not funded to do this.

Donations are always very welcome, see our Just Giving page.

Join our mailing list and Facebook group.

Help us spread the word about AWOC particularly if you work or volunteer for an organisation engaging with older people

Encourage other organisations statutory and voluntary to use our AWOC groups guide.