AWOC UK co-chair Jenny Collieson reflects on how both our locally-grounded activities and our future plans build on the national and international themes of International Day of Older People 2026 ... “Our vision is a world in which older people who are ageing without children... Continue reading
With World Childless Week 2026 underway, AWOC UK trustee Alison Neves highlights our new evidence on the concerns of people ageing without children ... Surveys of older people often fail to reflect the differing experiences and needs of those of us ageing without children. To... Continue reading
In this guest blog, Angela Catley, co-founder of When I Get Old (WIGO), reflects on her future, ageing alone with ''care" potentially on the horizon... I am a single woman who is ageing without children, through choice as it happens but I know many people... Continue reading
Penny Shepherd calls for improvements to local authority support after death... As an AWOC without close family, I want to plan for after my death confident that the state will take responsibility for ensuring my wishes are known and, so far as reasonably possible, carried... Continue reading
Following a recent meeting of the Ageism Special Interest Group of the British Society of Gerontology, AWOC trustee Paul Goulden comments on how ageism in the UK health and social care system affects people ageing without children… The wider picture Anyone who has either worked... Continue reading
Penny Shepherd analyses “Hospital at Home for frailty: Current situation and future potential” (British Geriatrics Society / UK Hospital at Home Society, August 2025)… “Hospital at Home” services provide hospital-level clinical care in their own homes for patients who are sufficiently unwell to otherwise be... Continue reading
Penny Shepherd considers the recently published 4th Edition of the My Future Care Handbook... The My Future Care Handbook, produced by non-profit My Care Matters, has been used by AWOC East Kent, AWOC Hastings and other AWOC groups and individuals over the last few years.... Continue reading
AWOC Board member Paul Goulden writes... It is now more than 11 years since our founder Kirsty Woodard first raised the issue of ageing without children in her article in The Guardian. At the time it was seen as interesting but niche within the ageing... Continue reading
Rhian Bowen-Davies took up her current post as Older People’s Commissioner for Wales in 2024. By 2030 1 in 4 people in Wales will be over 65 and this figure will include a growing number of older people ageing without children who may face particular... Continue reading
I am Yvonne and I set up AWOC Dorset with my husband Tad in October 2021. Following a move to Dorset sixteen years earlier, and at a time in our lives when we found everyone else (or so it seemed) having children, I found support... Continue reading