Guidance for local authorities and commissioners

Loneliness is a deeply personal experience, which makes addressing the issue particularly complex for commissioners and service providers.

This page provides adult social care, clinical commissioning groups and public health teams guidance on planning how to address the loneliness experienced by people in their local populations.

Strategic approach

Our loneliness framework sets out the full range of interventions needed from stakeholders across the community, beyond the health and social care sector, to support older people experiencing, or at risk of experiencing, loneliness. This framework has been adapted from our Promising Approaches report.

As a first step, local commissioners should build a picture of local people affected by and at risk of loneliness in their local area. Existing services that address loneliness should be mapped, including the full range of interventions from the across the loneliness framework.

A good strategy will consider local assets as well as needs. These can include the practical skills of local residents, community networks and connections, and the resources of public, private and voluntary organisations.

Overview

Foundation services

Foundation Services are the first steps in finding individuals experiencing loneliness and enabling them to gain support that meets their specific needs.

These services: identify and establish contact with people experiencing loneliness (reaching); draw out the specific circumstances of an individual’s loneliness and establishing the most appropriate help (understanding); support individuals to make use of available services (supporting).

Direct interventions

Direct interventions are services that reduce loneliness by directly increasing the quantity and / or quality of a person’s relationships. Once an individual experiencing loneliness is identified, commissioners should ensure there is a ‘menu’ of direct interventions available in three key areas: supporting and maintaining relationships; supporting new connections; and psychological approaches.

Gateway services

Gateway Services encompass technology and transport provision, which enable individuals to maintain existing relationships and support them in making new social connections. The lack of services can have an enormous impact on a person’s ability to engage with support.

Structural enablers

Structural Enablers aim to create the right environment to reduce loneliness by focusing on ‘how’ rather than ‘what’ is being delivered. When considering strategies that address loneliness and isolation, local authorities should seek to fulfil the following:

Neighbourhood approaches: Commissioners should strive to deliver measures to address loneliness at a neighbourhood (or even ward) level. Breaking down areas at neighbourhood level can also be more manageable and enable effective targeting of initiatives and enables outreach efforts.
Asset based community development: Every community has a supply of assets and resources that can be used to build the community, solve problems, and sustain health and wellbeing. When addressing loneliness, commissioners are encouraged to utilise local assets such as peoples’ time, social connections, and the built environment.
Volunteering: Local commissioners and service provides can work in partnership with their local Council for Voluntary Service who will have links with voluntary sector groups and providers in their area.
Positive ageing: Age positive approaches involve local authorities placing an emphasis on healthy and active ageing in their policy and practice, and reject negative stereotypes of later life.

More Information

Blogs

Bringing communities together in East Sussex (Nov 2023) Over the last three years, the Director of Public Health in East Sussex has looked at the broad social and economic circumstances that together influence health in the county in a series of annual reports: people needing a tribe to belong to; a job or occupation to do, and a place to call home.

Tackling loneliness in the London Borough of Bromley (April 2023) The borough started its conversation about loneliness and social isolation at a summit in 2019 which aimed to raise awareness amongst delegates from statutory, voluntary and provider sectors and gain a greater understanding of those at risk of experiencing loneliness.

Tackling loneliness and social isolation in Camden (Nov 2022) Camden’s Health and Wellbeing Strategy identifies community connectedness and friendships as a strategic priority. In this blog post, Angela Malik, Policy and Project Officer at Camden Council, explains how they are on a journey to discover the best ways to tackle loneliness and social isolation in the borough.

Are social impact bonds the answer to social service provision? (Nov 2015) We explore social impact bonds, an approach to commissioning local services whereby investors receive returns only if measurable social outcomes are achieved.