Agenda item

This report sets out the current status of intergenerational practice in the borough and opportunities for developing and embedding intergenerational activities to address loneliness and social isolation.

Julius Olu (Assistant Director – Commissioning and Partnerships) introduced the report that set out the current status of intergenerational practices in the borough and opportunities for developing and embedding intergenerational activities to address loneliness and social isolation.He was joined by Jazz Browne (Chief Executive of Nubian Life), Precisa Getsevich (Youth Council), and Adam Semar (Youth Council).

Julius Olu highlighted some of the key examples of existing intergenerational practice in Hammersmith & Fulham and opportunities for the development of activities to combat social isolation and loneliness. He praised the borough’s diverse third sector, supported by the Council’s Third Sector Investment Fund, that met a wide range of resident needs. He noted the inter-generational work that was already happening, but said there were opportunities to expand it further.

Jazz Browne addressed the Board and explained that Nubian Life was a care provider for older Afro-Caribbean and Asian people with complex health and social care needs. Nubian Life believed it was important for older people to remain connected to their community and intergenerational work was an important part of achieving that. Intergenerational activities could provide a creative approach to community development and helped challenge systematic ageism. She then discussed two successful projects – a sewing club and a gardening club that brought together people aged 5 to 87. She noted that intergenerational activities worked best when they were mutually beneficial and suggested developing activities around mutual interests.

Julius Olu highlighted some of the intergeneration work in Children’s Services from the report. International Baccalaureate had an intergenerational component with older people mentoring young people. Family Hubs presented opportunities for intergenerational practice. Community spaces, including Family Hubs, provided spaces for older people to care for grandchildren and meet other grandparents. Children’s Services were reviewing options for intergenerational practice as part of the Family Hub programme including grandparent-friendly Family Hubs, grandparent-specific sessions, services and information for grandparents/older carers, and identifying the school’s offer in intergenerational practice.

The Chair welcomed Precisa Getsevich and Adam Semar from H&F’s Youth Council to the meeting. Adam Semar said the Youth Council had discussed intergenerational work and put forward the idea of skill sharing between different generations – for example, younger people could share their digital skills with older people. Another area for the Youth Council was around better understanding democracy. Many younger people didn’t understand the inner workings of local councils and other democratic institutions and he suggested this was an area that older people could share their knowledge and experience. Lastly, he noted that a priority for the Youth Council was around expanding volunteering opportunities and to that end, they were looking to implement an online platform to facilitate and reward volunteering in the borough. Precisa Getsevich spoke about the valuable experiences she had taken from her grandparents but noted that many children didn’t have grandparents around to pass on their skills and experience. She felt intergenerational schemes could help bridge that gap.

Councillor Victoria Brocklebank-Fowler noted she had heard of a London-based charity that matched young people looking for somewhere to stay with older people who had a spare room. The younger people would pay minimal rent in return for providing some practical help around the home and companionship. She suggested the Council could promote those types of schemes in the borough. Julius Olu said he would investigate.

ACTION: Julius Olu

Councillor Natalia Perez asked if there were specific communities that the Council would like to engage further in this area. Julius Olu said this work was still at an early stage. Officers had identified need, but further work was required. Councillor Perez highlighted the challenges for first generation migrants, particularly older populations who may suffer from increased instances of isolation and loneliness. She felt there were opportunities to bridge gaps.

Councillor Jacolyn Daly asked Jazz Browne what she thought made the gardening and sewing clubs work so well. Jazz Browne said they took a genuine interest in what people wanted to achieve and created the space to let them follow through. She added that the willingness and commitment of their volunteers was also key to their success.

Councillor Daly noted the borough had some great youth services and clubs and felt there was an opportunity for them to deliver some intergenerational activities. She also suggested some of the unspent money from the King’s Coronation fund for youth services could be used for this work.

Councillor Rory Vaughan said he was pleased to see such a rich base of projects already in borough. He asked what the Council could do to support them to prosper, and what infrastructure was necessary to enable people who have ideas to take them forward.

Julius Olu agreed the Council needed to be a bridge to support the borough’s third sector. He noted the Council had a small grants application process whereby groups could bid for money. The Council was also around the mid-point of its Third Sector Investment Fund strategy. Intergenerational work was already in the service specification, but it could be strengthened further.

Jazz Browne suggested that we could make better use of the Volunteer Centre in the borough. She noted there were a number of forums in place, including Community Connect started by People Arise Now, that could be used to further the conversation. Councillor Vaughan commented that we seemed to have people wanting to do this work, but they needed the room to put it into practice.

The Chair noted that young people had regularly talked about a lack of volunteering opportunities for under 16s and asked if this could be an area for improvement. Jazz Browne agreed. She said Nubian Life had provided work experience placements for secondary schools, but she felt only the schools closest to them knew about it.

Councillor Nicole Trehy suggested going to Youth Centres to see what type of activities people were most interested in. She also noted that there were large numbers of young people from schemes like the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award looking for volunteering placements but few places to go. More work needed to be done to align these groups.

Councillor Nikos Souslous said he regularly heard from charities that they didn’t know what services were already available and suggested the Council needed a way to highlight them. He also asked if there were any programmes where students went into care homes to spend quality time with older people. The Chair noted that Hammersmith Academy had a scheme, which stopped during the pandemic but was due to restart this year, where students could volunteer at the Elgin Centre next door to the school. Julius Olu said he would take these suggestions to colleagues in Children’s Services.

ACTION: Julius Olu

Councillor Nicole Trehy asked if the local voluntary sector was still healthy given the pressures of the cost-of-living crisis. Jazz Browe said it was a mixed picture. Fulham Good Neighbours had retained roughly the same number of volunteers, but they had less time to give. They were planning a recruitment drive shortly.

PrecisaGetsevich said they should allow children to volunteer. Younger people were keen to volunteer, had the time, and didn’t have the same financial pressures as adults – but they were often restricted from volunteering opportunities.

The Chair noted that many Councillors were on the Boards of voluntary groups and in her experience turnover was high. Given the financial climate, more people needed to be economically active and finding long term volunteers was difficult. She thought there may be opportunities for young people and said she would take it away and develop the idea further.

ACTION: Councillor Homan

Shad Haibatan (SOBUS) welcomed the focus on intergenerational projects. He noted that the number of volunteers was reducing. Regarding allowing children to volunteer, he said there were potential safeguarding issues and organisations would need support and training around that. He also suggested there should be more investment from the health sector towards intergenerational projects as they improved health and wellbeing.

Councillor Vaughan noted there had been a long-standing issue with young people in year 10 looking for work experience opportunities, but many companies weren’t able to get insurance so there weren’t enough places. He suggested perhaps they could consider voluntary opportunities instead.

Katrina Getsevich addressed the Board and noted that she had benefited greatly from being a part of the Youth Council and H&F Volunteer Centre. When she was younger there were a range of projects where older people shared their skills – including producing radio shows and magazines. The skills she learnt helped her build a career. She felt volunteering was important but there should be more of a focus on the benefits for volunteers such as training and qualifications.

The Chair thanked everyone for participating in the discussion and sharing their ideas. She noted that the Council did not have a lot of additional money to invest but there was work to do to ensure the borough was getting the best of what was out there, working in the most productive way. She highlighted the following areas for further investigation:

• Intergenerational housing arrangements.
• Voluntary sector grant funding and building intergenerational work into future funding commitments.
• Sharing life skills across generations.
• The Council’s role as facilitator.
• Identifying less engaged communities.
• Ensuring we are not boxing people into restrictive age categories.
• Intergenerational wealth inequality, as highlighted by the Resolution Foundation.

RESOLVED

1. The Board discussed what further opportunities there were for intergenerational practices in H&F and provided a steer on the way forward.