As part of our plans to build a more caring society we will announce a £20 million investment to help tackle loneliness, building on Jo Cox’s legacy and helping charities fight social isolation. 

Charities and community groups will get £20 million of new funding to help isolated people and those suffering from loneliness.

• Funding will support charities and community groups to bring people together

• The money will go to support programmes that are proven to benefit individuals and society

• Thousands of people will be helped to make connections in their communities

The funding will go to support and expand programmes that bring people together and are proving to benefit communities.

This includes a new £11 million ‘Building Connections Fund’ that will be distributed to successful applicants that can help bring communities together. This will help make the most of local spaces, opening them up for community use, as well as help businesses and local services combat isolation. It will also fund projects that use technology to link those in remote areas and help improve transport connections to make face-to-face contact easier.

It will support groups to understand the impact of their work and share best practice about how to prevent loneliness.

The fund has been created as a partnership between the Big Lottery Fund and the government - who have equally pledged £5 million - and the Co-op Fundation, who has allocated £1 million to tackle loneliness among young people

In addition to this new fund, People’s Postcode Lottery has committed £5 million of players money to top up existing grants it has given to charities that combat loneliness. The Health Lottery will give out £4 million to charities that work to improve social links in disadvantaged areas across England.

You can read more here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/20-million-investment-to-help-tackle-loneliness