The story
Age Concern's origins are in the United Kingdom and can be traced back to a realisation in that country of the effects on aged people of the Second World War; the dislocation and breakdown of family life arising out of conscription led to a recognition that existing poor laws failed to provide effective support for old people separated from family support networks.
In 1940, the Old People's Welfare Committee (OPWC), chaired by Eleanor Rathbone, was formed as a forum for discussion between government and voluntary organisations. OPWC was a sub-committee of the Liverpool Personal Service Society (PSS). In 1944, the committee changed its name to the National Old People's Welfare Committee (NOPWC) and took on responsibility for coordinating the activities of numerous local OPWCs.
From the 1950s onwards, NOPWC accessed government and local funds associated with the post-war development of the welfare state, to provide services to local committees, and training to wardens of old people's homes.
In 1968 it became clear to Denise Newman. the then chairman of the NOPW council, an organisation funded within the government and run by unaccountable grandees was not an effective voice for the needs of the elderly. At that time the funding allocated from the government through the Department of Social Services was £40,000 a year.
One problem was that the minister responsible (Dick Crossman) was not in a position politically to guarantee that should the group break with the government that the funds would naturally follow to the new entity. So it was the taking of this funding risk which initially marked out Age Concern as part of a new way of dealing with what could be seen as a government-supported charitable exercise. Secondly, having successfully established itself with its premises and retained its £40,000 grant, Newman then insisted that the newly appointed CEO be salaried, and therefore accountable. This was the first salaried appointment of the senior executive of any charity in the UK.
In 1971, under the new direction of David Hobman, the NOPWC changed its public name to Age Concern, and separated itself from the government and the National Council for Social Service, now NCVO. It did so while also launching a 'manifesto for old age' and establishing itself nationally as a lobbying body as well as an organisation that engaged in service provision and enhancement, training, and research.
The directors of Age Concern England have included David Hobman, Baroness Greengross, and Gordon Lishman – the current Director General.
In 1986 Age Concern established an Institute of Gerontology at King's College London into which it folded its own Age Concern Research Unit.
From Wikipedia’s article on Age Concern, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4