Growing Older & Planning Ahead

The Growing Older Planning Ahead research project aimed to improve support for older people with learning disabilities and family carers by producing resources and recommendations to help people think about the future.

The Team worked closely with people with learning disabilities and family carers across the project. Including our Own Angeli Vaid.

The idea for the study came from our 1st Embolden project (funded by Comic Relief), which started in July 2016. Embolden was the legacy of a previous OxFSN project, Changing Scenes, which set up social support networks for a small group of 15-20 older family carers. Changing Scenes heard that older family carers in Oxfordshire were not aware of their rights and entitlements and were unable or unsure of how to ask for them. Embolden was Oxfordshire-focused, but the experiences and findings are of national significance, raising questions about how older carers and older people with learning disabilities are supported to plan for their futures, together and alone. The growing older planning ahead project stemmed directly from these findings.

Since then we have developed a further Embolden Project, developing our own resources (which are available on this website) and worked directly to support older carers in Oxfordshire.

Links to additional resources from the national project below.