Everthing you need to know about us

Our History

Age Concern Morgannwg Ltd (ACM) was founded as a registered charity in 1977 as the Council for the Elderly in Mid Glamorgan (Registration Number 507495). The organisation changed its name on 11 June 1999 to Age Concern Morgannwg. Following local government reorganisation, the county of Caerphilly transferred from Mid Glamorgan to Gwent leaving the three current areas of Rhondda Cynon Taff, Bridgend and Merthyr Tydfil within the charity's area of benefit.

Our Vision: To live in a society where older people are respected and enabled to meet their aspirations.

Our Mission: To make a difference to the quality of life of older people and promote a positive view of ageing.

Our Area of Benefit

• Rhondda Cynon Taff
  Rhondda Cynon Taff (RCT) lies to the west of Merthyr Tydfil and is the second largest authority in Wales with 231,946 inhabitants. 17 of RCT's electoral wards feature in the top 100 most deprived parts of Wales, with high levels of poverty and social exclusion. 27.2% of the population report having a limiting long-term illness.
  
  
• Merthyr Tydfil
  Merthyr Tydfil County Borough is the smallest unitary authority in Wales with a population of 55,981 with 16% of these being pensioners. There are 23,145 households in Merthyr of which 5,508 (24%) are pensioner households.
  
  
• Bridgend
  Bridgend County Borough has a population of about 132,000. Approximately 60% of the population are of working age, more than one fifth is over 60 years old and there are proportionally fewer young people aged 18 to 24 years than in Wales as a whole which might be explained by migration from the area.

All three areas face many challenges due to economic decline over several decades that have been exacerbated by population migration particularly of younger age groups. The acknowledgement of European Social Fund Objective 1 Funding in Rhondda Cynon Taff and Merthyr Tydfil indicates the difficulties that exist in those areas and place them within some of the poorest regions in Europe.

We are Age Concern - independent, local and listening

On 1st Aprill 2011, the unincorporated charity known as Age Concern Morgannwg transferred all its assets, functions and liabilities to an incorporated charity Age Concern Morgannwg Ltd under a new logo (shown above) and introduced its new social enterprise called .

Age Concern Morgannwg Trading Ltd (FSA No. 415182) is an Appointed Representative of Lovat Insurance Brokers Ltd which is Authorised and Regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA No. 305302). The insurance products we sell are Home and Contents, Car, Motor Breakdown and Travel. In addition, we promote Careline UK, Stannah Starlifts and Golden Charter Funeral Plans. All of these products and services are available from the advant~AGE partnership. (Home and Contents Insurance, Car Insurance and Motor Breakdown Cover provided by Lovatt Insurance Brokers Ltd; Travel Insurance provided by Travel Insurance Facilities Group).

In addition to advant~AGE, the charity also offers a personal support service called SupportPlus which includes services such as shopping, cleaning and domestic help, escorting outdoors, sitting, personal care and nail-cutting. All profits generated by trading with advant~AGE and SupportPlus are gifted back to the charity to support its core, charitable services.

Currently, the Charity employs 68 workers and 10 volunteers to deliver 13 separate projects and community outreach services that include:

• Information, advice and support including help to claim Welfare Benefits
• products and services available to people of ALL ages (Insurance, Funeral Plans, Stairlifts)
• Community Outreach Services (Hospital Discharge Support), Dementia Support Services and Activities Projects in residential care homes)
• Support for RCT 50+ Forums
• Independent Advocacy Services
• SupportPlus

Money Matters

The Charity is funded by a number of different sources but mainly the three Local Authorities and Local Health Boards in the area of benefit. We do not receive funding from the Welsh Assembly Government or national bodies.

As at 31st March 2010 the Charity's turnover stood at £1.5m. Our trading activity generated a Gift Aid donation of £28, 423 from the Trading subsidary to the Charity and here are some of the ways we use this income and the income from legacies and donations to support the work we do:

• £1 donation to our Information and Advice Service can generate an average of £63 of income for older people in poverty
• £5 pays for a volunteer's expenses to visit an isolated older person in their own home twice a month
• £10 pays for 20 minutes of engaging activities in a care home setting
• £75 pays for hiring a community centre for a day to provide activities for isloated older people in their local area
• £100 trains one member of staff /volunteer to provide engaging activities in a care home or community setting
• £500 provides a Christmas Party for 50 older people who would otherwise not be celebrating Christmas

Our latest annual figures (1st April 2009 - 31st March 2010) show that the charity supported over 18,852 people to meet a variety of needs. Our services helped older people claim £1.6 million in welfare benefits and we provided over 16,000 hours of care to the most vulnerable olde people in our communities.

Quality Counts - how we're governed and regulated

• Care and Social Services Inspectorate for Wales (CSSIW) - Registration

Age Concern Morgannwg is registered with the Care and Social Services Inspectorate of Wales (CSSIW) as a domiciliary care agency (under 200 hours). The categories in which we are registered to provide support are:

Our People