Action on loneliness

Anyone can feel lonely

Our research shows that before the coronavirus pandemic, one in five people in the UK often or always felt lonely.

Since the Covid pandemic, many more people have started to feel lonely – we know that stress, change, and isolation, can all trigger loneliness.

We are committed to helping people affected by loneliness through our services, our advice on loneliness, and our policy and advocacy work.

Our online wellbeing resources will help you gain practical skills to cope with loneliness. 

We also offer ideas on what people can do about loneliness, and some tips to help combat loneliness. 

The Red Cross also works with other charities, businesses, and the government to help ensure we continue to prioritise loneliness policy and practice.

Find out more about our work on loneliness:

• The Loneliness Action Group
• All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Loneliness
• Red Cross research into loneliness

About the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Loneliness

The British Red Cross and the Campaign to End Loneliness provide the secretariat for the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Loneliness.

Building on the work of the Jo Cox Commission on Loneliness, the group seeks to influence legislation and policy making to reduce loneliness across the UK. It is chaired by Tracey Crouch and Kim Leadbeater MP, and made up of cross-party parliamentarians.

To find out more, visit the APPG page.

If you have specific queries regarding the APPG, please email williamwall@redcross.org.uk

What research has the Red Cross done about loneliness?

We have been researching loneliness, UK loneliness statistics and related issues in the UK since 2016. Our published reports provide unique insight into the current situation, with recommendations on how to improve it.

• Our report, Loneliness at work, explores the extent of loneliness at work in the UK. It also looks at how different groups are impacted, and makes recommendations to the government and private bodies.
• Our report from the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Loneliness, A connected recovery: Findings from the APPG on Loneliness Inquiry explores problems and identifies solutions within four crucial policy areas.
• Our 2020 report, Lonely and left behind: Tackling loneliness at a time of crisis looks at how some of the people most affected by the pandemic have coped with it makes the case for more action to tackle loneliness. .
• Also in 2020, our report Life after lockdown: Tackling loneliness among those left behind shows that although social distancing and lockdown measures will continue to be eased, loneliness will remain, especially for certain groups.
• Read our Trapped in a Bubble research (PDF), which revealed the prevalence of loneliness and social isolation in the UK, with over 9 million people (almost one-fifth of the population) reporting they are always or often lonely.
• Our report, Barriers to Belonging, explores the causes of loneliness and obstacles to seeking help for people from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds.
• In our report Fulfilling the Promise: How Social Prescribing Can Best Treat Loneliness (PDF), we explore how non-clinical interventions and community activities can support people feeling lonely.
• In May 2017 the Co-op and British Red Cross launched our Connecting Communities service. Tackling Loneliness and Isolation: Findings from the evaluation of our Connecting Communities service (PDF) explores its effectiveness.
• The All Party Parliamentary Group on Loneliness published Building on social connections and tackling loneliness (PDF) to explain their role and share ideas for how MPs can help.
• An independent report by the Loneliness Action Group, A Connected Society: Tackling Loneliness and Social Isolation looks at the first year of progress made against the government’s Loneliness Strategy, which was launched in October 2018. 
• To begin our work in loneliness, we worked with our partners Co-op to published Isolation and loneliness: an overview of the literature (PDF).
• After two years of running loneliness services, we shared our experiences in Tackling Loneliness Together: British Red Cross and Co-op end of partnership report (PDF).
• Information on what we learned in our first year of running loneliness services is shared in our Connecting communities to tackle loneliness and social isolation: Learning report (PDF).