A national older people’s housing advice service has been awarded a two-year funding package worth £1.5 million. The CLG has awarded the money to the Elderly Accommodation Council to fund its FirstStop service. FirstStop offers advice and support to older people, their families and carers on housing, care, money and rights. The service will receive a £840,000 grant from April 1, 2011 and £660,000 for the 2012/13 financial year. Around 15,000 people contacted the FirstStop advice line last year, with around 115,000 accessing advice via the website and over 1,000 people being helped through local partners. Figures from the Office of National Statistics show that the number of older people is expected to increase to 12.2 million in 2011. By 2018 it is estimated that 780,000 people will be aged 80 and over. Read more on Inside Housing.
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