The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has made Contact the Elderly its ‘charity of the year’, supporting the charity’s cause as it heads into its Golden Jubilee year.

Contact the Elderly works to tackle loneliness and isolation in people aged 75 and older who live alone in England, Scotland and Wales.

Through a network of volunteer hosts and drivers, Contact the Elderly brings groups of older people together one Sunday afternoon each month to share tea, cake and conversation.

These monthly tea parties have been proven to reduce loneliness in guests and, since the charity’s inception in 1965 – the charity has grown to support over 4500 older people throughout the UK.

Mary Rance, CEO, Contact the Elderly, said: “Contact the Elderly relies on corporate and individual sponsors to deliver the essential face to face tea parties to isolated older people. We are extremely grateful to FCA for choosing Contact the Elderly as its charity of the year. The donation will go directly to tackling loneliness in people aged 75 and older and it will enable us to set up many more groups.

“Having a corporate sponsor like FCA is invaluable to Contact the Elderly.”

Danika Wood, Charity Committee Co-Chair at the FCA, added: “Each year we choose two charities for our people to support through fund raising events and other activities that get us involved. The charities are nominated by FCA staff. We were particularly keen to support Contact the Elderly, which tackles social isolation and loneliness by organising monthly events for people aged 75 and over, who live alone with little or no support from friends, family or statutory services.

“Contact the Elderly’s work resonates with us because our role as financial regulator has a particular focus on protecting vulnerable consumers. It’s such a simple idea, yet has such a profound effect on everyone involved, and makes a real difference to people’s lives.”