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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate factors associated with loneliness amongst people aged 55 and over living in Coventry, a medium-sized city in the Midlands, UK. Design/methodology/approach – Quantitative community survey of residents, involving postal and online questionnaire and distribution of questionnaire to local community resources used by older people and "ballot boxes" for completed questionnaires in these locations. Findings – Using multivariate regression analysis the study found that living alone, not enjoying life, needing help with personal care and not being in touch with people as often as liked all predicted loneliness. Research limitations/implications – Survey was commissioned by a range of local statutory and voluntary sector providers and had a wider focus than loneliness. Some evidence of under-representation of males, minority ethnic groups and possibly people from lower socio-economic groups is reported. Further qualitative research is needed to better understand consequences and causes of loneliness. Practical implications – The study identified factors associated with loneliness that could be used to identify people who may be lonely in general or, for example, NHS or social care service populations. Originality/value – Loneliness is slowly becoming more recognised as a social problem in its own right and a contributory factor in poor health and well-being. This paper explores a the relationship between lonely and "not lonely" people and a range of factors clustered within the four thematic areas of demographic background, reported health and well-being, access to personal resources and use of community resources of survey participants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose -- The paper aims to ascertain how local authorities and other services are responding to central government strategies to make support for family carers a priority. Design/methodology/approach -- A web-based audit of local authority public information for carers was undertaken (n = 50). The sample covered different parts of England and different local authority types. Findings -- A small minority of local authority web sites mention that they operated Carers' Registers. Overall local authorities offer different resources to carers, ranging from discounts in the local area to access to emergency card registration. Some use online information as a communication channel. Overall local authority online information for carers seems to be variable in quality, accessibility and purpose. We conclude that growth in the collection of information by primary care services in England risks duplicating some of the functions of, and problems with, local authority activities. Local commissioning should minimise confusion and make optimal use of carers' information. Carers should not have to navigate confusing, variable, parallel systems and outreach is needed for those who do not use electronic media, such as some older carers. Research limitations/implications -- This was a small-scale study nested within a larger project. It is possible that the web sites we interrogated were atypical, although we did take steps to prevent this. Originality/value -- The study's strength lies in its originality of approach undertaking a specific audit of material that is publicly available and reflecting on a subject that has not previously been explored in the context of information for carers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]