Loneliness annual report: The first year

26th March 2021

HM Government

View at GOV.UK In January 2018, in response to the Jo Cox Commission report on loneliness, the government set out its first steps to tackle loneliness. Over the course of the year, the government:

• Appointed the world’s first minister to lead work on tackling loneliness
• Launched the £11.5 million Building Connections Fund in partnership with The National Lottery Community Fund and the Co-op Foundation
• Developed a recommended measurement package
• Started to improve the evidence base on loneliness
• Published the world’s first government loneliness strategy: A Connected Society: a strategy for tackling loneliness – laying the foundations for change

This report tells the story of what has been achieved since the publication of the loneliness strategy, and sets the government’s direction of travel on the loneliness journey.