Who we help
There are over 3.5 million people between the age of 50 and 64 who are out of work and many more now worrying about redundancy.
We work principally with people over 50 (often from disadvantaged backgrounds and who have been unemployed for more than six months) who are not aware that self-employment is an option that could provide them with a living. Below are some of the people we have helped to go on to explore self-employment.
“I still had a mortgage to pay and the salary that I was offered to continue teaching just wasn’t enough to support me and my husband. We couldn’t sell our home because of the economic crash and I was genuinely worried about what would happen to us.”
Gina Frost, 54 yrs, Founder of Three Minute Theatre
“I worked selling multimillion dollar software to large banks but was let go because I was too expensive and over skilled.”
Tim Hulse, 51 yrs, Founder of Eco Vert
Not only do we support people like Tim and Gina, but our charity also supports over 50s who:
- Have worked in a job for many years and have been made redundant
- Are no longer seen as desirable employees in the labour market after leaving work, perhaps due to child care commitments or looking after a dependent
- Have taken early retirement and then found they cannot afford to live on their reduced pension
- In their current employment, see redundancy looming and have a business idea, but do not know how to go about implementing it
- Want to be self-sufficient and financially independent, together with having the satisfaction of running their own business
- Are ‘pension lite’ – as the pensionable age rises, many of the over 50s will have to rely increasingly on under-performing pensions and less than adequate savings rates in relation to the cost of living. Therefore, they will have to look to self-employment to supplement their income
We have helped to start approximately 600 new businesses in the last year which benefit not only over 50s local communities through employment and helping to sustain local suppliers, but the UK economy in general
