To coincide with Elder Care Week, the Golden-Oldies Charity are reminding people how music can really brighten up the lives of those living sheltered housing - with free sing-song sessions to golden hits of the 1960s '70s and '80s. And they now have a DVD to prove it!

A new service, called FirstStop, has been launched for older people, their families and carers seeking advice on care, housing and finance - just as recent research shows that older people find accessing information about social care difficult and confusing.

The National Carers Forum, in conjunction with Carer Watch and Justice For Carers, have declared a state of Carer Emergency. They are asking for immediate financial help of at least the £1000 - as suggested by the Task Force - payable to all carers eligible for Carer’s Allowance, and carers with the under lying entitlement.

Mature Times has discovered that many thousands of vulnerable people around the country are being put at risk because of cut backs in the service to provide them with flu vaccinations in their sheltered housing complexes and care homes. Jayne Warren investigates.

A new report from the The Relatives & Residents Association (R&RA) has shown that many older people are frequently neglected when seeking help and advice from their local councils on self-funding when thinking of moving into the care system.

Every year tens of thousands of people are forced to sell their homes to pay for care fees. But should they really be paying at all when their needs are primarily medical? In the first of a series of articles for Mature Times, John Harrison - a specialist lawyer with 23 years’ experience in the field of asset protection - shares his knowledge of “the system”. We’ll hear about the ploys that some less than scrupulous local authorities use to persuade people to part with their money. The names have been changed, but the cases are real.

Millions of pounds of funding for social care could be taken out of London and the South East by "flawed government funding mechanisms".