The Scottish Helpline for Older People (S.H.O.P.) offers an independent, confidential telephone based information service to people aged 50 and over living in Scotland, and to those associated with them such as their carers and families.

Our aim is to provide people with the information they require to enable them to make their own decisions about their own lives - it’s about maintaining independence, enabling freedom of choice and empowerment.

We understand that it is often difficult to find the information you require from the vast array available, and we can present the information to you in a format that suits your needs eg we can provide translation services, we have facilities to help us deal with enquiries from people who have hearing difficulties, and from those who have sight problems.

Our services are available to everyone who lives in Scotland - there are no geographical boundaries to our services. We are particularly keen to reach people who are in the minority groups, and would welcome more callers from these communities.

We deal with all types of enquiries, for example what benefits can be claimed, what is the current situation on free personal care, how can I get help for my parents who are not as agile as they once were, what should I do if I think an older person is being abused, etc.

Whilst we do not profess to knowing all of the answers, if we are unable to provide the answer we can generally put you in touch with someone who can.

A large part of our success is due to joint working arrangements with member organisations of the Consortium that supports the Helpline. These include W.R.V.S., Alzheimer Scotland, The Pension Service, The Scottish Pensioners Forum, and Citizens Advice Scotland, to name a few. The Helpline is funded by the Scottish Government and managed by Age Concern Scotland.

Our overall aim is to ensure that every person over the age of 50 in Scotland has access to the same high quality information, in a format that is appropriate to the needs of the enquirer. We have real people answering our telephones, not a plethora of options to choose and buttons to select and endless recorded music and messages. Occasionally if we are very busy or outwith opening hours your call will switch over to our answering service where you may leave your contact details and we will call you back as soon as possible. The Helpline is manned by both paid and volunteer trained information workers who have a wide range of experience. Some of our volunteers are over 70 years old and are acutely aware of the issues faced by older people today.