Companionship | Carer Hub

Nobody should have to sit in silence.

Companionship care from Carer Hub — because human connection is not a luxury. It is medicine.

Loneliness is one of the most significant — and most overlooked — health challenges facing older people in the UK. The science is unambiguous: chronic loneliness shortens lives, erodes health, and, in ways the research is only beginning to quantify, can cause people to lose the will to go on. Carer Hub’s companionship service exists because we believe that a person turning up — regularly, reliably, and with genuine warmth — changes everything.

3.83 million

People in the UK are chronically lonely

+35%

Higher mortality risk from social isolation

No referral

needed — arrange companionship care directly through Carer Hub

Loneliness is becoming a hidden health crisis. Millions of older people in the UK go days, sometimes weeks, without meaningful human contact.

Loneliness is now linked to:

Cognitive decline
Worsening physical health
Depression and anxiety
Increased mortality risk

Carer Hub companionship care exists to change that

Read the Research

What Is Companionship Care?

Companionship care provides regular social visits from trusted carers who offer
conversation, company, and emotional support.

Unlike clinical care, companionship focuses on human connection.

Conversation

Walks & outings

Games & activities

Music & hobbies

Reading together

Regular visits

Matched Through Carer Hub

Find the right companionship carer through Carer Hub

Using the Carer Hub platform, families can:

✓ Browse vetted companionship carers
✓ Match by interests and personality
✓ Message carers directly
✓ Arrange visits flexibly
✓ Choose the schedule that works for them

Who Itʼs For

Older adults living alone

Families living far away

Early cognitive decline support

People needing regular social interaction

The Evidence — Why This Matters

Research increasingly links chronic loneliness to declining physical and mental health in older adults. Studies show regular social connection can improve wellbeing, mood, cognition, and quality of life.

It is comparable to smoking 15 cigarettes a day

The US Surgeon General’s office has cited research placing the mortality risk of chronic loneliness on a par with smoking 15 cigarettes daily. We have taxation, legislation, and national campaigns dedicated to tobacco. For loneliness — which kills at a comparable rate — we have, until very recently, had almost nothing.

Read the research

Loneliness is lethal — measurably so

A 2025 meta-analysis of 86 studies published in European Psychiatry found loneliness increases all-cause mortality risk by 14%, social isolation by 35%, and living alone by 21%. A separate 20-year study found social isolation increases long-term mortality risk by 15–16%. The longer a person is lonely, the more lethal it becomes.

Read the research

People are losing the will to live

Research on centenarians found that 30.6% did not want to live longer — not because of physical pain, but because of disconnection, loss of meaning, and loneliness. A 2024 Irish study found direct correlations between social disconnection and what researchers call a ‘wish to die’. A 2025 German study found lonely older people actively desired an earlier death.

Read the research

Connection reverses the damage

The same body of research that documents the harm of loneliness also documents its reversibility. Regular, reliable human contact — even two or three visits a week — measurably improves mood, cognition, physical health indicators, and, critically, the will to remain engaged with life. A person who is visited reliably begins, over time, to look forward to being here.

Loneliness is the Real Killer

Why I work for Carer Hub to fight loneliness — and why you should care too.

Written by Dave Audley, CEO, Carer Hub · April 2026 · 15 references · Peer-reviewed sources throughout

This is a personal paper — written by our CEO in their own voice — that confronts one of the most uncomfortable truths in the care sector. A significant number of elderly people in the UK are not dying because their bodies have given out. They are dying because they have given up. Because nobody came. This paper sets out the evidence, the scale of the problem, what has been tried, and why Carer Hub’s companionship service exists as a direct, practical response.

What’s covered inside:

The scale of loneliness in the UK — 3.83 million chronically lonely people, 6.9 million single-person households and rising
The mortality evidence — a 2025 meta-analysis of 86 studies showing loneliness increases death risk by 14%, social isolation by 35%
The comparable risk of smoking 15 cigarettes a day — and why we have campaigns for tobacco but almost nothing for loneliness
When people stop wanting to be here — research on the ‘wish to die’, loss of will to live, and the phenomenon researchers call ‘losing the zest for life’
Why things are getting worse — demographic projections, the collapse of community, and the limits of formal care
What has been tried — the Minister for Loneliness, NHS social prescribing, and why it isn’t reaching the most isolated
Why companionship care is different — and why Carer Hub is building it as a professional, platform-facilitated service
A personal account — what the CEO has seen in rooms, and why this became a personal crusade

Read online

Download PDF (free)

How Carer Hub Works

For Care Workers — Offer Companionship Care

Offer companionship care through Carer Hub

Choose your own hours, set your own rates, and build meaningful long-term
relationships with people who genuinely value your time.

✓ No agency fees
✓ Set your own rates
✓ Flexible working
✓ Apply for placements directly
✓ Build long-term relationships

Someone near you is sitting in silence.

You can change that.

Find a companionship carer

Offer companionship car

Have a question before registering? Contact our team: info@carerhub.co.uk

Get in Touch

We’re here to answer your questions and help you find the perfect care solution. Our friendly team is available to discuss your needs and guide you through the process.

Email

Send us your questions anytime info@carerhub.co.uk

Phone

We’re available whenever you need us on 07411 541456

Coverage Area

Serving families across the
United Kingdom