Alex Smith left the Cares Family earlier this year

A CHARITY credited with helping people who feel isolated and lonely – particularly among the elderly – has suddenly announced it is shutting down.

The Cares Family, which first started out as North London Cares in and around Islington and Camden before branching out nationwide, had only recently taken on a new chief executive and given staff a pay rise.

But it has now called in the liquidators and said in a statement: “The sad reality is that, like many charities, we’re in a desperately difficult funding environment. While support for tackling isolation increased during the pandemic in the current economic climate this has fallen away significantly, with many pressing issues competing for the limited support available.”

Trustees said there was “no viable way” to continue.

North London Cares had been started 12 years ago by Alex Smith, who was a familiar face in Camden where he made speeches in the council chamber about the worrying number of people feeling cut off and short on social interactions.

He took part in our ‘Lonely in London’ special edition last summer in which he pointed to research which showed more than a third of people felt more lonely post-pandemic than during it.

In April, he stepped down and reflected on what he had done to help it grow. “I knocked on thousands of doors in the snow to bring older and younger people into our community, and then carted trolley bags laden with custard creams down busy high streets towards intergenerational dance parties that only three people showed up to,” he wrote in a farewell article.

His successor, Nicola Upton, shared the trustees’ statement last week, adding it was “heart­breaking” and “wasn’t what I antici­pated what my role would become”.

She added “insurmountable issues had come to light.”