Keeping Older People Safe (KOPS)

About KOPS

Keeping Older People Safe (KOPS) is an initiative led by Voluntary Action North East Lincolnshire (VANEL) in partnership with others, which aims to support older and more vulnerable residents across North East Lincolnshire through various delivery and support methods that focus on community safety. We work with partners including Capacity Buildings Ltd and Big Local North Cleethorpes and use grant funding from sources such as the National Lottery; Humberside Police and Crime Commissioner; Safer Streets; Big Local; Community Safety Partnership and others. We connect with the local Policing teams; the Later Life Partnership members; housing providers; social groups and many others to reach as many residents as possible and to deliver projects that fill gaps in support or can complement existing work.

Read more details about KOPS here.

Newsletters

We share information and advice about community safety through occasional newsletters. Printed copies are distributed through our networks and partners and to events and venues where they reach older residents. All are available electronically too, and this website contains more additional information about articles in the newsletters. Printed copies can always be collected from our Cleethorpes office.

Our latest newsletter is from Autumn 2024 and is sponsored by Big Local North Cleethorpes.

All editions can be found here. The Spring 2023 edition was sponsored by the office of the Humberside Police and Crime Commissioner. Earlier editions were sponsored by Big Local North Cleethorpes and were more Cleethorpes specific.

Events

Once in a while we run events aimed at helping older people in North East Lincolnshire access advice and support about personal, household and community safety issues. In 2023 we ran events in April in West Marsh and then in July in East Marsh.

We also attend events such as the annual Older Peoples Advice Day at Cleethorpes Memorial Hall and we promote other events aimed at older people across our network.

Watch out for new KOPS events during 2024.

Stay Safe Guides

KOPS really started when we wrote our first “Stay Safe” guide during the pandemic. The booklet contained all kinds of community safety advice, had a very small print run and was handed out by the Policing team in Cleethorpes to older people queuing for their first vaccine jab! Since then funding from various sources means that we’ve reissued and reprinted guides for West Marsh, East Marsh and Cleethorpes and handed out over 4000 booklets. The very latest edition is due mid 2023 thanks to sponsorship by the East Marsh Safer Streets project.
All editions of the stay safe guides can be downloaded on this website and an audio version will be available mid 2023 too.

Safety Equipment

Recently there have been a number of ways for older or vulnerable residents across North East Lincolnshire to request free items of personal or household safety equipment. VANEL has been coordinating funding from various sources allowing us to provide items such as personal alarms; plug in timer switches; door handle alarms; pretend ‘safe tins’; TV simulators and more to residents. Funding from the Humberside Police and Crime Commissioner; Big Local North Cleethorpes; Safer Streets West and East Marsh and various local ward Councillors has been supporting this programme. Find out about what is currently available here and whether you or people you support can access these items.

Scams / Fraud

Scams are an ever-present form of fraud which are sadly the most reported crime and can make victims of anybody. Through KOPS, we’re doing what we can to share information and good advice across the older community about identifying and avoiding scams. We’re using funding from Safer Streets; Big Local North Cleethorpes or FraudWatch (via ERVAS) to allow us to deliver FraudWatch talks; print and distribute materials and generally raise awareness across the community. Visit our offices at 82 Grimsby Road to pick up various leaflets about scams. Read our outline guide to scams here. There’s more about scams on our NELwatch website here. Contact us if you run a group and would like to arrange us to come and deliver a talk about scams.

Neighbourhood Watch

Neighbourhood Watch is a proven approach to bringing neighbours together and improving community safety. So we work with residents across North East Lincolnshire to support those wanting to start up new groups or already running one. There aren’t many in North East Lincolnshire and we’re working to grow the network much more. But there are many resident connecting groups that are not necessarily Neighbourhood Watch and we try to support them too. If you’re interested in Neighbourhood Watch; connecting with neighbours; or more general community safety messages then visit our Neighbourhoods website at www.nelwatch.org.uk

Advice and Information

We’ve produced our Stay Safe guide to bring together all kinds of useful, safety information together in one place. And the contents of that guide can be found on this website too (here). It’s a series of useful guides on topics as varied as avoiding scams; dealing with bad weather; preparing for floods; connecting with your Neighbourhood Policing team, and much more. We’ll grow these pages of information over time so keep visiting. There’s also much more community safety advice on our www.nelwatch.org.uk website too.

Partnership Work

VANEL is leading the Keeping Older People Safe (KOPS) programe but we’re doing it with partners including; Capacity Buildings Ltd; Big Local North Cleethorpes; Safer Streets and North East Lincolnshire Council; Ward Councillors; the Neighbourhood Policing Teams; Humberwatch and many more. Some provide funding including the Humberside Police and Crime Commissioner or the Community Safety Partnership or ERVAS through their FraudWatch funding. Others such as the Later Life Partnership provide a way for us to reach a wide audience across North East Lincolnshire.

Quick Tips

Adult Social Care number is 01472 256 256 and is available 24/7.

Get in Touch

Contact Karl Elliott at VANEL to ask about Keeping Older People Safe (KOPS), our Stay Safe Guides or any other initiatives on this website.

karl@vanel.org.uk

Visit www.nelwatch.org.uk for much more information about Neighbourhood Watch or Neighbourhood Networking.