The UK Bereavement Commission - LAST calls for evidence After a year of lockdown and death, there has never been a more important time to ensure that bereaved people get the support they need. There has now been more than a million deaths in the UK since the start of the pandemic. Millions of people have been bereaved in difficult circumstances. Our concern is that with the relaxation of restrictions, the needs of people who have been bereaved over the last 18 months across the whole country will be forgotten. The Commission has identified these statistics which reveal how important it is that they aren't. Have a look. Many won't have said goodbye in the way they would have wished. 39% of bereaved people said they had difficulties in getting support from friends or family. 51% of bereaved people with high-level needs, experienced high or severe vulnerability. So we were thrilled when the new UK Commission for Bereavement was launched in June. This is a major independent commission exploring issues and recommendations on how to better support bereaved people. It has been spearheaded by leading bereavement charities and is chaired by Bishop of London, The Right Reverend and Right Honourable Dame Sarah Mullally DBE. Listening to and learning from a wide range of people across the country is the most important activity the Commission will undertake. If you have had a challenging experience trying to find bereavement support and/or would have found AtaLoss.org to be helpful had you known about the service, please tell the Commission. You will be playing a crucial part in shaping recommendations for the future of bereavement support. Your response could also help us and ensure that what AtaLoss.org offers is accepted as an important first step towards bereaved people processing their grief. What happens next? When the Commission reports in 2022, we want to send a strong message to the Government that bereaved people should be routinely signposted to reliable and up to date information and services, from the moment the person dies and also at appropriate intervals over the following months, so that their grief journey can be properly supported to avoid mental ill health or other problems. That means ensuring anyone bereaved knows where to go, and where health practitioners know where to signpost bereaved people. We hope this will shine a light on the importance of the quality signposting and information service we offer as a charity, and how we can help professionals provide a better service to all bereaved people. What you can do Respond to the Commission's survey by telling them about your experience of trying to find support. Tell them about the importance of AtaLoss.org. How helpful was AtaLoss.org in your own search for bereavement support? Or would it have been helpful if you had known about AtaLoss.org at some point? Share the link to the Commission's survey with others you know who have been bereaved asking them to do the same. The survey for individuals to tell the Commission about their experience is available HERE . The Commission can also work with via video message or telephone call. The survey is also available in several different languages. The deadline to respond to the survey has been revised to January 16th 2022. To help you with your submission, here is some information about what we do. AtaLoss.org aims to help bereaved people easily find timely and appropriate support, providing: 24/7 access to relevant and up-to-date bereavement information and a range of helpful resources an easy to search directory of services to find the most appropriate support a wide choice of bereavement services for all ages or people groups, local or national, across the UK signposting to all main helplines and free online grief chat service for immediate support. We want the Government to understand that the quality, central service of bereavement information that AtaLoss.org provides, if widely known about, is exactly what bereaved people want and need and will, ultimately, prevent mental ill health. This is a huge opportunity! Please help us so we can help more bereaved people and even better. Manage Cookie Preferences