Age UK Bolton
and Thriving AI are delighted to announce they have been awarded £20,000 in National Lottery funding through the Awards for All England programme to deliver the Thriving in Bolton: Connecting Care to Support Ageing Well in Bolton project. The twelve-month pilot will use cutting-edge AI technology to tackle loneliness, improve digital inclusion, and connect older people across Bolton to their communities to more social activities.
Social Sense
will play a key role in supporting outreach and evaluation throughout the project, ensuring also that feedback from residents continues to help shape and improve the app.
The project will directly support sixty people aged 65 and over, particularly those living alone or at risk of isolation. Through the Thriving AI platform - which integrates communication tools, mood tracking and health monitoring - families, friends, carers, and healthcare professionals are connected together in a more coordinated way.
One in four Bolton residents aged fifty and over live alone, and only 36% of adult social care users aged sixty-five and over report having as much social contact as they would like.
A Community Partnership Built for Bolton
Lauren McKechnie, CEO of Age UK Bolton, expressed her enthusiasm for what the funding will mean for local residents:
“This funding is an incredible opportunity for Bolton’s older residents. Too many people in our borough are living with the devastating effects of loneliness and isolation, and this pilot will explore how new technology alongside the deep community trust can be part of the solution. By combining our local knowledge and relationships with Thriving AI’s innovative platform, we can better reach the people who need us most and genuinely change how we age in Bolton”.
Shain Khoja, Founder & CEO of Thriving AI, welcomed the announcement as a landmark moment for technology-enabled support for older people:
“Thriving in Bolton is exactly the kind of project we set out to make possible when we founded Thriving AI. Older people deserve to live with connection, dignity, and independence - and we know from our previous work that even people in their nineties who have never used technology before can embrace our platform and thrive on it. Working alongside Age UK Bolton, a charity with such deep roots in Bolton’s communities, gives us the perfect foundation to show what is possible when technology and human care come together. We have built our platform closely with input from older people themselves, and we look forward to continuing to learn from Age UK Bolton and its members, integrating their feedback as we develop and grow the project together.”
Shain Khoja, Founder & CEO, Thriving AI
About the Project
At the heart of Thriving in Bolton is the concept of ‘circles of care’ — bringing together family members, friends, carers, and healthcare professionals around each older person in a coordinated and connected way. The Thriving AI platform, which holds ORCHA, Cyber Essentials, and DTAC certifications, enables real-time communication, wellbeing check-ins, and early identification of health concerns, with the goal of reducing isolation and supporting people to live independently for longer.
Over the twelve-month project, Age UK Bolton and Thriving AI will:
• Onboard sixty older people onto the platform with personalised circles of care
• Provide free tablet devices and one-to-one digital skills training to those without access
• Connect participants to local activities, social groups, and Age UK Bolton’s existing Ageing Well programme
• Measure impact using validated tools including the UCLA Loneliness Scale and Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale
The project aligns directly with Bolton’s Age-Friendly Strategy 2025–2028 and is delivered as part of the Bolton Age Well Partnership, ensuring lasting impact beyond the initial funding period.
ENDS
Media Enquiries
Age UK Bolton: katewoodmass@ageukbolton.org.uk | 01204 701525
Thriving AI: shain@thriving.ai | www.thriving.ai
Notes to Editors
Age UK Bolton is a registered charity (No. 223240) based at The Square, 53–55 Victoria Square, Bolton BL1 1RZ, dedicated to improving the lives of older people across Bolton. Its Ageing Well programme offers activities, social clubs, and services for over 50s across the borough.
Thriving AI is a UK-based digital health company whose AI-driven platform is designed specifically to improve elder care and support healthy ageing. The platform is ORCHA-certified, Cyber Essentials-certified, DTAC-compliant, and fully GDPR-compliant.
Social Sense is providing community engagement and outreach support for the Thriving in Bolton project.
The National Lottery Awards for All England programme provides grants of between £300 and £20,000 to small community groups and organisations.
