Kevin Lamb

Kevin has been at the helm of Age Concern Auckland for the past 10 years, overseeing its transition from a small, locally-based, community organisation to a dynamic, professional agency supporting older people across Auckland. Prior to joining Age Concern, Kevin was Northern Region Manager, Plunket, and before emigrating to New Zealand in 2011, held a number of senior roles within the conservation and science-education sectors in the UK, culminating with being Director of the Gardd Fotaneg Genedlaethol Cymru or National Botanic Garden of Wales.

He has built on his original qualifications in Political History, Philosophy and Economics and Masters in Business Administration, with many years of senior leadership in the not-for-profit sectors, working in New Zealand, the UK and West Africa. He has a passion for social justice and an eye for effective social investment and a commitment to make New Zealand live up to the claim of being a great place to grow old in and for Auckland being one of the world’s most liveable cities.

Age Concern in media

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Cost-of-living crisis fuelling rise in elder financial abuse, warns Age Concern

Today

Age Concern Auckland said it's seeing a rise in financially motivated elder abuse, due to the cost-of-living crisis.

Chief executive Kevin Lamb said referrals to the organisation involving elder abuse had risen by 20-30 percent over the past year, with a growing proportion linked to money troubles within families.

He said the combination of financial stress and elder abuse was creating an extra burden for vulnerable seniors, particularly as living costs continued to rise.

''We are hearing from older people who are literally panicking... 'Do I turn the heating on, or do I go and buy myself proper decent food for today?'

"Older people are facing a double whammy. They're really seeing this struggle in terms of financial hardship on themselves, but also being more vulnerable to those who would take advantage of them."

Lamb said the problem was driven by financial hardship, with some families struggling to make ends meet and older relatives becoming a source of financial support.

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Age Concern responds to government fuel relief package

25 Mar

Critics say the government's cost-of-fuel relief package won't help some of the most vulnerable New Zealanders. Yesterday, the government announced almost 150 thousand New Zealand families would receive up to $50 dollars a week through the in-work tax credit to help with soaring petrol prices. Age Concern Auckland CEO Kevin Lamb.

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'Grey washing': SuperGold Card discounts skip entire regions

10 Mar

SuperGold Card holders are finding it difficult to cash-in on weekly supermarket discounts with a mish-mash of locations, leaving some regions missing out entirely with patchy coverage in others.

Age Concern chief executive Kevin Lamb called it an example of "grey washing".

For example, the SuperGold Card was accepted at grocery stores in most central business districts, but not in Gisborne, Marlborough Nelson, Tasman, West Coast districts nor the densely populated Auckland CBD, with a fast-growing resident senior population of more than 2000 people.

"It is portraying themselves as supporting older people, but doing what I would call the bare minimum in order to achieve that," Lamb said.

"If you're going to say that SuperGold Card gets a discount in our stores, why wouldn't you do that for every store? Not just cherry pick a handful of stores around the country and have such a lack of consistency about where those stores are located."

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