About

 Mei Sim Lai-Peters OBE DL (right) and Ex Co-Chair Merlene Toh Emerson MBE 

The Trust is currently served by Mei Sim Lai OBE DL as Chair and a strong and diverse Board of Trustees consisting of 8 members. The Trustees bring to the Board the experience, understanding and skills which are vital for realising the Trust's goals. Since 2012, a part-time outreach housing support officer has been employed to work with a number of housing associations and Chinese community organisations across London and in the UK. The Trust is also supported by patrons and advisors from business and political spheres who assist with fundraising and in informing policy on health, welfare and ageing societies.    

Conceived over 10 years ago, the Chinese Welfare Trust is a national charity that brings together like-minded individuals and organisations of various backgrounds, with the common goal of working towards a better future for the Chinese community in the UK. 

We are delighted to see many Chinese community organisations scattered across the country that do excellent work locally. We hope to work with each of these organisations, identifying the needs of the most vulnerable to ensure that no one is left behind. As a national charity, we have strong political clout to lobby for changes in policies and in the delivery of services affecting our community.

Our core priority is to meet the needs of elderly Chinese people living in the UK. Many older Chinese individuals find themselves isolated, marginalised and lonely. We are working with different housing associations to help them cater to the special needs of their Chinese residents as well as to sign post those seeking sheltered housing and extra-care homes to housing schemes where there are vacancies.

In addition to this, we seek to combat racial injustice, abuse and violence. Working with local councils, authorities and the police, we give guidance, training and support to various stakeholders to raise general awareness of this topic. 

We currently employ a floating support worker working part-time with Soho Housing Trust and part-time for CWT.

We have the long term vision of building an extra-care home in London.

According to the 2011 Census, there are 433,150 Asian Chinese living in the United Kingdom, 33,706  in Scotland, 13,368 in Wales, 379, 503 in England and 124, 250 in London.  The London boroughs with the largest Chinese population are:

Westminster 5,917, Lewisham 6,164, Camden 6,493, Southwark 8,074, Tower Hamlets 8,109, Barnet 8,259

The needs of the ageing Chinese population in the UK are currently not well researched but Chinese Welfare Trust and our partner Charity Chinese National Healthy Living Centre have identified the common problems:  

• Many older Chinese are isolated and lonely with little knowledge of the English language and have no empathy with the English way of life.
• Many older Chinese have suffered health inequalities and mental health related issues including depression and anxiety.
• The gap between older Chinese peoples' expectations and the actual caring responsibility of their families are widening.
• Local Councils and Housing Associations do not always have facilities that meet the needs and culture of the Chinese
• Many older Chinese have difficulty communicating their health problems to NHS general practitioners resulting in many paying for services that knows Chinese and understands Chinese medical customs

There are many Chinese Community Associations set up across London and the United Kingdom and it would be useful to develop best practice and share knowledge and know-how.  There is currently not enough data on older Chinese living in areas that are not served by these centres.  Studies have also shown the gap between older migrants who speak Cantonese and newer migrants from mainland China.

A CASE FOR AN EXTRA CARE HOME?

The Trust will be working with partners to undertake a Needs Study into the case for specialist housing such as an Extra Care Home for Chinese elders and for supporting services.