What should you do if your call companion doesn’t answer the phone when you ring?

Check out our updated guidelines so you’re in the know.

Sometimes, an older person may miss their pre-arranged call. In most cases, there’s a simple explanation for this – perhaps they forgot all about it, or were distracted by an unexpected appointment or visitor. However, we understand it can be a worry when they don't pick up the phone as arranged.

 If this happens to you, here’s what you should do:

• Call companions should make three calls five minutes apart.
• In the first call, leave a message informing the older person that you’ve called and that you’ll call back in five minutes (if you’re able to leave a message.)
• In the second call, leave a message informing the older person that you’ve called and that you’ll call back in five minutes (if you’re able to leave a message.)
• In the third call, leave a message asking the older person to call Re-engage on 0800 716543. Then contact the Re-engage team by emailing knowledge@reengage.org.uk to let them know what has happened.

We’ll then try to contact the older person. Do keep in touch with us and if you manage to get through, email us at knowledge@reengage.org.uk to let us know.

If we’re unable to contact the older person and if the older person misses their call the following week, you should follow the above process again.

Should attempts to contact the older person still be unsuccessful for a second week, we’ll try again to get in touch with the older person by using any additional contact information that we hold and will update you on our progress.