A MANIFESTO for older people has been launched in Sandwell and sent to wannabe MPS urging them not to forget them.

It has been written by community interest company Agewell and representatives from the borough, including Rowley Regis and Oldbury, have posted copies to more than 120 prospective parliamentary candidates across Birmingham and the Black Country.

They claim that although there are 22 million people aged 50 and over in the UK, issues concerning them are not a major focus of the main parties’ manifestos for the General Election.

Their manifesto cover 14 points, including having costed policies for residential and nursing care not driven by means testing, free travel and educational opportunities.

Agewell’s chairman Edna Barker, aged 80, said: “We want to raise awareness of the issues facing older people.

“We have contributed and many of us continue to contribute but as we, as a population grow older, the issues facing us increase – we need care for longer, better health facilities, opportunities to work and so on.

“We are also a massive proportion of the voting public. We hope our manifesto reminds politicians of that.”