Talk, Connect, Thrive: Tackling Loneliness in the Age of Work, Care and Disconnection

A White Paper by Jane Prentice, Commercial Director, Sacana Ltd

Introduction

Loneliness is no longer just a personal experience; it is a strategic concern for both employers and public services. Across the UK, a growing body of evidence confirms what many have long suspected: that social isolation is a risk factor for poor health, impaired workplace performance, and increased economic burden across both private and public sectors.

In a post-pandemic landscape shaped by hybrid working, demographic shifts, and mounting pressure on care systems, the need for structured, preventative social connection has never been clearer. What was once viewed as a quiet societal issue has emerged as a workforce challenge, a public health concern, and a key determinant of both wellbeing and productivity.

This white paper explores the impact of loneliness on the UK workforce and wider society, drawing on research and policy frameworks. It sets out the case for structured, stigma-free social connection, not as a soft benefit, but as a serious intervention with measurable outcomes. It introduces Sacana as a newly launched solution designed to meet this need, not through therapy or diagnostics, but through professional, human-led conversation at scale.

By drawing insights from healthcare, HR, and public sector strategy, this paper invites decision-makers to reconsider loneliness not only as a moral issue, but as a strategic one and to recognise the power of early, non-clinical connection in protecting people, productivity, and public resources.

What is Sacana?

Sacana is a non-clinical, preventative service that provides real-time, structured video conversations with trained professionals known as Matrons. These sessions offer friendly and stigma-free contact designed to prevent loneliness before it escalates into more serious health or social issues.

Matrons are not therapists or counsellors. They are experienced, vetted individuals trained in safeguarding, structured conversation, and digital accessibility. They follow a clear conversational arc, guided by Sacana’s behavioural framework, to offer users meaningful social connection in a safe and professional environment.

Available seven days a week, 24 hours per day, in a variety of languages, Sacana can be accessed via mobile, tablet, or desktop. Sessions are designed to be accessible to all users, including those with low digital confidence or limited mobility. Each conversation is moderated in real time for safety and quality, ensuring a trusted space for users to talk, be heard, and feel connected.

Employers, carers, councils, and health systems can deploy Sacana in line with their requirements. It integrates with existing services, requires no clinical referral, and delivers measurable usage and impact data to commissioning partners.

The Corporate Reality: Loneliness at Work

Work is often assumed to be the antidote to loneliness. Yet, for many employees, particularly those working remotely, balancing care responsibilities, or returning after life transitions, work can heighten isolation rather than resolve it.

Loneliness has been linked to diminished cognitive performance, slower decision-making, and increased stress, all of which directly affect employee performance. According to the Campaign to End Loneliness, nearly half of UK employees report feeling lonely at work, and this loneliness is strongly associated with disengagement and burnout (Campaign to End Loneliness, 2023).

What’s more, loneliness doesn’t just cost the individual, it costs the business. Social disconnection has been recognised by the New Economics Foundation and others as a contributing factor to presenteeism, where employees attend work but are unable to perform at full capacity due to emotional or social stress. Although estimates vary, mental health-related presenteeism is known to cost UK employers significantly more than absenteeism, potentially in excess of £20 billion annually (Deloitte, 2022; Stevenson & Farmer, 2017).

For employers managing distributed workforces, emotionally stretched carers, or employees returning from bereavement, divorce, or life change, traditional wellbeing offers, like EAPs or meditation apps, may fall short. These individuals do not always require clinical intervention. They need connection. They need to be seen, heard, and spoken to with warmth and professionalism. The absence of such connection leads to withdrawal, reduced collaboration, and, over time, turnover.

In this context, Sacana offers a differentiated model; real-time, structured conversation with trained, non-clinical professionals. Delivered on-demand or via scheduled access, Sacana enables employers to provide meaningful social contact to staff who may otherwise suffer in silence. By placing structured human connection alongside other workforce wellbeing strategies, organisations can not only protect their people, but also their performance.

The Carer Gap: A Hidden Workforce Strain

One of the most overlooked dimensions of workplace loneliness lies in the lives of unpaid carers. Across the UK, 1 in 7 employees is also an informal carer for an adult relative (Carers UK, 2022). These workers face not only emotional and physical strain, but also intense social disconnection. Their responsibilities often make them less able to attend social events, engage in casual conversations, or decompress after the working day.

Without structured support, these employees are more likely to leave the workforce entirely. Carers UK estimates that 600 people leave work every day due to caring pressures, resulting in significant recruitment and retention costs for employers. The cost of replacing an employee, including lost productivity, recruitment, and onboarding, is estimated at £5,000 to £10,000 per person in the public sector alone (Carers UK & Employers for Carers, 2019).

Sacana provides a twofold benefit in this context. Not only does it offer carers the option to organise structured, supportive social contact for the person they care for, helping to alleviate guilt, worry, and isolation, but it also offers access to connection for the carer themselves. Working carers may experience social disconnection in their own right, often juggling multiple responsibilities and time poverty. With Sacana, carers can also access conversations tailored to their own needs, whether for brief relief, a structured check-in, or simply a reminder that they are not alone.

By supporting both the employee and the person they care for, Sacana delivers double-value: improved workforce participation, reduced emotional strain, and enhanced quality of life on both sides of the caring relationship.

From Workforce to Wider Society: A Public Health Challenge

The challenge of loneliness does not stop at the workplace. In fact, it expands far beyond it. Loneliness has been officially recognised by the Scottish Government, NHS England, and the World Health Organisation as a serious public health risk. It is associated with a 26% increase in early mortality, a 29% increase in coronary heart disease, and a significantly higher risk of developing dementia (Holt-Lunstad et al., 2015; Age UK, 2019).

In Scotland alone, 1 in 10 people report feeling lonely “often or always” (Scottish Government, 2023). Among older adults, those living alone, and individuals managing long-term conditions, this rises significantly.

The cost to public services is equally stark. Loneliness drives up GP visits, prescriptions, mental health referrals, emergency admissions, and premature entry into care homes, all of which are costly to the NHS and local authorities. A British Red Cross study found that high percentage of GP appointments are driven by non-medical issues, with loneliness as a main driver (BRC, 2016). Each of these appointments, estimated at £39 per visit (Curtis & Burns, 2022), represents a cost that could potentially be avoided through non-clinical intervention.

Similarly, early entry into care homes due to social withdrawal, rather than physical need, incurs weekly costs of £700–£900 per person (Scottish Care, 2022). Delaying such transitions by even six months for just 1,000 people would save Scotland over £18 million per year. Sacana offers a way to make such delays possible, not by increasing clinical care, but by sustaining dignity, confidence, and human connection.

Preventing Crisis Before It Begins

The distinction between intervention and prevention matters. Public sector leaders, from NHS Boards to Integrated Joint Boards (IJBs) and local authorities, are increasingly turning toward digital, scalable, early-stage solutions to reduce demand on overstretched systems. Scotland’s “A Connected Scotland” strategy positions loneliness as not just a personal issue, but a structural one, requiring coordinated, inclusive, and community-led responses.

Sacana sits at the top of the prevention pyramid. It does not diagnose, treat, or prescribe. Instead, it reconnects, with warmth, structure, and professionalism. It offers people a space to talk, to be heard, and to feel human. These moments, though small, interrupt isolation before it hardens into crisis.

Unlike many interventions, Sacana requires no clinical oversight, no referral pathway, and no IT burden. It can be deployed nationally in five weeks or locally in under 21 days. Its sessions are available on iOS, Android, and web, and it includes full support for low-digital users and multiple languages. It is governed by robust safeguarding, compliance, and data protection policies.

Most importantly, it offers measurable, reportable value, with every session tracked, moderated, and linked to usage analytics. Whether offered as a staff benefit, a community wellbeing tool, or a structured supplement to domiciliary care, Sacana enables system leaders to measure both reach and impact.

A Launch with Purpose

Sacana officially launched in June 2025, but it is the product of years of careful development, research, and ethical design. Its model draws on behavioural science, structured conversation theory and public health strategy. It is designed for one purpose: to reconnect people, and reduce unnecessary demand on health and care systems.

Unlike wellness apps or drop-in services, Sacana is anchored in human-to-human interaction. Every call is moderated in real time for safety. Every Matron is trained in safeguarding, GDPR, and structured, non-clinical conversation. Every deployment is designed to fit seamlessly into employer ecosystems, council offers, or public wellbeing strategies.

We are not here to sell therapy or digitised empathy. We are here to offer presence. Structured, safe, supportive presence, at scale, for those who need it most.

Conclusion

The cost of loneliness is borne by everyone: by employers managing burnout and retention; by public services strained under avoidable demand; and by individuals who suffer, often invisibly, through their working and later years.

We believe that prevention begins with presence.

Sacana is a new solution, but its foundation is timeless: talk, connect, thrive. As we move forward, we invite employers, councils, health boards, and communities to join us, not just in reducing loneliness, but in rehumanising how we care, how we connect, and how we live.

References

Age UK (2019). Loneliness Evidence Review

British Red Cross (2016). Trapped in a Bubble: An Investigation into Loneliness in the UK

Campaign to End Loneliness (2023). Loneliness in the Workplace: Data Briefing

Carers UK (2022). State of Caring Report

Carers UK & Employers for Carers (2019). Business Case for Supporting Carers in the Workplace

Curtis, L., & Burns, A. (2022). Unit Costs of Health and Social Care, PSSRU

Deloitte (2022). Mental Health and Employers: The Case for Investment

Holt-Lunstad, J. et al. (2015). Loneliness and Social Isolation as Risk Factors for Mortality: A Meta-Analytic Review, Perspectives on Psychological Science

Scottish Care (2022). Homecare Cost Benchmarking Report

Scottish Government (2023). A Connected Scotland: Tackling Social Isolation and Loneliness

Stevenson, D., & Farmer, P. (2017). Thriving at Work: The Stevenson/Farmer Review of Mental Health and Employers