This report considers the role of a specific form of delivery: telephone contact through the ConnecTED telephone befriending service TED established early in the pandemic, along with increased telephone use and befriending by TED’s commissioned delivery partners. It draws on 4 case studies of befriending (three through the ConnecTED service and one with Age UK Lindsey’s telephone befriending service), interviews with stakeholders, project case studies, good news stories and contract monitoring data. It looks at this form of delivery as both a ‘stand-alone’ service, and part of ‘blended delivery’. Doing so, the report reflects on one-to-one and group/conference calls
