Age UK is a registered charity in the United Kingdom, formed on 25 February 2009, and launched on 1 April 2009, which combined the operations of the previously separate charities Age Concern England and Help the Aged to form the UK's largest charity for older people. Despite the national merger, many local Age Concern charities decided not to become brand partners of Age UK and continued as independent and completely separate Age Concerns and remain so to this day.