Abstract: Existing health behaviour models inadequately explain individuals’ behaviour prior to or in the absence of contact with services yet understanding why older people do not seek assistance is crucial to the development of policies and services that enable local government to meet their obligations to provide preventative care packages. In this presentation, we report findings of a qualitative study in which we explored older adults’ explanations of why they do not seek or receive assistance from services or other sources. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 40 adults aged >65 in North Wales and Northwest England. We asked participants about their experiences and views of needing assistance in later life, and if, how, why and when they acted upon the needs that they identified. We identified a recursive process whereby participants assessed their need for assistance on an issue-by-issue basis. Participants described responding to emerging needs with avoidant behaviours, modified expectations and their own solutions, only pursuing assistance when these strategies were no longer possible, and crucially, when they were prepared to admit that they needed assistance. The fragility of such strategies sometimes led to emergency interventions. Our findings demonstrate how older adults’ responses to emerging needs might deter them from taking-up assistance, putting them at risk for emergency intervention and presenting a serious challenge for local authorities’ planning and development of appropriate policies and services.