Agenda item

To receive and the consider the report of the Director of Public Health on the Age Friendly Leeds Strategy & Action Plan 2022-2025.

The report of the Director of Public Health presented to the Inner East Community Committee the refresh of the draft Age Friendly Strategy and Action Plan 2022-2025 to gain feedback. The report also requested support and promotion of the work of Age Friendly within the city.

The Community Committee were provided with the following points:

·  Around 1 in 3 people are aged 50 and over. The number of Leeds residents aged 80 and over will increase by about 50% in the next 20 years.

·  Age Friendly Leeds is one of the eight priorities in the Best Council Plan 2020-2025. The vision for Leeds is that it is a place where people age well, older people are valued, respected, appreciated and seen as assets.

·  The draft Age Friendly Leeds Strategy 2022-25 has been reviewed and refreshed which has been informed by The State of Ageing in Leeds report. The process has been overseen by the Age Friendly Board chaired by Cllr Jenkins. The role of the Board is to provide strategic leadership and set the strategic direction for the Age Friendly Leeds work programme and ensure that the objectives are being met.

·  Leeds is a member of the World Health Organisation Age Friendly Cities programme and has used and adapted the framework to identify and address barriers to the well-being and participation of older people.

·  The strategy sets out six key priority areas: housing; public and civic spaces; travel and road safety; active, included and respected; healthy and independent ageing and employment and learning. Each of the priorities is headed by a domain lead. Domain leads have been identified and are working to implement the actions set out in the plan. The domain leads will feedback on a quarterly basis.

·  The Leeds Older Peoples Forum (LOPF) gives practical ways for the local community to become involved to strengthen the age friendly approach and Councillors were invited to support and encourage people and businesses to get involved in:

o  The Age Friendly Ambassador Programme

o  Becoming a Dementia Friend

o  Age and Dementia Friendly Businesses

o  The Come in and Rest Scheme

o  Leeds Older People’s Age Friendly Steering Group

·  Public Health are working with partners to support older people in Leeds to be as resilient as possible this winter. It was recognised that the cost-of-living crisis together with the impact that the cold weather can have on older people will require an approach to ensure proactive and preventative support is provided to those most at risk this winter. It was noted there are a range of services to support older people during cold weather including:

o  Information and Advice Service run through Age UK Leeds who can offer information and advice on a range of issues such as:

§  Money Matters

§  State Benefits

§  Housing Rights

§  Consumer issues

·  Home Plus Leeds – whose aim is to enable and maintain independent living through improving health at home.

·  Lunch Clubs – Public Health fund the annual Lunch Club Grants offering a financial contribution to support voluntary groups to provide hot nutritious meals and social activities for older people in a communal environment for 40 weeks per year.

·  Sign up to receive Cold Weather Alerts

·  ‘Stay Well this Winter’ Grants

·  Become a winter friend

The Committee discussed the following details:

·  Seacroft Councillors carrying ‘Come in and Rest’ stickers to offer to businesses to display, these will be distributed.

·  The ambassador programme will feature regular events, training and dedicated officers to liaise with.

·  The diversity of the area, particularly of faith, was discussed, and how this existing network can be utilised to create meaningful impact at the consultation stage.

·  The potential for sharing ten of the Seacroft slow cookers from the pilot study with each of the other Inner East wards was discussed.

·  Communicating with older people for whom English is a second language will to be undertaken by colleagues with the relevant experience.

·  The time scale for the project involves visiting every Leeds Community Committee, which will be completed by the end of December. The strategy is being developed concurrently to the consultation phase so that the completion is not delayed.

RESOLVED: The Committee considered and noted the following:

·  The contents of the report and the refresh of the Age Friendly Strategy;

·  The work supporting age friendliness, winter planning and the cost-of-living crisis in local areas and how they can be built upon;

·  The needs of the local ageing population and how these needs can be addressed through local age friendly work;

·  The work of Age Friendly Strategy and the community approaches lead by LOPF can be embedded within the work of the Community Committees.