Agenda item

To consider the report of the Director of Public Health providing an update on the refresh of the draft Age Friendly Strategy & Action Plan 2022-2025

The report of the Director of Public Health presented 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 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:
  • The Age Friendly Ambassador Programme
  • Becoming a Dementia Friend
  • Age and Dementia Friendly Businesses
  • The Come in and Rest Scheme
  • 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:
  • 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
  • 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.
  • Participation in the Vitamin D Campaign
  • Sign up to receive Cold Weather Alerts
  • ‘Stay Well this Winter’ Grants

The Community Committee discussions included:

·  The council has a strategic problem with hospitality towards the elderly which could be improved through consultation with highways and planning. Benches increase accessibility to amenities for older people.

·  The work conducted by Age Friendly Leeds can overlap with disability services, especially in relation to accessibility around the city and a duty of care.

·  Information regarding warm spaces project can be accessed through the council website or if an individual does not have digital access to go to a community hub.

RESOLVED - To:

a.)  Note the content of the report and the refresh of the Age Friendly Strategy

b.)  Consider what work is currently underway to support age friendly, winter planning and the cost-of-living crisis in the local area and how to build on these further.

c.)  To link work with Age Friendly Leeds to disability support to create a cross-generation approach to accessibility around the city.