What's an Age-friendly Community?

Introduction

Eight Domains

1. Outdoor spaces and buildings
2. Transport
3. Housing
4. Social participation
5. Respect and social inclusion
6. Civic participation and employment
7. Communication and information
8. Community support and health services

The four steps of becoming age-friendly

1. Engage and Understand
2. Plan strategically
3. Act and implement
4. Monitor and evaluate

Age-friendly Communities commit to following the World Health Organisation’s Age-friendly Communities framework. This approach has two elements that guide communities through the process of becoming a better place to age: the Eight Domains and the Four-Step Programme Cycle

The Eight Domains are the areas of the built and social environment which, when acted upon, can help to address barriers to ageing well. Age-friendly Communities will use this framework as a lens to view their place. They will collect data, build partnerships and commit to actions under these domain areas.

The Four-Step Programme Cycle is a development process that places go through to embed an age-friendly way of working. It involves gaining political commitment for the work, understanding where you are starting from, listening to older people, deciding strategic priorities, delivering actions, and evaluating impact.

The Eight Domains are the areas of the built and social environment which, when acted upon, can help to address barriers to ageing well. The scale and pace of improvements are determined by what is needed in a place.

Age-friendly Communities bring together partners representing these domain areas to work with each other and older people to make changes.

Global Age-friendly Cities: A Guide provides an overview of the Eight Domains from the World Health Organisation. Further resources and case studies on each of these domains can be found on our Age-friendly resources.

The outside environment and public buildings have a major impact on our mobility, independence and quality of life as we age. Outdoor spaces and buildings in an Age-friendly Community will strive to be safe, accessible and comfortable for people of all ages.

An Age-friendly Community might:

• Create a map of benches or toilets in a local area
• Work with local businesses to offer places to rest when people are out and about
• Conduct walk audits with older people to identify local needs on pavements, curbs and crossings

CASE STUDY: Through Nottingham’s Take a Seat campaign they have worked with over 300 local premises to provide a warm welcome and the offer of a seat to people when they are out and about.

Affordable, reliable and convenient transport options enable older people to get out and about and continue to do things that matter to them. Whether it’s going shopping, meeting friends or attending an appointment, good transport is essential to everyone.

An Age-friendly Community might:

• Promote Journey Assistance Cards for passengers to discreetly let the driver know of additional support needed
• Create community transport options that take older people to where it is important to them to go
• Offer specialist classes for older cyclists

CASE STUDY: Isle of Wight has developed training to help service providers become more age-friendly, with the Island’s main bus operator, Southern Vectis, incorporating this training into its compulsory programme for all drivers.

The right housing and support can allow people to age comfortably and safely, in their community. 

Poor housing can have a huge impact on health, but when housing is considered as part of the age-friendly approach, it can help to maintain or improve physical and mental wellbeing, as well as social connections.

An Age-friendly Community might:

• Create a directory of qualified and reliable maintenance workers.
• Support practitioners, friends and family to use an Age-friendly Homes Rating checklist to assess the suitability of an older person’s house with them
• Offer drop-in sessions to get free advice on housing options

CASE STUDY: Greater Manchester developed their “Framework for Creating Age-friendly Homes” which sets out a vision for their housing choices to be diverse, respond to different needs and aspirations, promote social connections and support equality, positive health, wellbeing and independence.

Participating in leisure, cultural and spiritual activities in the community is important for health and wellbeing, a sense of belonging and good relationships. Without social participation, people can experience loneliness and isolation.

An Age-friendly Community will work to make sure activities available in their place are as financially, culturally and physically accessible as possible.

An Age-friendly Community might:

• Support Men’s Shed initiatives for older men to come together and learn new skills.
• Offer micro-grants for groups to organise themselves to do things they want to do
• Arrange opportunities for residents of different ages to connect through skills exchange workshops 

CASE STUDY: Leeds’ Shared Tables project invites older people living alone to enjoy a meal together at a local restaurant. The project offers an alternative to traditional coffee mornings by providing opportunities to socialise at weekends and in the evenings.

An Age-friendly Community enables people of all backgrounds to actively participate and it treats everyone with respect, regardless of age. Despite “age” being a protected characteristic, ageism is still prevalent nationally, and Age-friendly Communities seek to challenge this.

An Age-friendly community might:

• Swap out pictures of wrinkly hands in their communications with positive and realistic images of a diverse range of older people

• Launch a Time for You till at supermarkets – designed to support those who need a bit more time for their shopping
• Celebrate the contributions of older people to their community through hosting events or campaigns for International Day of Older Persons. 

CASE STUDY: Bristol ran their Age Proud campaign to challenge negative stereotypes of growing older by amplifying the experiences and advice of seven inspirational people from across the city

Age-friendly Communities look to provide good-quality options for people in later life to continue to contribute to their communities. Those options can include paid employment or voluntary work as well as being engaged in democracy.

Good-quality volunteering has a measurable positive impact on mental health. And paid work can benefit wellbeing as well as finances. Yet often, the opportunities for these diminish with age.

An Age-friendly Community might:

• Support local employers to sign the nationwide Age-friendly Employer Pledge
• Offer targeted employment support to older jobseekers - with an in-person offer not just online
• Advertise a range of accessible volunteering opportunities - particularly those suitable for people with a disability, caring responsibilities or long-term health conditions.

CASE STUDY: East Riding of Yorkshire Council has been working to become an Age-friendly Employer through their free Health MOT and flexible retirement policy.

Staying connected with events and people, and getting timely, practical information is important for all of us, especially as we get older.

Age-friendly Communities seek to ensure information is accessible for those with varying resources and abilities – for example people who don't have English as a first language, are digitally excluded or have a sensory impairment.

An Age-friendly Community might:

• Offer digital skills training for older people who aren’t online but who would like to be. 
• Produce regular newsletters sharing what’s on – available in print or easy to print for others to share in hard copy.
• Run targeted campaigns around Pension Credit uptake – ensuring everyone knows about what they might be entitled to and are able to access it.

CASE STUDY: In Newcastle, Hackney and Bristol radio programmes have been set up with and for older listeners with strong focuses on civic engagement, moving beyond the stereotype of older person’s radio purely being nostalgia programmes.

As the older population grows, the need for community support and health services grows too. Alongside accessible and affordable health care services, community support and physical activity opportunities are strongly connected to good health and wellbeing throughout life.

Some Age-friendly Communities incorporate their financial inclusion work in this domain, acknowledging the huge impact that financial instability has on quality of life and health.

An Age-friendly Community might:

• Launch local walking sports clubs
• Distribute information to support people to stay warm, stay safe and stay well, particularly over winter periods.
• Ensure falls prevention initiatives are accessible and desirable for older people for example, by using "strength and balance" language rather than talking about "frailty", or having suitable location and time for classes

CASE STUDY: Wigan has introduced virtual bike rides to keep older people healthy in care homes.

The Four-Step Programme Cycle is a process that places can use to develop their age-friendly policies and practices. Committing to become an Age-friendly Community can feel overwhelming when looking across all of the Eight Domains. But communities don’t need to do everything at once – the programme cycle guides places through the process, responding to the strengths, challenges and resources available to each community.

The cycle takes an average of five years, but communities can go at their own pace dependent on resources.

Creating Age-friendly Environments in Europe provides an overview of the Four Steps from the World Health Organisation. Further resources on each step can be found on our Age-friendly resources.

The first step on the journey to becoming an Age-friendly Community is to engage local leaders, stakeholders and older people and work to understand how ‘age-friendly’ your community currently is, so your activity can respond to current needs and opportunities.

At this stage communities will ensure:

• Political commitment: The leadership of your place will commit to embedding the WHO Age-friendly Communities approach.
• Steering group: Decide who will oversee the work from a stakeholder and older persons’ perspective. This could be an existing board, older people’s forum or something new
• Baseline assessment: Using the Eight Domains as a framework, pull together local data and speak to a diverse range of older people about their experience of ageing in your place
• Coordination: Decide who will coordinate the delivery of age-friendly work. This may be an officer in the local authority or a staff member of a local voluntary sector organisation or a partnership.

Available resources:

• On-demand training on Step 1: Engage and Understand (gaining political and stakeholder commitment, completing a baseline assessment, co-producing your Age-friendly Community)
• Developing a Local State of Ageing Guide: Guidance on using data to produce a baseline assessment for your work
• Co-production toolkit from Ageing Better: Guidance on co-producing with older people

Examples:

• Baseline assessments from Bristol, East Lindsey, Salford and Torbay

Next, communities will use all of the information gathered in Step One to determine their local priorities for action.

At this stage communities will ensure:

• Vision: Create a shared vision for their Age-friendly Community with stakeholders and older people
• Priorities: Identify priority areas for action based on local needs and influencing opportunities
• Strategy: Write and share an Age-friendly strategy and look to embed Age-friendly in wider local strategies

Available resources:

• On-demand training on Step 2 and Step 3: Plan Strategically and Act and Implement (What is a strategy, developing a vision, identifying priorities, writing your strategy)

Examples:

• Greater Manchester Age-friendly Strategy and Action Plan 2018
• Belfast – Age-friendly Plan 2023-2027
• Age-friendly Leeds as a key priority in Leeds’s Best Council Plan 2020-2025
• Sunderland Ageing Well as a key priority in Sunderland Healthy City Plan 2020-2030
• Age-friendly Belfast Strategy and Action Plan 2022-26

In Step 3, Age-friendly Communities will create and deliver on an action plan that achieves their strategic priorities, with whatever resource they have. Some communities will combine their strategy and action plan.

At this stage communities will ensure:

• Action plan: Develop and deliver on an action plan
• Resources: Identify resources (and potentially funding) for specific pieces of work
• Monitor: Monitor progress and make continuous improvements

Available resources:

• On demand training on Step 2 and Step 3: Plan Strategically and Act and Implement (Creating your action plan, implementing your action plan)

Examples:

• Age-friendly Lisburn and Castlereagh Strategy and Action Plan
• Age-friendly Bristol Strategy and Action Plan 2022
• Age-friendly York Evolving Action Plan 2022
• Age-friendly Ards and North Down’s Age-friendly Strategy and Action Plan 2023-2027

Finally, Age-friendly Communities will assess their progress in implementing the Age-friendly approach as well as the impact of the work on local people’s lives.

At this stage communities will ensure:

• Evaluation: Create an outcome and impact evaluation
• Next stage: Use the information collected to inform the next programme cycle

Available resources:

• On-demand training: Step 4: Monitor and Evaluate (overview, evaluation audiences, data and indicators, stories of change, showing the difference)

• Measuring the Age-friendliness of Cities: A Guide to Using Key Indicators:  A technical guide to selecting and using core indicators for establishing baselines, setting goals/targets and monitoring and evaluating age-friendly initiatives.
• Evaluating your age-friendly community program: a step-by-step guide: A guide from AARP to help communities document and evaluate their progress

Examples:

• What difference has our Age-friendly Salford Programme made 2019