Community services are squeezed, but vital in supporting older people to age well

The public toilets in the cemetery next to my home closed during the pandemic and haven’t reopened. The nearest public toilets are more than 10 minutes’ walk away, across a busy A road, in the shopping mall. The shopping mall, which has been in decline for years, is currently being demolished to make way for much needed housing, and fewer individual shop units. I don’t know if public toilets are included in the plans.

This is a familiar story – the decline of town centres in competition from online shopping and megastores (we have one a mile down the road), alongside cutbacks in community services that older people rely on when out and about. 

But at the same time, older people are the least likely to say that their local area has got better to live in over the last two years with only 7% of people aged 65 and over agreeing with this, compared to more than 15% of people aged 16 to 35.

When we talked to older people in Middlesbrough and Knowsley for our State of Ageing 2025 report, many people mourned the loss of local facilities that make a huge difference to older people’s daily lives. Latest data on local authority expenditure on community services provides some glimmers of hope: real-terms spending on a number of services (e.g. open spaces, community centres and community development) has recovered to at least pre-pandemic levels. But spending on other services – notably libraries and public toilets - continues to decline. 

As retired people spend significant amounts of time in their local communities, spaces like public libraries play a huge role in reducing isolation and providing access to services, while the provision of public toilets is vital for making town and city centres accessible.  

But local authorities are in an almost impossible position when it comes to funding these services. Since the pandemic, during which overall funding from central government was temporarily increased, local authorities have been experiencing a triple burden on funding services.  Core funding is lower in real terms while cost increases are higher than general inflation and there is also increased demand for services. This leaves local authorities with increasing gaps between the costs of providing services and the funding available.  

Local authorities therefore continue to be forced to redirect funding towards statutory services, particularly social care. Across local authorities in 2025/26 there is an estimated shortfall in social care funding of more than £1 billion simply to maintain the existing level of service. Growing social care funding deficits result not only in fewer people receiving the care they need, but also in cuts to other services, and a corresponding reduction in residents’ satisfaction with local authority services overall.    

In 2024/2025, councils’ overall core funding (i.e. that from central government) was predicted to be 9% lower in real terms and 18% lower in real terms per person than in 2010/11. This reduction was set to be larger for councils in more deprived areas compared with less deprived areas (26% vs 11%). The reason is that funding increases seen since 2019/20 have only partially offset the overall cuts seen in the 2010s, which were deepest in poorer areas.

This disparity is one reason why the additional funding to turn around ailing town centres (with priority for public toilet provision) and invest in community facilities promised in the Pride in Place Strategy is to be welcomed – at least for the 244 places across the UK that can apply. But it is disappointing that older people are not mentioned once in this announcement. This omission might not have occurred if we had a Commissioner for Older People and Ageing in England who could champion the rights of older people and ensure policymaking considers the needs of England's ageing population.

Meanwhile many Age-friendly Communities are managing to do more with limited resources, inspired by the creativity and ambition shared in their UK network. Penzance Parish Council has established a community toilet scheme, while a partnership in Barnsley has provided a guide to the improved public seating they now provide at key indoor and outdoor locations. There are plenty of other great examples to learn from in our new Age-friendly town and parish guide and our Age-friendly Communities Handbook.

Now I must think about contacting my local council about the redevelopment of my town centre…