Transforming places for later lives: Localities strategy 2021

By 2040, more than 40% of the UK population will be aged 50 or over. But we're not ageing evenly everywhere. One in three local authorities – mostly rural and coastal – already have populations with this age profile.

This presents distinct opportunities as well as challenges for different places. We have seen recently from the work published by Michael Marmot’s report, Building Back Fairer in Greater Manchester, that the uneven geographical impact of COVID-19 has meant that upward trends in life and healthy life expectancy, which had already been slowing, have gone into reverse. If we are truly to level up, we need to stimulate solutions that are appropriate to the needs of local populations, are locally owned and locally sustainable.

We have always seen working with places – or 'localities' as we call them – as critical to our overall vision for more people to enjoy their later life. Currently we work with localities in three ways; through strategic partnerships with Greater Manchester, Leeds and Lincolnshire; providing secretariat and support to the UK Network of Age-friendly Communities; and by engaging and influencing local policy makers and practitioners – in both solutions and understanding the problem from their perspective.

Our new localities strategy ‘Transforming later lives: Taking a localities approach’ sets out our ambitious plans for the next 10 years. In the strategy we're committed to increasing our impact and improving outcomes in the places where people live.

Deepen our impact through Strategic Locality Partnerships, working together with our partners in Greater Manchester, Leeds and Lincolnshire to develop joint approaches to common challenges, and then spreading and scaling what works. For example, our work with Greater Manchester Combined Authority to developed more tailored and effective out-of-work support for the over 50s age group.

Grow the UK Network of Age-friendly Communities significantly across the UK and ensuring it continues to be a network where good ideas spread, fast. Our goal is to build this membership from 46 to at least 150 members within the next five years.

Build wider motivation and capability for change, so that localities across the country can benefit from better knowledge and leadership, and more people can enjoy later life. This includes building understanding of how to measure impact at a local level.

The Centre for Ageing Better’s vision is for a society where everyone enjoys later life. Working with localities is an essential part of how we achieve this vision and make an impact. We hope our newly published strategy will act as a guide our work and build a comprehensive, place-based approach to ageing better.