Using local data on ageing: Case Studies
Across England local authorities and communities are looking at data in different ways to understand their older population. Here are a few examples from across England.
They include:
- Publishing a comprehensive view of their local ageing population either as a baseline assessment for an age-friendly community, or a local State of Ageing report
- Focusing existing data based reports on ageing and older people, like the Director of Public Health’s annual report or a Joint Strategic Needs Assessment.
- Using data to target programmes or campaigns on specific groups of older residents.
Below are some examples of these and what difference they have made.
What did they do?
Age-friendly Middlesbrough created a baseline assessment at the start of their Age-friendly town development. Alongside some key demographic information, the report focused on the results from the Age-friendly surveys they distributed across Middlesbrough.
The local authority worked with Tees Side University to develop the survey and analyse the responses. They created nine surveys – one on each of the Age-friendly Communities Eight Domains, and one on “your local neighbourhood” and residents were given the option to fill in all surveys or just the ones which were of particular interest to them. The surveys took inspiration from other national and international examples, and the team worked with an advisory group of older residents to receive feedback on the questions before the surveys were distributed.
They monitored the demographics of residents completing the survey and did direct community outreach with the groups of residents who were underrepresented in the responses, including working with the BME lead in the public health team to take the survey to a number of mosques.
What difference did it make?
Through analysing the survey results Age-friendly Middlesbrough were able to identify the top 10 needs for residents in Middlesbrough, when comparing the percentage difference in survey responses on what’s important and what’s available to respondents. These priorities for action included resting places in public areas, accessible clean public toilets and widely publicised, reliable information about activities. It has also provided them with evidence to support their asks to different council departments and local organisations to improve the lives of older residents.
Other examples of baseline assessments:
What did they do?
In 2024, 8 years into their Age-friendly programme, Greater Manchester created a State of Ageing report, compiling key regional data around priority areas of their age-friendly strategy: Economy, Work & Money; Places; Ageing Well; and Digital Inclusion.
The report was developed in collaboration between the Greater Manchester Ageing Hub and the research team at the Greater Manchester Combined Authority. They also worked with a range of partners, such as the environment team, the NHS, and academic collaborators at the University of Manchester. Initial drafts of the chapters were completed by the research team and went through a series of feedback and iterations, with partners identifying new datasets and programme managers responsible for the strategic priority areas shaping analysis and messaging.
What difference did it make?
Greater Manchester was able to use the report to raise awareness of ageing issues across the system. They presented the findings at an open invite meeting across the region, as well as to key bodies in the Combined Authority like the Public Service Reform Board and the Extended Leadership Team.
The report has provided the team a central repository of up to data statistics which they have been able to share with communications colleagues, making it easier to further “make the case” for prioritising ageing across the system. Stats from the report which are likely to be updated yearly - such as those from the ONS, NHS, and GMCA services - have also been turned into an online dashboard which will be refreshed every six months and can be filtered for each of the ten local authorities in GM.
Other examples of local State of Ageing reports:
- The State of Ageing in Leeds 2022 including lessons on how it was created How we created ‘The State of Ageing in Leeds’
- The State of Ageing in Sunderland 2024
What did they do?
The production of an annual Director of Public Health (DPH) report is a statutory requirement for all local authorities with a public health team. In 2023, Leeds focused their annual DPH report on ageing well and the inequalities in ageing experienced by different groups. They chose this focus to reaffirm the city’s longstanding commitment to become an Age-friendly City, as well as taking inspiration from Sir Professor Chris Whitty’s 2023 Annual Report on Health in an Ageing Society.
The report combines insights from the survey responses of over 900 local people and focus groups with the latest data and trends on factors impacting ageing well. These include health and behavioural factors such as diet, smoking, alcohol intake, and mental health, as well as wider determinants related to Age-friendly Communities such as travel, housing, employment and financial wellbeing. They also produced a film to bring the report to life, spotlighted a range of voices in Leeds.
What difference did it make?
Through the report Leeds were able to identify the priorities of both residents and professionals. Even in an authority which has been working on age-friendly issues for a long time, the findings presented some surprises. For example, they identified that access to services like sexual health and mental health was lower than the identified need for residents over 50.
Through the report Leeds were able to promote activity that is already taking place to support ageing well in the city, as well as identifying recommended actions for further improvements. These actions and the broader insights have been fed into other local strategies including their equality strategy and Joint Strategic Needs Assessment.
The report has been commended as one of the best in-depth single topic submissions nationally by the Association for the Directors of Public Health for 2023.
Read the report here.
Other examples of Director of Public Health reports on ageing and older people:
What did they do?
Within Kirklees the local authority have prioritised areas where they have the most residents living in areas of high deprivation for much of their work. However, the Age-friendly team in Kirklees identified that these areas are not necessarily where the most older people are living.
To understand their population better, they compared data on the Index on Multiple Deprivation, identifying the top 10%, and data on where the most people over 65 were living. Where these datasets overlapped, they identified a 1/2km neighbourhood radius. These 15 areas have become the priority areas for their Age-friendly work, with around 800-1000 older people living in these areas in total.
What difference has it made?
Being able to give a specific number of older people whose lives they are working to improve has humanised the work of Age-friendly Kirklees and helped to gain traction with partners.
Identifying 15 priority areas has helped to focus their Age-friendly work. They have been able to access data that other teams are collecting within these regions, such as on falls and caregiving, to better understand the experiences of residents. It also enabled the team to visit these communities and identify key issues for residents, such as the hilly terrain and the fact that services are often located at the top of these hills.
The team in Kirklees have been able to map the 135 age-friendly community groups that exist in these areas and have worked with these groups to identify seven priority issues to address in their age-friendly work, including places to gather and supporting adaptations in the home