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Being an Age Friendly City 

Age Friendly Leeds has a longstanding ambition to be the Best City to Grow Old In: a place where people in later life (age 50+) age well, lead healthy, connected, fulfilling, independent lives and are valued, feel respected and are recognised as assets. Age Friendly Leeds plays a preventative role to increase the proportion of our lives that we spend in good health in later life.

Age Friendly places, communities, and services support everyone, including those with health challenges, to lead vibrant, connected, fulfilling, and independent lives. As a result, this helps to prevent, reduce, and delay the need for reactive services. Our first Age Friendly Strategy was developed in 2015 which placed people in later life at the heart of our strategies, ensuring their diverse voices shape Leeds initiatives. This builds on previous work and a long history of engagement dating back to 1994.

Why Age Friendly Leeds is important

  • 1 in 3 people living in Leeds are aged over 50
  • 19,300 more people over 60 estimated in 2033
  • more people 50+ moved out of Leeds (400) than moved into Leeds (3000) in 2020.
  • approximately 1346 people aged 50+ are living with a learning disability
  • 2 in 10 people that identify as LGBQT+ are aged 45+, around 1 in 2 prefer not to say
  • over 1 in 2 unpaid carers are aged 50+
  • by 2030 adults aged 70+ with a learning disability will more than double 
  • 77.6 years male life expectancy; most deprived 73 years; least deprived 82.3 years.
  • 81.4 years female life expectancy; most deprived 77.3 years; least deprived 86.1 years.
  • 2 in 10 people aged 50+ are living with 2+ long term conditions
  • over 95 main languages spoken by Leeds' residents
  • 37% of people aged 50+ from ethnically diverse communities are living in the most deprived areas
  • 13% people aged 50+ are from ethnically diverse backgrounds
  • 25% of the 30-49 age group are from ethnically diverse backgounds. 

Why it matters

Our data shows there is much more we can do to reduce the time people spend in poorer health in later life and being Age Friendly has been identified as a priority by older people in Leeds. 

Like many large cities in the UK, Leeds has a relatively young population. However, a third of the population are aged 50+ and the 70-80+ population is going to grow significantly in the coming years. The older population (50+) is also growing in the most deprived areas and becoming more ethnically diverse. However, not everyone in later life has the same experiences of ageing well. Some communities spend a greater number of years in poorer health in later life. 

With this in mind, we need to ensure that people continue to feel that Leeds is a place where they can and will age well. There are many things we are doing and lots more we can all do to support ageing well in Leeds. 

Snapshot of ageing well in Leeds:

  • 34% of people aged 55+ never felt lonely, but 4% often / always felt lonely, 12% felt lonely some of the time
  • 23% of people aged 50+ are active
  • 5 in 10 people from Asian backgrounds reported being 'inactive'
  • 2 in 3 people aged 50+ are overweight 
  • 1 in 20 people aged 50+ are underweight 
  • Men spend 16.8 years and Women spend 18.1 years in poorer health in later life
  • 3% of 65+ age group are living in nursing or care homes
  • 1 in 3 people aged 50+ in Leeds have successfully quit smoking 
  • 80% of people eligible have claimed their bus pass. but only 60% in some inner-city areas
  • 2 in 3 people aged 50-64 years are in employment 
  • 40,000 people aged 50-64 are economically inactive, 5,600 not in work due to health reasons; 11,000 long term illness
  • Men aged 50+ are 4 times more likely to drink higher-risk levels compared to women aged 50+
  • People 50+ are 3 times more likely to drink higher-risk levels
  • 27% of people aged 50+ do not drink alcohol 
  • Over 1 in 2 people aged 50+ are living with 2 or more long-term conditions. More than 4 out of 5 people are aged 80+ are living with a long-term condition
  • The risk of heart disease or stroke is 1.5 times higher in the most deprived parts of Leeds
  • 165 of people aged 60+ experience income deprivation 
  • People aged 65+ are 12x more likely to be non-digital users.

Age Friendly Strategy 2025-2030

The Age Friendly Strategy and Action Plan bring together key services with a focus on prevention to increase the number of years people spend in good health. By doing so, it seeks to reduce or delay the need for reactive services. We know that around 80% of what influences our health and ageing well is outside of health and care. 

The World Health Organisation's Age Friendly Communities Framework sets out the domains (topics) that local places can address to improve structures and services to meet people's needs in later life. This provides a clear framework of 'what works' to promote ageing well. These broadly cover the wider determinants of health, including social factors, employment and the built environment required to support ageing well. 

Local Partnerships

There are three key groups within Leeds, responsible for delivering the ambitions of Age Friendly Leeds. These are:  

  • The Age Friendly Board (AFB) - which is chaired by the Elected Older People’s Equality Champion with leadership from the Executive Member for Equalities, Adults and Health. Membership includes the representatives from the Council, Leeds Older People’s Forum, the Age Friendly Steering Group and West Yorkshire Combined Authority and reports to both the Executive Board and the Health and Wellbeing Board.  
  • The Age Friendly Leeds Network (AFLN) - which is co-chaired by the Head of Public Health (Ageing Well), Leeds City Council (LCC) and the Chair of Leeds Older People’s Forum. 

The Age Friendly Leeds Steering Group is for older people living in Leeds to share their views, ideas, experiences and skills to help make Leeds more Age Friendly. They meet every month at Leeds City Museum/on Zoom.  

Regional, National and International Partnerships

Leeds was one of three places to have a strategic partnership with the Centre for Ageing Better to further test and apply ‘what works’ to make Leeds a better place to age. Our formal partnership with the Centre for Ageing Better ran from October 2017- 2022 and since, Leeds continues to be nationally recognised as a leading example of Age Friendly innovation, setting the benchmark for best practice in creating a city where everyone can age well.  

Over the past couple of years our Age Friendly work has been showcased:  

In partnership with the Centre for Ageing Better at a fringe event of the LGA conference 

  • At a national Health Equity Network webinar on healthy ageing (hosted by the Institute of Health Equity at UCL).  
  • In the Centre for Ageing Better's Age-friendly-engagement toolkit (Age-friendly Engagement Toolkit | Centre for Ageing Better) with a video case study exploring how Age‑friendly Leeds’s Steering Group is ensuring older people are actively involved in local decision‑making Age‑friendly Leeds Steering Group | Centre for Ageing Better 
  • With a focus on Home Plus in the Chief Medical Officer’s report 2024 and in a Centre for Ageing Better press release on accessible homes.   

Leeds continues to be an active member of the UK Network of Age Friendly Communities. We have presented on a number of topics to this network and continue to be approached by other local authorities to share our work and learning from Age Friendly Leeds. 

We also share our practice through the Yorkshire, Humber and North East Healthy Ageing Community of Improvement - A network of public health leads in the region with a healthy ageing/Age Friendly remit which enables collaboration and sharing of best practice. This group is co-chaired by the Head of Public Health (Ageing Well).