The Centre for Ageing Better has launched its new five-year strategy, setting out how it plans to respond to the growing challenges and opportunities of an ageing population.
You can read the full announcement here.
Download the full strategy here.
The strategy comes at a time of significant demographic change. People are living longer, but not always in good health, and inequalities in later life are becoming more visible. The report makes a clear case for action now, highlighting that without change, more people will experience poorer health, financial insecurity and exclusion as they age.
At its core, the strategy focuses on improving how people experience later life. It sets out a vision of a society where everyone can live a good later life and outlines a mission to address inequalities while supporting the development of age-friendly policy and practice.
Key priorities for the next five years
The strategy is built around four main areas of focus:
- Developing a national centre of excellence on ageing, bringing together research, tools and practical support
- Improving access to fair and decent work for people in their 50s and 60s
- Supporting the development of age-friendly homes and communities
- Tackling ageism and wider inequalities that affect people in later life
These priorities reflect a shift towards prevention, system change and long-term planning, rather than short-term responses. The strategy also emphasises the importance of working with partners across sectors, including local authorities, health systems and community organisations.
Why this matters for the VCSE sector
For organisations working across Leeds and the wider VCSE sector, this strategy aligns closely with existing priorities around health inequalities, community-led approaches and prevention.
It reinforces the importance of:
- Community-based support that helps people stay connected and independent
- Local partnerships that shape services around people’s needs
- Addressing inequalities that build up over the course of people’s lives
The strategy also highlights the role of communities in shaping solutions, with a strong emphasis on lived experience and working alongside people directly affected by these issues.
A call for collective action
The Centre for Ageing Better is clear that it cannot deliver this work alone. The strategy calls for stronger partnerships and wider collaboration to ensure that ageing well becomes a shared priority across systems and sectors.
For organisations across Leeds, this is an opportunity to connect local work to a broader national direction, particularly where work already supports older people, reduces isolation, improves housing or tackles inequality.
As the strategy makes clear, action taken now will shape how people experience later life in the years ahead.
