MS, Minster for Children and
Social Care: The Strategy for an Ageing Society was first
launched in 2021 setting out our ambitious vision for an age
friendly Wales that supports people of all ages to live and age
well. We want to create a Wales where everyone can look forward
to growing older. Today I am publishing a report of progress
over the last 12 months
Three years since its launch, the Strategy has firmly positioned
Wales as part of the global response to ageing populations. Since
2022, targeted funding of £1.1million per annum has been
allocated to local authorities (£50,000 each) to work
towards membership of the WHO Global Network of Age Friendly
Cities and Communities. The mission of the Network is to
stimulate and enable cities and communities around the world to
become increasingly age-friendly – membership currently
includes 1606 cities and communities in 53 countries, covering
over 330 million people worldwide.
To date 8 local authorities in Wales have gained membership with
more to follow in 2025.
Supporting the development of age friendly communities was a
strategic priority for the former Older People's Commissioner for
Wales, who supported local authorities from 2019 onward to
develop age friendly communities and to apply for membership of
the WHO Global Network. Although not yet confirmed, we anticipate
the new Older People's Commissioner for Wales will continue to
prioritise this work.
Welsh Government is not prescriptive about how local authorities
work with and support older people in their locality – we
encourage local authorities to involve older people in the design
and planning of local services, social networks and built
environments.
An analysis of local authority reports shows a broad range of
activity in collaboration with older people, statutory and third
sector partners. Our initial scoping of the reports from local
authorities indicates that older people are benefiting from the
programme funding in the following ways:
- Increased awareness of local services and advice on a range
of issues to support healthy and active ageing.
- The ability to have a voice in the design and planning of
local services and action plans.
- The opportunity to participate in activities that
combat loneliness, create social networks and promote
intergenerational solidarity.
- The opportunity to volunteer and contribute to the
social, cultural and economic life of Wales.
- The opportunity to be part of a global movement to
create age friendly communities.
We recently asked local
authorities to share their figures showing how many older people
have participated in age friendly activities. We obtained figures
from 19 local authorities, estimating that
approximately 66,500 older people had benefitted in some way from
the age friendly programme. Over 33,000 had taken part in, or
attended, a face-to-face engagement event with 2000 taking time
to respond to a survey or consultation. Direct information from
the age friendly post holders has reached 23,000 older
individuals.
These estimates are based on the last 12 months up to November
2024 and highlight how a relatively small annual investment of
£1.1million is helping to seed the development of a broad range
of preventative, locally led projects which are benefitting older
people across Wales.
Through this collective effort, Wales has become part of a global
movement towards improving policies and services for older people
to the extent that we are now noted by the WHO as an
international example of good practice.
