Conception and design of the Age-Friendly Manchester Older People's Charter

Adding life to years

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Summary

The aim of this work was to create a simple and concise description of the values and objectives of Age-Friendly Manchester to the companies, organisations and groups across the city. The charter format was used as tool to ensure this message becomes embedded into the fabric of the city. In other words, making it possible for organisations to “sign up” to and adopt the Charter. This is done by pledging to take measurable actions that make Manchester a better place for older people. These actions can vary hugely, from providing extra places to sit and rest through to employing and retaining older employees.The Charter was conceived and co-designed by the Age-Friendly Manchester Older People’s Board – a consultative group of older volunteers from across Manchester. Established in 2004, it is a critical ear and co-designer of the Age-Friendly Manchester programme. Groups and forums from across the city have been consulted regarding the changes they would like to see as a result of the Charter being adopted.Work is now underway to promote the Charter and obtain pledges from a wide variety of businesses and organisations. This is done through planned communication campaigns via Manchester City Council and also empowering local groups to seek pledges from smaller, local businesses in their communities. The expected benefits are clear and we expect them to be realised over the next 12 months.We have learned that gaining interest in the Charter is easy but obtaining pledges is more challenging, particularly because we want quantifiable actions and not token gestures. We are mitigating this by providing as much assistance as possible, such as provision of example pledges, age-friendly training and leaflets and online guidance.

Website: http://www.manchester.gov.uk/olderpeoplescharter

Key facts

Other target group(s): Local businesses, organisations (private, public and voluntary), groups and individuals.

Sector(s): Social protection

Desired outcome for older people:
Meet their basic needs

Other issues the Age-friendly practice aims to address:

Ageism
Accessibility
Inequities
Intergenerational activities

Contact details

Name: Keeley, Tim

Email address: t.keeley@manchester.gov.uk

Preferred language(s): English

Age-friendly practice in detail (click to expand):

Engaging the wider community

Project lead: Local authorities

Older people’s involvement: Older people were involved in the age-friendly practice at multiple or all stages

Details on older people’s involvement: As stated, our Older People’s Board conceived and co-designed the Charter and are actively involved in its promotion across Manchester.

Moving forward

Has the impact of this age-friendly practice been analysed: No

Expansion plans:
It could be expanded in the future to the Greater Manchester region.

Looking back

Reflections:
We didn’t anticipate that we would need to provide quite as much guidance to organisations, such as explaining the types of pledges they could make. If we’d have known we would have designed this in the early stages so that when the Charter launched we could get up to speed more rapidly.

Challenges:
The challenges are obtaining pledges. Gaining interest is straightforward but seeking written commitment from organisations is more difficult. As stated, we are mitigating this by providing as much assistance as possible, such as provision of example pledges, age-friendly training and leaflets and online guidance.