Bristol City Council and Age UK Bristol have worked together since 2015 to involve older people and stakeholders in coproducing an Age-Friendly strategy that makes Bristol a great place to grow old. Membership of the WHO network was secured through the seven-year Bristol Ageing Better (BAB) programme, which commissioned over 30 delivery partners to run projects to tackle and prevent isolation and loneliness for people aged 50+ living in Bristol. BAB was led by a Programme Management Team based at Age UK Bristol, who worked with the Bristol City Council to run focus groups, coproduction events and surveys to better understand the priorities and challenges felt by older Bristolians. This coproduction process led to the production and launch of an Age-friendly charter that set out the 9 visions that underpin the strategies developed in 2018 and 2022:

• Older people in Bristol feel heard and have a say in decision making on things which affect their lives
• Older people in Bristol can access the work and volunteering opportunities that they want
• Older People in Bristol are able to stay connected and access relevant information that they require
• Older people in Bristol have access to appropriate health, social care and wellbeing services
• Older people in Bristol have suitable accommodation that meets their individual circumstances
• Older people in Bristol can access outdoor spaces and buildings that meet their needs
• Older people in Bristol are connected to their local community; they are respected and included in society
• Older people in Bristol can access available activities where and when they want
• Older people in Bristol have access to transport and are confident in getting around the city

Bristol’s City Office enables strategic collaboration between council departments, public, private and voluntary sector partners and equalities organisations through its One City Approach. This comprises the One City Plan – a document that sets out our city’s key challenges up to 2050, and brings the city together around a shared vision. It is aligned with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, as well as other strategies led by local charities, such as Age-Friendly Bristol. In turn, our work to facilitate the delivery of the 38 actions in our 2022 Action Plan is aligned with One City, including working with the One City Health & Wellbeing Board and feeding in to the Transport and Homes & Communities Boards through the Bristol Older People’s Forum Advisory Group. The Advisory Group was formed in 2021, building upon the work of the Transport and Housing Action Groups commissioned under the Bristol Ageing Better programme.

Our 2022 Strategy builds upon the learning from the consultation done under BAB between 2015-2018, as well as learning from the action groups, the BAB programme, and updates on the indicators set out in the 2018 Strategy. It also reflects local and national changes brought about by the pandemic, such as the effect on older people’s employment, healthcare access and social inclusion. The Strategy now has an accompanying Action Plan, which sets out the detail of 38 actions each with an identified lead in the Council, voluntary sector or West of England Combined Authority. We will be publishing an update on the progress of all of these actions in 2023.

Other projects we have delivered locally include the production of two age-friendly toolkits – one for businesses and one for citizens – and collaborating with Bristol Older People’s Forum to deliver monthly Challenging Ageism workshops from 2021 to present. We have also begun work with the West of England Combined Authority to support employers in the region to recruit and retain older workers – you can view a recording of our 2022 workshop here and view the slide deck in our resources page.

Our plans beyond July 2022 include distributing free mobile data to older people on low incomes and experiencing digital isolation; working with the University of Bristol on an Ageing Futures event; and an intergenerational project with children’s consortium Playful Bristol. Age UK Bristol also continues to coordinate the Age-Friendly Communication & Information Action Group; a group of older residents who scrutinise communication from voluntary and statutory services and coproduce resources to improve information accessibility for their fellow older citizens. These are also available on our resources page. Between 2022-23 they will also be working with local media platforms to improve their representation of older people.

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Age UK Bristol is the leading charity in Bristol working to improve the lives of older people. Having been the lead delivery partner for the BAB programme, we are now managing the Connecting Communities programme, a one-year pilot funded by the Clinical Commissioning Group to roll out five of the successful models from the BAB programme across Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire. Age UK Bristol also leads the Celebrating Age Festival, coordinates the Support Hub for Older People and delivers a range of services, including information & advice, a day service, home support service and social and wellbeing opportunities.

Bristol City Council has embedded age-friendly objectives in its One City Plan, a comprehensive long-term strategic plan to maximise improvements to the city from now until 2050. The refreshed 2021 plan and online catalogue of objectives can be viewed here.