Hillingdon Council has officially launched its Age Friendly Plan, a comprehensive five-year strategy designed to enhance the health and well-being of its older residents and make the borough a more supportive place to grow older.
The plan, approved by the Cabinet on Thursday, 23 July 2026, outlines a framework addressing eight key domains: outdoor spaces and buildings, transport, housing, social participation, respect and social inclusion, civic participation and employment, communication and information, and community support and health services. It replaces the previous Older People's Plan, which had been in place since 2009.
Councillor Susan O'Brien, Cabinet Member for Adults, Children, Health & Care, presented the plan, stating, In the consultation, residents told us that friendly spaces, activities and volunteering opportunities were valued. They highlighted areas that could be improved, including reducing loneliness, having accessible support services, improving digital skills and ensuring suitable facilities and environments are available to older people.
The Age Friendly Plan was developed following public consultation and an equality impact assessment. It aims to support independent living, improve access to information and services, promote prevention and healthy ageing, tackle loneliness and social isolation, increase digital inclusion, improve accessibility, and encourage volunteering and community involvement. The plan is intended to contribute to achieving the ambition in the draft Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy, 2026 – 2031, that older adults in Hillingdon are supported to live independently, safely and with dignity for as long as possible.
Key priorities include improving the accessibility of public buildings and parks, enhancing footpaths for safe travel, and ensuring information is accessible in various formats. The plan also explores the development of an Age Friendly scheme for public toilets and warm spaces, and fostering meaningful social connections through partnerships with voluntary, community, and faith organisations. Specific types of 'culturally appropriate and accessible social opportunities' are being considered, including provision that supports different languages and communication needs.
In terms of housing, the plan prioritises safe, good-quality, and affordable housing that supports healthy ageing and independence. Specific 'tailored support' schemes being explored to help older people remain in their own homes include using resident and property data to inform service delivery, such as annual visits to council properties to identify support, safety and adaptation needs, and promoting access to age-friendly and adaptable housing across the borough.
Concrete steps will be taken to improve digital skills among older residents, beyond just increasing 'digital inclusion'. Under Domain Five: Communication and Information, a key priority is to Tackle digital poverty and improve digital skills, enabling older people to confidently access and benefit from online services, information and opportunities.
The delivery of the plan will be overseen by the Hillingdon Age-Friendly Network, a partnership involving council and partner organisations. The Hillingdon Age-Friendly Plan 2026-2031 is not a spending programme; all actions within the plan will be delivered within existing approved budgets. Councillor Susan O'Brien stated, There is no additional financial pressures arising from the plan's recommendations and all actions in the plan will be delivered within the existing approved budgets.
To ensure that the voices of older residents remain 'central' in the ongoing design and delivery of services, the plan states under Domain Six: Respect and Social Inclusion, a key priority is to Ensure older people have a strong and meaningful voice in decisions that affect their lives, services and communities.
Additionally, under Domain Five: Communication and Information, a priority is to Co-produce key messages with older people, ensuring communications are relevant, inclusive and reflect lived experience.
If recommendations are approved, officers will establish a Resident Age Friendly Network to shape the priorities within the plan and report back to Cabinet. Officers will also provide regular updates to the Older People's Assembly, the Assembly for People with Disabilities, and the Carers Forum.
The Hillingdon Age Friendly Plan 2026-2031 is a five-year plan. The plan itself will be reviewed annually and presented to Cabinet. An annual action plan will be agreed to support the delivery of each priority area, with responsibilities designated to partners within the Hillingdon Age Friendly Network. An update on the delivery of the agreed 2026/27 action plan is proposed to be provided in Q1 2027/28.
Councillor Steve Tuckwell, Leader of the Council, welcomed the plan, stating, As the older persons champion, I know how important it is that we support our residents to remain independent, active and connected with their communities for as long as possible. As is outlined by Councillor O'Brien, this plan reflects our commitment to putting residents first, ensuring that older people in Hillingdon are supported to live safely, more importantly with dignity and independence and their voices remain central to how we design and deliver these services going forward.
Specific priorities within the eight domains of the plan include improving accessibility of public buildings and parks, enhancing the accessibility and condition of public footpaths, ensuring information is accessible, exploring the development of an Age Friendly scheme for public toilets and warm spaces, ensuring older people have access to support for meaningful relationships, embedding community outreach, ensuring culturally appropriate social opportunities, promoting access to social opportunities through new activities and discounts, developing targeted social opportunities, supporting older people to live independently for longer through tailored support, using resident and property data to inform service delivery, communicating with council tenants in accessible formats, promoting access to age-friendly and adaptable housing, delivering targeted prevention and early-intervention programmes, ensuring timely support and rapid care, co-producing services with residents, implementing digital technologies, working collaboratively with NHS and VCSE partners, developing neighbourhood-based health services, improving access to clear health information, ensuring older people have a strong voice in decisions, creating opportunities to capture and celebrate older people's stories, working to reduce inequalities in access to services, improving walking and cycling routes, improving public transport accessibility, considering resident concerns in transport decision-making, lobbying Transport for London, expanding and promoting volunteering opportunities, and developing diverse opportunities for civic participation.
