Response to update on the Mayors Age Friendly Plan

Age UK London welcomes the publication of the first Progress Report on the Age-friendly London Action Plan. It is over 15 years since we first called for London to join the Global Network of Age-friendly Cities and Communities and over six years since we first supported the development of the Mayor’s Age-friendly London Action Plan, published in 2023. Since 2020 we have been pleased to collaborate with colleagues at the London Age Friendly Forum to share our views with the Greater London Authority. We have aimed to be supportive but also a critical friend where we felt it necessary.

The Progress Report is a welcome opportunity to collate the wide range of actions mapped out across the eight ‘age-friendly domains’. Some of these actions will benefit Londoners of all ages and some such as the Mayor’s Pension Credit awareness campaign have been developed specially to benefit older Londoners.

There are many positive outputs listed in the Report, but it is a little early in the life of the Action Plan to have a clear view about the overall impact of the actions. The key measure of the Action Plan is of course whether the lives of older people in London have improved as a result. We hope that future reports can point to an answer.

The actions so far, and this Progress Report are welcome but more needs to be done if this great city is to rise to the challenge of being truly age-friendly. London is the fastest ageing city in the UK and we know many older Londoners are very positive about London, but there are also may challenges that need to be addressed urgently. This includes the fact that London has the highest rate of Pensioner Poverty in the country. Age UK London is proud to lead campaigning to make London a really good place to age. In 2026, that has never been more important.