Fit for the future

The BIG Lottery funded fit for the future project has now come to an end after working with 11 local Age UK partners across the country over an 18 month period.

This project was an extension of the original Fit as a Fiddle programme and worked to improve the physical and mental wellbeing of older people through the provision of integrated services and activities.

What was Fit for the Future about?

fit for the future focused on a person-centred approach to support older people living with long-term health conditions. A trained staff member or volunteer met with each individual older person and agreed a personal, tailored plan to suit their health and wellbeing needs.

The programme aimed to prove that a more holistic, coordinated approach to services and activities can improve quality of life, and increase healthy life expectancy; delaying the need for more intensive, costly health and social care and therefore enabling people to maintain their independence for longer.

Who was involved in this project?

11 local Age UK areas around the country provided fit for the future activities. Although the national funding for this project has now come to an end, many of the local Age UKs still continue to run activity classes and some have secured further funding to continue this work. To find out more about the local areas that participated, click on the links below.

• Age UK Blackburn with Darwen
• Age UK Cheshire East
• Age UK Exeter
• Age UK Hillingdon
• Age UK Lancashire
• Age UK Leeds
• Age UK Newcastle
• Age UK Nottingham and Nottinghamshire
• Age UK Rotherham
• Age UK Warwickshire
• Age UK West Cumbria

How has the project made a difference?

Some fantastic achievements were made through fit for the future, working with a total of 4799 participants across the country.

• Over 38% of participants experienced an increase in life satisfaction
• Almost 50% of participants felt an increased sense of mental wellbeing
• 38% of participants increased their fruit and vegetable consumption as a result of the project
• Over 35% increased the amount of moderate to intense physical activity undertaken
• 70% of volunteers supporting the participants felt they had gained new skills and increased motivation and self esteem

Programme extension

Three partners took part in some extension work following fit for the future to look further into the impact and outcomes of participants referred to the project by

Further Information

If you have any queries, or for further information, please contact us.