Global News: New UK Toolkit Highlights Better Engagement with Older Communities

A new Age-friendly Engagement Toolkit, developed by the Centre for Ageing Better and Involve in the United Kingdom, provides practical guidance for involving older people in decisions that affect their lives.

Developed for local government, community organisations and public sector agencies, the toolkit recognises that older people are not a homogenous group. It encourages organisations to move beyond one-size-fits-all engagement by considering factors such as accessibility, digital inclusion, health, mobility, cultural diversity and lived experience when designing engagement processes.

The guidance covers the full engagement lifecycle, from setting clear objectives and planning inclusive engagement through to facilitation, evaluation and embedding engagement into organisational practice. Alongside practical advice, it includes case studies, templates and tools to help practitioners deliver more meaningful engagement with older communities.

While developed for the UK, many of the principles will resonate with engagement practitioners across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. As our populations continue to age, ensuring older people can participate meaningfully in decisions about communities, infrastructure, services and public policy is becoming increasingly important.

The toolkit also reinforces a broader lesson for engagement professionals: inclusive engagement means understanding the specific needs of different communities and designing processes that remove barriers to participation, rather than expecting participants to adapt to standard approaches.

For practitioners working with older communities—or seeking to make their engagement practice more inclusive—the toolkit is a valuable addition to the growing body of international guidance on meaningful community engagement.

Read the toolkit: Age-friendly Engagement Toolkit: Involving Older People in Local Decision-Making, published by the Centre for Ageing Better and Involve.