Three years ago the Isle of Wight council signed the Age Friendly Charter — a commitment to creating an environment where older people can live safely, enjoy good health and stay locally involved.
This year, the council has been nationally recognised as an Age Friendly Employer through its work to embrace age and support its workforce.
This was highlighted at a recent Age Friendly Island best practice event where Sharon Betts, co-director of corporate services, spoke about how the council had embraced the local initiative.
The council has pledged to ensure that:
- its buildings are accessible;
- digital services are built around customer needs;
- front line staff receive Age Friendly training;
- older people are valued for their contributions in supporting the authority to help people stay healthy, active and live with dignity and enjoyment in later life;
- employment practices recognise the needs of older employees and promote flexible working.
Betts: A number of initiatives to support our older communities
Sharon said,
“As an employer, our employment offer supports flexible working around people’s personal needs, including reduced hours. We also offer agile working arrangements, for people to work where they need to, as well as part-time contracts.
“But our support of the Age Friendly Island initiative doesn’t stop there. In recent years we’ve also rolled out a number of initiatives across the council and with our partners to support our older communities.”
Age Friendly training has been well attended across the council, with feedback from colleagues about how it has helped them to understand the needs of older people far more than they did before.
Betts: Very powerful, thought provoking and emotional
Sharon said the training gave her a much better insight into the barriers faced by older residents, whether that be hearing loss, sight impairment or dementia.
She said,
“I found the case studies used in the training session very powerful, thought provoking and emotional and I have encouraged colleagues, especially if they are in a public facing role, to sign up for this training.”
The council also has a team of Age Friendly champions who support their colleagues when planning and implementing changes, to ensure that full consideration is given to older people to access our services effectively.
News shared by Isle of Wight council press office, in their own words. Ed
