Welcome
The UK's population is rapidly ageing. In 2023, around 11 million people in England were aged over 65. This equates to approximately one in five of us..
According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), this number is projected to increase by 30.5% between 2023 and 2043, resulting in an additional 4 million people. By 2028, the over 65 population in England is expected to grow by 9.9%, adding 1.3 million people. Consequently, the need for local authorities to provide suitable and age-appropriate housing options for individuals in their later years is becoming increasingly urgent.
In 2017, we started to analyse and grade local plans for all local authorities in England based on their approach to housing for seniors. We’ve focused on whether they have either a policy for seniors housing or have made site-specific allocations for this use. This year, as in previous iterations of the report, we’ve supplemented that research by looking at: wider demographic changes, recent seniors housing delivery, residential pricing, and housing wealth.
Whilst previous versions of this report have shown significant progress, the pace of change has stalled over the last two years. Between 2017 and 2022, there was a 13.5% increase in English local authorities that had both adopted planning policies and allocated sites for seniors housing.
Between 2022 and 2024, the figure has remained static. There was an improvement in the number of local authorities who either had a policy or an allocation, but it is slight – at 1.3% and 3.4% respectively.
This static national picture masks an increasing number of regressions in the data. In our last survey, in 2022, thirteen local authorities had moved backwards when compared to their previous score. In 2024, the number of authorities whose position has regressed over the last two years stands at 34.
Planning remains one of the largest barriers to growth of the seniors housing sector in England. It’s now 2024, seven years since we started running this survey, and a third of local authorities still lack the implementation of policies to deliver housing for seniors, and also, a single site allocation – although this remains an incremental improvement on previous years.
This year’s survey is released in the run up to a general election and at the end of a period of unprecedented political turmoil. Since the last report was published, there has been two changes of Prime Minister, three Secretaries of State at DLUHC, and six Housing Ministers. We have seen the Levelling-Up & Regeneration Act 2023 (LURA) enter the statute books, major amendments made to the NPPF, and the publication of more than a dozen consultations on a wide variety of proposed reforms to the planning system. Against that background, the policy inertia that we have experienced is disappointing, but probably not surprising.
And yet, despite this inertia, a sense of urgency over the need to get behind the sector finally seems to be taking hold. The Older Person’s Housing Taskforce is due to report later this year, and the Government’s support for the sector has been recognised – both in greater recognition in the NPPF itself, but also in the LURA. When brought into effect, LURA will place the Secretary of State under a legal duty to provide detailed guidance on how local authorities should meet the needs of the elderly population.
The introduction of National Development Management Policies will sit alongside (and, in some cases, override) a Council’s Local Plan policies. They have the potential to make a huge difference to the sector and could, if the Government chose, render this research completely redundant.
We are also seeing new entrants and increased activity in the market. Developers, such as Untold Living, are entering the market, and rental products from existing providers are really starting to take hold.
In short, the last two years have been extremely challenging for the sector. However, it is starting to feel as though the supportive policy environment needed for the sector to thrive might, finally, be in reach.
Nicola Gooch
Partner & Planning Specialist Irwin Mitchell nicola.gooch@irwinmitchell.com +44 (0)7747 773 258
Oliver Knight
Partner & Head of Residential Development Research – Knight Frank oliver.knight@knightfrank.com
+44 (0)7468 727 562