People aged 55+ make up 15% of the population in Burmantofts. More than half of younger older people in Leeds (aged 50 – 70) are balancing work with unpaid caring responsibilities.

Many of the people we support live in extreme poverty, and have lived and worked in Burmantofts, particularly at the now closed Burton’s factory site and St James Hospital, their entire lives.

Some of our older members are from a generation where leaving school aged ten to enter work and support their family’s income was common, meaning that we have a significant group of older people who cannot read or write and need intensive support with understanding and managing bills, benefits and health related correspondence. Some older members of the community have learning difficulties and struggle to live independently.

Burmantofts is a culturally diverse inner-city area, with significant African Caribbean, Irish, Polish, Romanian, South Asian, and North African communities.

The age range of Burmantofts residents is polarised, the two largest age groups being young adults and older people.

Burmantofts has a high unemployment rate.

More than half of local residents are non-white British.1 in 3 local residents were born outside of the UK and 42% of local people have a first spoken language other than English; over 100 languages are spoken in the community most notably Polish, Romanian and Arabic (Leeds Observatory, 2020).

In Leeds 1 in 6 households are single people aged 65+ living alone (State of Ageing in Leeds Report 2021).
Social isolation for older people in LS9 has always been an issue, but since the pandemic most members, particularly those aged 80+ tell us they rarely leave the house. Over half of those who regularly attend our lunch club say it’s the only time they leave the house each week. After being isolated at home alone for much of 2020/21, the older people we work with tell us they don’t feel confident enough to leave the house, are worried about mobility problems, the risk of catching norovirus and the high rates of crime in the areas.
Some of our members are housebound due to long term conditions, and rely on outreach and telephone support to manage:

“I visit a lady regularly who is bed bound due to a stroke, and when we first started working with her, she told us if she could get out of bed she would end her life. It’s really hard to imagine just how lonely some of these older people are and without home visits and telephone befriending many of them would have no support or contact at all other than essential care visits.”
Kelly, Outreach and Digital Engagement Worker

“The biggest challenge we see in our members is loneliness, some of them have lived in Burmantofts for 90 odd years. The area has changed, they’ve lost family or family have moved away, and some of them really do live on the poverty line.”
Sheila, Services Coordinator

“There is a lot of crime in this area, and a high population of older people living alone. Older people in the area don’t want to bother the police, or don’t know how to contact the police but many of them are really afraid to leave the house.”
PCSO Gareth Park

“I lost my husband, and when it happened, my life was just gone.
I don’t go to the local shops without one of my sons with me because of the crime rates. I’m worried I’m an easy target for criminals as I’m not steady on my feet. I don’t really leave the house unless there’s someone with me. I’m worried about getting hurt and robbed.”

Rita, 95, Member

National Lottery Reaching Communities funds projects and organisations that work to make a positive difference in their community. BCF has been granted multi-year funding to support and expand our work around volunteering and new activities and groups much match the unique make up of Burmantofts.

BCF started working with Sky Time to Care community team from late 2022 after being contacted and invited to a Christmas celebration event run by the Leeds store team. Since this initial collaboration Sky have provided BCF with weekly volunteers at our digital help groups, befriending telephone calls where Sky staff call isolated BCF members for a chat and chinwag, and party events where Sky staff make a fuss of our members and support them to have an enjoyable time. Sky have even given BCF 3 years free Wi-Fi for public use, allowing us to become a digital health hub for the local community to use.