Snapshot of progress on the Council Plan

Our Equalities and Human Rights 'snapshot of progress' will be updated every 6 months to provide details of our activity, as we work to deliver the Council Plan; One City, for all.

For our core commitment to health and wellbeing we will improve health and wellbeing and reduce health inequalities, taking a Health in All Policies approach, with good education, jobs, travel, housing, better access to health and social care services and environmental sustainability. We will achieve better outcomes by targeting areas of deprivation, aiming to level opportunity across the city.

Priority actions

Find out more about progress on each priority action related to health and wellbeing:

• Reverse the current trend of widening health inequalities by supporting people manage their health conditions
• Provide access to good health and social care opportunities, training and skills
• Create higher paid jobs and encourage better working conditions
• Encourage healthy travel options to maintain healthy lifestyles
• Support people with additional needs get the right support at the right time
• Improve customer experience across council operations

Priority action: Reverse the current trend of widening health inequalities by supporting people manage their health conditions.

Progress from August 2025 to present:

• Flu vaccination uptake at the end of the season was higher than the previous year among people aged under 65 in at-risk groups and was consistently above the regional average.
• The Healthy Families Service has now launched through our Health Trainer service, offering up to six free, tailored sessions to support families to improve their health and wellbeing. Health Trainers supported 159 people to quit smoking in Q2 2025/26, and the team has been nominated for Medium Team of the Year at the LGC Awards.
• The third Health and Arts Mela was held on Sunday 17 May in Museum Gardens in York city centre, bringing together people from across the world to celebrate culture and focus on their health and wellbeing.
• In July 2025, the Executive considered the next steps in strengthening York's community recovery model, aligned with our commitment to inclusive, person-centred support. This included:
  • approving a £202,000 contract for York in Recovery CIC to lease and manage the Community Recovery Hub for three years, providing a dedicated, stigma-free space for support and peer connection
  • reaffirming York's commitment to the Inclusive Recovery Cities approach, delegating authority to the Director of Public Health and Executive Member to sign the Inclusive Recovery City Vision Statement and oversee improvements across our services

  This work ensures York leads by example in promoting recovery, reducing stigma and making it easier for people with substance use disorders to seek help.

• In October 2025, the Executive approved York's All-Age Autism and ADHD Strategy 2025-2030: A City that Works for All. The strategy was co-produced with people with lived experience, parents, carers, academics and partners, including Healthwatch York and the University of York's neurodiversity research unit.

  Key commitments include:

  • embedding a new standard of inclusion that recognises neurodivergent people as equal but different to neurotypical people
  • ensuring adjustments are made based on need, not diagnosis
  • developing an action plan and opportunities for wider community involvement through the York and North Yorkshire leadership summit work

  The strategy fulfils statutory duties under the National Autism Strategy and strengthens partnership working to improve health and wellbeing outcomes for Autistic people and people with ADHD.

• The Executive has also approved the creation of a York-wide Smoke Control Area (SCA), following public consultation. The new SCA will:
  • reduce harmful emissions, particularly PM2.5, across the whole city
  • provide consistent rules for solid-fuel burning
  • support wider air-quality improvement measures and national emission-reduction targets

  This decision protects public health and ensures a clear, citywide approach to managing smoke emissions.

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Priority action: Provide access to good health and social care opportunities, training and skills.

Progress from August 2025 to present:

• York Learning continues to promote routes into social care and raise awareness of the skills needed to enter this workforce. We offer fully funded Level 2 and Level 3 programmes in adult social care for eligible learners and have developed these to meet the needs of our local community. Around 15% of these learners also progress to a Level 4 or Level 5 qualification in adult social care.
• The Counselling programme also offers high-quality training for counselling pathways, from Level 2 up to practitioner level at Level 4. These pathways support a wide variety of local providers with volunteers, mentors and counsellors.
• York Health and Care Partnership held a health and care recruitment event. A new Skills Plan for York and North Yorkshire was approved by the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority on 8 September.
• We successfully supported pathways into careers in childcare and helped employers in the sector prepare for the government's expansion of free hours funding.
• York Learning has successfully launched a Trailblazer programme supporting unemployed young people aged under 24 with their social and emotional development and mental health, and providing supported pathways back into learning and employment. A parallel offer is also in place for adults who need similar supported routes into work, helping to improve their wellbeing and confidence.
• York Learning has also launched a Trailblazer programme focused on heritage construction skills, which proved highly popular and was oversubscribed.
• We participated in the Supported Interns Programme for 16- to 19-year-olds, with LNER as a partner.

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Priority action: Create higher paid jobs and encourage better working conditions.

Progress from August 2025 to present:

• The York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority awarded us £604,000 in UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) funding and £1,038,250 in Trailblazer funding to help improve economic opportunities across the city. UKSPF focuses on business growth and support, while Trailblazer funding focuses on supporting people to enter or remain in work.
• Work to create higher-paid jobs and improve working conditions continues across the city. As part of the Economic Inactivity Trailblazer programme, seven new projects have recently been launched to support residents who are currently economically inactive into employment. Through the York and North Yorkshire Trailblazer, we are working in partnership with Better Connect to deliver the Wage Subsidy Programme, branded as LEAP (Learn, Earn, Apply, Progress). LEAP provides a wage subsidy to employers in York and North Yorkshire who can offer an economically inactive person a three-month role for 16 hours per week. This gives employers additional resource at no cost while creating valuable opportunities for local people to re-enter the workforce, develop skills and demonstrate social value.

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Priority action: Encourage healthy travel options to maintain healthy lifestyles.

Progress from August 2025 to present:

• Officers continue to work with housing developers and businesses to provide advice on sustainable travel options for residents and employees through the planning process using site-specific Travel Plans.
• A new walking, wheeling and cycling trail is currently under development as part of the Ousewem project, with input from our departments. The trail will highlight flood resilience measures introduced along a section of the River Ouse in recent years and showcase nature-based solutions being delivered to help the city adapt to future changes to the climate.
• Members of our i-Travel team have attended over a hundred events in the past year to give advice on sustainable travel and hand out leaflets and maps. This has included events at the universities, York Hospital, other large employers and summer fetes.
• We continue to offer Bikeability cycle training to all schools in York. In 2024/25, 2,209 children were trained. In the first half of 2025/26, 1,068 children were trained. Urban Cycle Skills training is available for adults and families.
• The York Independent Living and Travel Skills (YILTS) team is one of our initiatives that helps young people aged 11 to 25 with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) gain the confidence to travel independently to school or college. YILTS staff deliver practical travel training sessions for young people on their route from home to school or college, either by walking, cycling or catching a bus. We provide bespoke training sessions designed to meet individual needs and also work within schools and education settings, delivering group travel training and travel confidence sessions.

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Priority action: Support people with additional needs get the right support at the right time.

Progress from August 2025 to present:

• The special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) hub, SEND Central, formally opened in September. This is a flagship Family Hub for young people with SEND aged 0 to 25 and their families. Everyone is welcome to pop in and access information and advice, be signposted to additional support or find out more about the Local Offer, whether or not their child has an Education, Health and Care Plan.
• Consultation on our draft Adult Social Care Strategy for the next three years took place. This strategy sets out commitments, priorities and approaches, reflecting both the challenges ahead and the opportunities to make a real impact by supporting people to live independently, stay safe and well, and access joined-up, person-centred care at the right time. The strategy is available to read online.
• We worked closely with health colleagues on the development of a York Frailty Hub, which was highlighted as an area of good practice in the government's 10-year plan for the NHS. Mental Health Hubs have also been developed, offering a safe, non-judgemental and friendly space to people over the age of 18.
• The York Carers Strategy 2026-2032 sets out how we and our partners will improve the identification, support and involvement of unpaid carers across the city, following extensive engagement with carers and organisations. Developed in response to both the vital role carers play and the areas for improvement highlighted by the recent Care Quality Commission inspection, the strategy provides a coordinated framework for strengthening assessment processes, support pathways and oversight of carers' experiences. Carers, including young carers, were closely involved throughout its development through citywide consultation, the Carers Action Group, the Carers Strategy Group and partner organisations. Their feedback shaped the strategy's priorities, including the need for earlier identification, better access to support, reduced loneliness and isolation, and more joined-up services.

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Priority action: Improve customer experience across council operations.

Progress by September 2025:

• A consultation with the Talk About Panel (a representative panel of York residents who we ask opinions of on council policies and performance) has informed the development of our Managing Customer Relations Policy. The policy outlines expectations for interactions between staff and customers and is based on the recently adopted Poverty Truth Commission Organisational Standards. It recognises the importance of trauma-informed practice, meaning we factor in how people may have been affected by difficult life events in how we engage and work with them. The new policy will be used by officers across all frontline services to support them in approaching challenging interactions, and in deciding when and how to escalate issues appropriately.

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Also see

• Council Plan Annual Progress Report
• Key council strategies
• Council performance and Annual Report