Older People's Equality Panel


About Greater Manchester’s Equality Panels

Greater Manchester Equality Panels have been established to advise, support and challenge Greater Manchester’s political leaders and policy-makers to tackle the discrimination and disadvantage that cause injustice and inequality in society, and champion Greater Manchester as an inclusive city-region. They do this by working together with the GMCA and partners to:

  • Provide insight into Greater Manchester’s diverse communities, enabling political leaders and public bodies to listen and engage in a more targeted and effective way
  • Communicate key messages to our communities as trusted sources
  • Codesign policies, programmes and strategies to ensure they work effectively for communities
  • Support an asset-based approach, highlighting new opportunities (and challenges) for positive collaboration that build on the resources and strengths within our communities

The Older People’s Equality Panel is one of seven equality panels established and funded by the GMCA. Other equality panels include:

Aims of the Older People’s Equality Panel

The Greater Manchester Older People’s Equality Panel (OPEP) was set up in March 2022 and its first meeting was held in April 2022. 

The OPEP works to champion the voices and experiences of older people in Greater Manchester and provide opportunities for them to feed into the development of policies and decision-making of GMCA.

The OPEP’s work comprises of:

  • Advising the Mayor and GMCA on key issues and concerns of older people, and help to provide and influence solutions
  • Providing a critical voice and scrutinise the work of the Mayor and GMCA
  • Undertaking specific pieces of work and focussing on particular issues or projects on an ad-hoc basis.

Membership

The initial phase of recruitment to the OPEP was held in March 2022. The first membership of the OPEP then met in April 2022.

All current members sit as individuals, rather than representatives from organisations. The latest memberships can be found on Greater Manchester Older People's Network (GMOPN) website.

  • Steve Sherry- Bolton
  • Lucette Tucker- Bury
  • Samantha Days- Manchester
  • John Armstrong- Manchester
  • Gita Conn- Manchester
  • Anna Hughes- Manchester
  • Yuen Megson- Manchester
  • Amy Muthra Shah- Manchester
  • Nakib Narat- Manchester
  • Hazel Roy- Manchester
  • Andrew Gregori- Oldham
  • Elizabeth Lynskey- Rochdale
  • Joy Watson- Salford
  • Erica Woods- Salford
  • Jan Kitching- Stockport
  • Damayanti Patel- Tameside
  • Dorretta Maynard- Trafford
  • TBC -Wigan

Recruitment efforts will continue until there are members from every borough. A second phase of recruitment will also be carried out and will involve identifying representation gaps on the Panel.

Contact

For further information on the OPEP, please contact John Mulvenna, facilitator of the OPEP at Macc, by either:

Further information

Older People's Equality Panel Annual Report 2022 (Word, 409KB)

Actions for autumn 2022 (word, 56KB)

GM Older Peoples Panel Annual Report 2022-2023.docx

GM Older Peoples Panel Annual Report 2023-2024 (PDF, 358 KB)