The deadline for nominations has been reset to 30th March 2012. Now that the date of the Awards Celebration has been fixed to 21st May, we can extend the nomination period by another month. Despite the new cost of the nomination packs, orders for them are piling in, and so are the submissions. To date we have received nominations from 223 groups of residents, such as the one on this photo, sent by the residents of Westmead, Barnsley, an extra care scheme managed by South Yorkshire Housing Association Ltd.

01 December 2011, Austin Court, Birmingham

by the National Housing Federation

Older people’s housing and support is everyone’s business, and anyone interested in housing has an interest in older people. Join us at this conference to discuss the important issues that housing associations will face in an ageing society.

More information on the National Housing Federation's website at

http://www.housing.org.uk/events/find_an_event/general/breaking_the_mould_–_supportin.aspx

EAC has devised an entertaining method of consulting the residents of retirement housing. This card-game satisfaction survey informs managers and housing providers on how their residents value their home, the communal facilities, the services they receive and the lifestyle.

The card game involves the residents in small groups as well as individually, giving them the chance to discuss statements and agree on ratings, but also to respond privately.

EAC Provider Reports come in two types:

Type A reports are available for all schemes which were nominated by their residents for the annual National Housing for Older People Awards

Type B reports are the output of specially commissioned consultations

A sample report and a price list are available at http://www.housingcare.org/eac-services.aspx

If more than two or three schemes are involved in type A or type B consultations, the service will include an additional free Provider Aggregate Report.

For more information call 020 7820 1682 or email alex.billeter@eac.org.uk

With 65% more entries than last year these Awards confirm their popularity amongst residents of sheltered and retirement housing schemes.

The data collected from over 3500 residents has allowed us to select the 34 winners if this year's awards. However it does not stop there, these answers will enable us to report to housing providers on the strengths and weaknesses of their schemes, as perceived by their residents, while protecting the residents' confidentiality.

We are working on a provider’s report that will clearly present these results, including regional and national ranking within the many categories.

Our long term ambition is to further increase the award participation and help schemes to focus on the areas that the residents have highlighted. We will also be combining the results with our existing information on  the schemes to identify features that drive residents satisfaction. 

Shaun Brewer

Data Analyst Consultant

The National Federation, which represents England’s housing associations, warns that cuts of 40% to the CLG-funded Supporting People programme, would lead to the loss of home based support for 326,000 older owner-occupiers and pensioners living in sheltered accommodation, to help maintain their independence. The treasury has ordered all government departments to model cuts of 40% in advance of the autumn spending review.

Source: National Housing Federation press release
http://www.housing.org.uk/default.aspx?tabid=212&mid=828&ctl=Details&ArticleID=3275

Elderly Accommodation Counsel (EAC) is pleased to announce the forthcoming launch of new awards for all forms of retirement housing. These awards are supported by the Department for Communities and Local Government, and by the Housing LIN of the DH Care Networks.

For the first time residents of retirement housing, sheltered housing, assisted living, extra care housing, etc, will nominate schemes through a consultation involving them in small groups as well as individually. A deck of cards has been designed to stimulate discussions and help capture satisfaction ratings on design, services, and well-being.

Aims
• Publicly celebrate the best specialist housing for older people
• Engage thousands of residents in identifying what contributes to quality of life in traditional and emerging models of specialist housing provision
• Ensure that older people, families and carers have access to the best possible information
• Help shape the future of housing in later life

The Nomination Packs will be available in September 2009; nominations will be expected by the end of October, and the award ceremony will take place in London in January 2010. Housing providers and managers are asked to obtain Nomination Packs and to encourage their residents to participate. If you know someone in retirement or sheltered housing, please tell them about this opportunity to have a voice and be counted.

For general enquiries and order forms:
EAC Housing Awards, 3rd Floor, 89 Albert Embankment, London SE1 7TP
housingawards@eac.org.uk
Tel 020 7820 3755
www.housingcare.org

Laing and Bussion have published their annual survey of baseline fee rates for older local authority funded care home residents. Their survey found:

• Baseline fee rates will increase by 2.6% for the financial year 2009/2010, down from the last year's increase of 3%
• There is a large degree of variation between local authorities' baseline fee rates in different parts of the country.
• The numbers of residents placed in care homes by local authorities is likely to continue to decline for at least the next year.
• There is evidence of increasing numbers of local authorities using criteria in order to pay higher fees to well performing homes and lower fees to poorly performing ones.
• There is also evidence that local authorities are increasingly applying stricter eligibility critera for their assistance.

The baseline rate is the maximum amount a local authority would usually expect to pay to meet a care home resident's needs. The baseline rate may also be referred to as the local authorities usual cost. These amounts can be increased in certain circumstances. Laing and Buisson are a company that provide data, statistics, analysis and market intelligence on the UK health, community care and childcare sector. Further information about the survey, including how to buy it, is available through the following link. 

http://www.laingbuisson.co.uk/Portals/1/PressReleases/BaselineFees2009_PR.pdf

The Communities and Local Government Committee is undertaking an inquiry into the Government's "Supporting People" programme. Supporting People provides funding for housing-related support for vunerable people, including older tenants and home-owners, through such services as sheltered housing wardens, home improvement agencies and handyperson schemes.

In June 2007, the Government's strategy for the Supporting People programme, "Independence and Opportunity:Our Strategy for Supporting People"outlined four aims

• Keeping people that need services at the heart of the programme;
• Enchancing partnership with the Third Sector;
• Delivering in the new local government landscape;and
• Increasing efficency and reducing bureaucracy

The strategy set out what the Government would do to acheive it's aims and what it expected Supporting People commissioners and providers to do. Also in April this year funding for the Supporting People programme was changed so that Central Government no longer paid a ring-fenced grant to local authorities instead they are now able to spend this money according to their own local priorities.

The Committee is examining the extent to which the Government has delivered on these commitments and also the implications of the removal of the ring fence.The Committee is now taking oral evidence from a number of organisations, such as Age Concern/Help the Aged, who previously made written submissions. You can look at all the evidence before the committee and follow it's progress through the following weblink:

http://www.parliament.uk/parliamentary_committees/clg/clgsphome.cfm

Elderly tenants of Woking Borough Council have made a complaint to the Local Government Ombudsman about the length of time it took to deal with a younger resident who, they say, caused a nuisance and behaved anti-socially for more than two years before he was evicted. The tenants live in Frenchs Wells in Woking. It was originally built for elderly people with first a resident, and then a mobile, warden. In recent years, due to a perceived surplus of elderly people's housing in Woking, Frenchs Wells was re-designated as general needs accommodation and since then allocations have been made to applicants of any age, who were deemed to be in need, and who required one bedroomed accommodation. Some of the younger residents have lifestyles and habits very different from those of the elderly people who have been there for many years.

This is part of a wider picture of what is happening across the UK, as the changes that resulted from, amonst other factors, the move to Supporting People funding in 2003, mean that people do not have to move to sheltered housing to get support. In many areas resident wardens have been replaced by off-site staff or floating support. While this may be beneficial for elderly people who do not want to move to receive support, it can result in sheltered housing being harder to let and resident warden/scheme manager services can become harder to sustain economically. Unless the change of use is handled very sensitively, it can mean stress and misery for the elderly people who remain, and they may have to adapt not just to the loss of their resident warden/scheme manager, but may also find new neighbours do not share their aspirations for a quiet life.

Update February 2009

The Local Government Ombudsman decided that investigation of the complaint should  be discontinued because there did not seem to be evidence of sustained anti-social behaviour which the Council failed to deal with.

On 21 November 2008, I attended in Brussels Better Life Time 2008, the annual conference of the European Network (EAHSA) a section of the International Association of Homes and Services for the Ageing www.iahsa.net , a professional body of providers of services for the elderly and care home industry in particular. 

The event was hosted by the Belgium bank Dexia and SODEXO, a company providing catering and other services for older people in care and health establishments throughout Europe. 

The theme of the conference was Ageing: from worries to opportunities, and reviewed the market under three main topics: Finance, Services and Real Estate.  The presentations (15) were generally good and informative, as was the Panel Discussion that followed it. I hope that the ppt presentations will soon be available on the Internet. 

It is a great pity that only Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, France, Sweden and The Netherlands were represented, and that there was no presentation on the achievements and prospects for this industry in the UK where new developments such as Extra Care Housing seems to be ahead of what is being developed in Europe to meet the housing and care needs of older people. 

Main points made at the conference

Effect of the credit crunch

• Despite the present financial crisis there is optimism that the care industry is alive and well, and that its market offers good opportunities for expansion, and for investors and developers.

• In France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, and also Italy, the building of housing and care homes for older people (mostly for rental) seems much less affected by the credit crunch than in the UK where the housing market is dominated by home ownership.

• The effect of the credit crunch will be felt, not so much because authorities are not ready to invest, but because there will be less money in the public purse. In France, despite the need for more nursing homes, less money is likely to be allocated to this sector.

• In Germany the private sector already is hampered by its inability to borrow money for new projects.

Care services

• On the whole, on the continent, there is not a great deal of price difference between the private and the public sector.

• In France, in particular, this is because all care homes in all sectors are full, so there is no competition.

• In Germany, and probably everywhere else, the public sector models set the standards for the private sector.

• In Europe, governments have to set the conditions, standards of care service for a fast developing private market. The best innovation so far, and likely to take on throughout Europe, is the introduction of individual budget, as now fully operational in the Netherlands (?). This is going to have a considerable influence on the range or services that may have to be developed

• There seems however to be agreement that care at home is the most expensive form of delivery of care to older people

• It was also stated that there was no doubt that extra care housing is cheaper than ‘nursing homes’. This was not discussed, and is certainly not the conclusion in the UK, where people still argue the cost benefits of ECH versus residential care homes let alone nursing home

New developments

• The conference talked much about diversifying, new models of housing with care, yet the care industry seems to continue to bank on the care home model.

• However for Germany, the future of the market lies not in specialised housing, but in lifetime homes and the upgrade.

• It is not difficult to put together and obtain finance for the development of sheltered or care homes, but the essential problem remains: how to guarantee the delivery of services.

• In PPP in particular, local authorities find it difficult give account of what happened to the funds directed to the services provided by private companies.

New areas of growth

• Financial products to help elderly people pay for care