Agenda Item No
The Vale of Glamorgan Council
Scrutiny Committee (Social Care and Health): 16th April
2012
Report of the Director of Social Services
Extra Care Housing
Purpose of the Report
1.
To update Scrutiny Committee regarding the progress made in the
development of Extra Care Housing in the Vale of Glamorgan.
Recommendations
1.
That Scrutiny Committee notes the current position with regard to
Extra Care in the Vale of Glamorgan.
2.
That a further report be submitted to Scrutiny Committee by the
Director of Social Services and the Head of Housing in six months
time.
Reason for the Recommendations
1&2. To ensure effective scrutiny of a key
function undertaken by the Council.
Background
2.
Extra Care Housing can be defined as purpose-built housing which
incorporates access to flexible support and social care services,
including waking night staff. This form of accommodation is very
popular among those living in such schemes for a range of reasons
including:
- their capacity to promote independence
for people within their own home;
- increased opportunities for social
interaction;
- the availability of comprehensive on-site
facilities; and
- a physical environment specifically built
to meet the needs of people with social care needs.
3.
To support local authorities in developing this type of provision,
the Welsh Government made funding available via the Social Housing
Grant. In 2006 a competitive exercise identified Hafod Care
Association as the preferred provider to work with the Vale of
Glamorgan in developing an Extra Care scheme. A joint proposal was
submitted to the Welsh Assembly Government in February 2007 and, in
August 2007, confirmation was received that the bid for Social
Housing Grant had been successful. The submission was based on a
proposal to develop a 40 bed Extra Care scheme in Barry in which
the units would be for rent.
Relevant Issues and Options
4.
The bid for funding was based on a proposal to build the new scheme
at Salisbury Road in Barry. The site is a former children’s home,
now used as office accommodation and a base for the Youth Offending
Service. When the funding was agreed, a more detailed survey of the
site was undertaken. The report concluded that the land available
was not large enough to support the development of a 40 bed unit.
It was agreed, therefore, that an alternative site should be
identified.
5.
In identifying an alternative site, Welsh Government guidelines
were applied. These state that, when choosing the location / site
of an extra care scheme, a local authority and its partner should
have regard to the broad geographical area and site specific
criteria which can include:
- relationship with the community;
- easy access to bus and rail services;
- proximity to retail and leisure services;
- links to existing services for older
people;
- proximity to other older people’s
accommodation;
- easy access to primary care services;
- planning requirements and constraints.
6.
As the bid for funding was predicated on a scheme being developed
in Barry, work to locate an alternative site focused on the same
area. The initial intention was to find a vacant site, given the
range of criteria outlined above, the size of the plot required and
the need to start the scheme as soon as possible. However, it was
not possible to do so until the Theatre Royal site was identified
as a strong option for the Extra Care scheme.
7.
Progress in relation to purchase, demolition and rebuild at the
site has been the responsibility of Hafod. For the following
reasons, there have been delays in the scheme:
- A survey of the site prior to the
purchase of the property identified significant levels of asbestos
within the building and this influenced negotiations with the
vendor.
- The Theatre Royal was owned by private
individuals and the negotiations were complicated by their
particular issues.
- On the recommendation of the Planning
Service and because this is a landmark site in the town, Hafod
referred the plans for the building to the Design Commission for
Wales. Their report was favourable but this did delay the plans
being submitted to the Council for planning permission.
- The need to remove the asbestos from the
site made the tendering process more protracted than originally
planned.
8.
Hafod have confirmed that the contract for developing the site has
now been agreed and they are due to take possession of the site
compound adjacent to the development in April 2012. The contract
duration is anticipated to be 90 weeks. The funding from the Welsh
Government for the scheme is secure.
9.
Establishing additional Extra Care schemes is made more challenging
by the fact that the Welsh Government is not willing to make a
commitment to further funding until it has outcomes from research
being done to evaluate current facilities. The independent sector
is interested in funding various forms of ‘accommodation with care’
options, including older people villages and Extra Care. However,
these accommodation units are intended primarily for purchase by
those who have considerable assets and any growth in schemes is
limited by difficulties in getting bank loans, selling the
properties currently occupied, etc.
10. In this difficult
context, the Social Services Directorate has taken a lead within
the South East Wales Improvement Collaborative (SEWIC) to explore
the opportunities for a regional approach to developing Extra Care
and other accommodation with care options. SEWIC has chosen this
area of work as one of its five priority workstreams (albeit one
with a longer lead-in time than others), with the Director of
Social Services from the Vale of Glamorgan as the responsible
officer. A project development officer has been seconded from
Rhondda Cynon Taf CBC. She has already done considerable work to
inform a scoping paper and an analysis of current provision within
the ten local authorities. This is attached at Appendix
1.
11. An important
conference was held in March, sponsored by SEWIC, the Welsh
Government, the Social Services Improvement Agency and the Older
People’s Academic Network based in Swansea University. It brought
together representatives from a wide range of organisations to
exchange information and to explore what constitutes best practice.
The next task for SEWIC is to discuss an Extra Care Business Case
paper which contains the following Strengths, Weaknesses,
Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis of Extra Care as an
accommodation option.
Strengths
- An additional supportive model to maximise
the independence of older people.
- Ability to meet social care and housing needs
in a supportive and enabling manner where the care is provided with
the purpose and focus of enabling socialisation – widows in
particular are noted to have reduced social isolation within the
schemes.
- Schemes can add to community regeneration,
intergenerational work and add to community resources.
- A developing model with the ability to
provide an alternative to traditional services when tailored to
meet demands, needs and fit to local communities.
Weaknesses
- No proven cost savings benefits to social
services.
- Current models in Wales are not meeting the
needs of either the physically or cognitively frail elderly as well
as home care or residential provisions.
- A lack of health engagement in the current
work within the region.
- The fit to unified assessment / care
programme approach and supporting people assessments and tailoring
care packages to meet individual needs – the fit with direct
payments and personal budgets.
Opportunities
- Meeting niche client category needs such as
older people with a learning disability or younger people with a
dementia (in particular those with Korsakoff's syndrome).
- Working with
health to secure capital and revenue, such as CHC funding, funding
in recognition of the prevention agenda, co-location of services or
savings from off-setting delivery costs.
- Developing a
hub for specialist services for older people.
- Training and
skill building with extra care staff and social work staff could
increase current ability to meet higher care needs.
- If linked to Communities First agendas and
areas, developing schemes as wider community resources could meet
multiple needs.
- Working with
health, housing strategy and planning, housing associations and UK
wide not-for-profit organisations focused on supporting older
people to encourage the development of mixed tenured or privately
rented retirement villages inclusive of extra care.
Threats
- Reduced revenue and capital funding available
to local authorities.
- Welfare reform altering the level and
distribution of housing benefit and council tax benefit –
additional changes under Universal Credit and Personal Independence
Payments replacing incapacity based benefits could reduce
individuals’ income streams.
- A lack of long term cost analysis limits the
ability to project any savings forward.
12. More work is needed
to develop a better understanding of specific needs within each
local authority, current and future, and the Welsh Government is
willing to consider providing some funding for this purpose. This
would facilitate decisions about the best possible combination of
regional and local approaches that will reduce ‘front end’ costs;
reinforce the power of local authorities in their contact with the
market and link extra care housing developments to wider service
modernisation strategies.
Resource Implications (Financial and Employment and Climate
Change, if appropriate)
13. The Social Housing
Grant from the Welsh Government will provide 58% of the capital
funding required to build the facility on the Theatre Royal
site. The remaining 42% of the cost of the development will
be funded by Hafod Care Association through its existing borrowing
arrangements. The Welsh Government has confirmed that the funding
is still available to support this development.
14. The development will
provide 40 units for rent. Accommodation charges will be funded
from rental and service charge income. Care services will be
provided and coordinated through community care budgets. It is
anticipated that the cost of these packages will be less than the
alternative support offered currently through residential care
packages.
Legal Implications (to Include Human Rights Implications)
15. The partnership
arrangement with Hafod will have to be formalised.
Crime and Disorder Implications
16. There are no crime
and disorder implications as a direct result of this report.
Equal Opportunities Implications (to include Welsh Language
issues)
17. There are no Equal
Opportunity implications as a direct result of this report.
Corporate/Service Objectives
18. This development
meets the Corporate objective “to make the Vale a safe, healthy and
enjoyable place in which individuals can live their lives to the
full”.
Policy Framework and Budget
19. This is a matter for
Executive decision.
Consultation (including Ward Member Consultation)
20. Consultation events
were held by Hafod in relation to this development before
submission of the planning application.
Relevant Scrutiny Committee
21. Social Care and
Health
Background Papers
Cabinet report, 20th February
2008
Contact Officer
Carys Lord, Head of Business Management and
Innovation
Officers Consulted
Tony Jaques, Head of Housing
Responsible Officer:
Philip Evans, Director of Social Services