Sitra bulletin no 5 2014 published

www.sitra.org

bulletinTHE MAGAZINE FOR HOUSING WITH HEALTH, CARE AND SUPPORT 2014 – NO.5

BuildingBridges When is an old

tenancy new?

Inspirationarising fromgreat despair

The Revolutionwill beimprovised

Digital inclusionfor older people

Beyond fourwalls

One-pageprofiles

expertise, training & consultancy inhousing with health, care & support

02 bulletin 2014 No.5 www.sitra.org

Contents03 CEO’s Comment

04 In America, we found inspiration arising from great despairIn May this year, a group of managers from St Mungos Broadway took part in a studyexcursion for the charity’s “emergent leaders”, to see how homelessness servicesoperate in the USA. The trip was generously funded by the London Housing Foundation.Kirsty Telford reports.

06 The Revolution will be improvisedDebbie Sorkin reports on how Systems Leadership projects around the country arebringing together housing and care providers, commissioners and service users in orderto integrate services.

08 Building bridges: Housing and health partnership to tackle alcohol misuseAs part of the strategic partnership between National Housing Federation and PublicHealth England, Lynne Livsey of NHF and Alex Fleming of PHE discuss the role ofhousing organisations in meeting needs around alcohol misuse.

10 Active Online: Digital inclusion for older peopleHelen Rowe, Research and Innovation Lead at Viridian Housing, and Kelly Klein, CEO ofStudent@Home, talk digital inclusion: the importance of pilot schemes, and usingtechnology to tackle social isolation, illiteracy and undiagnosed dementia.

12 Beyond four wallsMartin Mellors, Head of Supported Housing at GreenSquare Group, discusses howadjustments to job roles in older people’s services can improve health and wellbeing.

13 One-page profiles in Casa SupportSitra’s intern Luke Smith shares key learning from his visit to Casa Support that havebeen using one-page profiles as part of their personalised support offer.

14 Live Case StudiesSitra’s Training Manager Stephanie Hill discusses ‘Live Case Studies’, a fresh approach totraining which enables participants to learn through illustration and experience.

15 When is an old tenancy new?Sitra’s Roselee Molloy answers members’ questions about actions to follow when a fixedterm tenancy lapses into a statutory periodic tenancy.

16 Commissioning for choice and controlSitra’s Burcu Borysik reports from the recent scoping study looking into currentstrategies and practices in commissioning personalised housing related support.

17 Universal Credit Sitra's Geoffrey Ferres brings members up to date with the snails' pace roll out of theUniversal Credit.

20 Sitra Training

Cover Story

BuildingBridges

ContributorsTo discuss advertising opportunities within the bulletin,please email [email protected] contact the editor please email [email protected] and queriesIf you have any comments, queries or suggestions, a letterfor publication or wish to submit a news story or articleplease contact us via one of the methods opposite.

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Sitra StaffChief ExecutiveVic RaynerDeputy Chief ExecutiveLisa HarrisonPolicy OfficersGeoffrey FerresRoselee MolloyLauren SadlerPolicy and Research Co-ordinatorsDani CohenBurcu Borysik

Training and Events Manager Stephanie HillContracts OfficersAnna RobertsonWendy GreenBusiness SupportLana LewisSarah Pink (Maternity leave)Head of Finance & Central ServicesBerihu Mohammed

EU Funding and Finance OfficerRay NaickerFinance AssistantSharelle HuntOffice Co-ordinatorGill CottonCentral SupportMonica AntolinMembership Co-ordinatorRory Desch

expertise, training & consultancy inhousing with health, care & support

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03THE MAGAZINE FOR HOUSING WITH CARE, HEALTH AND SUPPORT

CEO’s Comment

Live and learn...

Vic RaynerChief ExecutiveEmail: [email protected]

Keep up to date with our BlogKeep up with developments and add to the debate at Sitra CEO’s blog at www.sitraceo.wordpress.com

About Sitra

Sitra is a membership organisation championing excellence in housing with health, care and support.

Membership benefits include discounts on all services and events, access to free advice, an annual subscription to the bulletinand regular briefings on key policy developments in the sector. Sitra works with local and central government to ensure thatthe needs of its members are recognised, understood and met by resource providers. If you would like to join Sitra pleasecontact the Membership Administrator on 020 7793 4710 and ask for an application form, or download one fromwww.sitra.orgContent ©2014 SITRA (Services) Ltd except where stated, All right reserved. All images © individual photographers & illustrators. Opinions expressed by individuals writers are notnecessarily those of Sitra or the magazine’s Editorial Team. E&OE. Design: Aquatint BSC 020 8947 8571 www.aquatint.co.uk

We have entered the season of party conferences and the early stages of Election 2015 fever.As pundits around the UK produce digests and analysis of what the party speeches ‘really’mean, the Bulletin gives you a flavour of how adept our sector is at transforming rhetoric toreality by sharing great content on putting learning into practice.

The US is attributed with leading the way in changing significant sections of the UK charitableand homelessness practice. We often look to the States to identify new approaches tofundraising, innovations in delivery and research. The London Housing Foundation iscommitted to supporting learning from other people and other societies, and our first articlelooks at the experience of six ‘emergent leaders’ from St Mungo’s Broadway who travelledon a study tour to both Portland and San Francisco. The lessons learned are incrediblypoignant, highlighting the very tight balancing act between inspiration and beingoverwhelmed by the scale of the homelessness in the cities they visited.

The UK has it’s own fair share of balancing acts, and Debbie Sorkin of the Leadership Centretalks about how Systems Leadership can be applied to achieving engagement and success inthe local vision. Housing is one of the solutions, and systems leadership proponents areencouraging our sector to get round the table with other strategic leaders to learn and shareresponses to ‘wicked’ issues. Read about how housing associations have been engaged inintegration and drives to improve health and wellbeing.

We have huge amounts to learn from the success of our members in taking forward newways of working. Tackling loneliness and isolation of older people regularly hits the headlines,and it is great to hear about ways in which Viridian and Greensquare have changed theiroffering to meet this need. I particularly enjoy the contrast between the stories showing howdifferent strategies – one focussing on technology, the other on workforce – can create acommon set of outcomes – around engagement, independence and connection.

Sitra has taken the ‘live and learn’ mantra to a new level with the introduction of our newtraining offering – Live Case Studies. These fantastic co produced and co –delivered sessionsare led by co trainers with lived experience breathing new life into the core learning. This fastpaced interactive learning sessions show how important our ongoing commitment tocoproduction is, and how much we all gain from taking a fresh look at old challenges.

It feels like a lot of my time is spent talking to other parts of the public sector about howmuch housing related support has to contribute to their agendas, so it is refreshing to havesome input from Public Health England, sharing news of resources that housing staff can pickup to support their work with people with alcohol problems. Sharing research and evidencearound the impact of prevention is critical.

Finally, we provide you with a couple of updates on information you need to know! Sitra iskeeping a close eye on development in the welfare reform debate, and this latest copy bringsnews of the continuing roll out of Universal Credit. It also focusses in on tenancies –highlighting recent case law and the implications for members.

“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stopquestioning.” Albert Einstein


Choosing our destinationsOur group settled on the twodestinations of Portland, Oregonand San Francisco, California. Bothcities were known for having largehomeless populations, were hometo innovative, specialist andgrassroots organisations and wereworking hard to fulfil their 10 yearhomelessness strategies, despitebeing in the grips of a housingcrisis.

Overwhelmed by the reality‘Despite San Francisco having apopulation one tenth of the size ofLondon’s, the 2013 official street

count showed on just one nightthere were 4,315 “unsheltered”adults and youth, compared to 543in London’

Rough sleepers seem such a‘normal’ part of the community thatwe saw families eating their picnicon a bench next to someonebedded down and children scootingaround people asleep on the floor,with needles abandoned in thecracks in the pavement. Even thoseof us who work directly withhomeless people wereoverwhelmed by the stories, livingconditions and the sheer scale ofthe issue, along with the terrible

sadness of seeing so many peopleopenly suffering with undiagnosedand untreated physical and mentalhealth conditions.

Being given a roof was notenoughPermanent housing in Single RoomOccupancy hostels (SROs) was themost common option for housingfor individuals and families, but weheard stories of low qualitystandards in these properties,which were built more than acentury ago and were in desperateneed of modernisation. There is noone to advocate for improving theirliving conditions and public actionappear to be the only way thatrogue landlords were shamed intocarrying out much needed repairs.

The trip gave us a valuableopportunity to compare with theUK’s supported housing approach,that is tailored for specific needsgives opportunity for people tomove ‘onwards and upwards’ asthey recover from homelessness.We are also proud of the thinkingbehind ‘Places of Change’ and‘Psychologically InformedEnvironments’.

Despite the challenges, wesaw a great deal of hope –and community was vitalBoth cities showed the importanceof community ownership andconcern for the homeless peoplein their area. We saw the conceptof ‘neighbour in need’ as a strongstrand throughout most of thecharity work and were inspiredby the sheer volume of volunteerswho gave their time, passionand energy to help. One charity,St Anthony’s, was proud to bea central part of the Tenderloinand had branded lamppostswith their flags throughout theneighbourhood. We saw thateveryone and everything wasappreciated as having a value anda role while the leading charitiesemployed over 50% of their staffwith ‘lived experience’.

Grassroots servicesThere were also strong activistgroups in both Portland and SanFrancisco, usually led by people

In May this year, a group of managers from St MungosBroadway took part in a study excursion for the charity’s“emergent leaders”, to see how homelessness servicesoperate in the USA. The trip was generously funded by theLondon Housing Foundation. Kirsty Telford reports.

In America, we foundinspiration arisingfrom great despair

32


with lived experience ofhomelessness and/or other supportneeds. These groups often had aclear political mission e.g. toachieve a Homeless Bill of Rights,to prevent evictions etc.; and weredirected by their membership withgreat community support behindthem. The use of peer advocacyand client involvement wascommon and several groups hadestablished encampments, tentcities and designated daytimesleeping areas for rough sleepers.

Fundraising and leadershipThe majority of the charities wesaw sought operational fundingthrough fundraising, corporatephilanthropy and grants. They alsoplaced a high value on gifts inkind, pro bono support andvolunteering. We saw thatachieving sustainable privatefunding had an enviable positiveimpact on a charity’s ability toinnovate and be creative accordingto client need, particularly inhelping them “ride the wave”during challenging economictimes. In the best charities, wefound dynamic, engaged andmotivated leaders, from thetrustees and chief executives,right through to project managers,who were able to distil theircharity’s aims and ambitions injust a sentence or two.

Three inspirationalprojects to guide andinform our work in theUK

The Homeless Pre-NatalProgrammeIn San Francisco, The HomelessPre-natal Programme was aunique service that does not existin the UK. Entering, youimmediately felt the positivewelcoming atmosphere. Staffworked with pregnant homelesswomen, including those withsubstance use and mental healthissues, to access treatment, boostconfidence, help women believethey can be good mothers and toincrease their chances of keepingtheir child. Importantly, they alsofocused on their work with fathers.

City Library Social WorkerProgrammeWe believe that the number ofhomeless people using publicspaces such as libraries, churchesand parks is an area our charityshould look at more closely toenable us to support the hiddenhomeless. The City Library socialworker programme employed asocial worker to support roughsleepers using the library as aplace of safety, alongside a teamof people with lived experience,to help them address their needsand refer them into housing.

Buried in Treasures ProjectMany of the people we helpstruggle with hoarding tendencies,which can lead to health and safetyissues in their home, or put themat risk of eviction by landlords.The Buried in Treasures project putthe power back in the hands of theclient, with support from peers, tohelp them recognise their hoarding,minimise risk and equip them with

the tools to manage in the longterm. Meeting John Franklin, theproject coordinator, helped us toreflect how we as a charity can feeldisempowered when dealing withpeople who ‘struggle with stuff’:Hoarding, accumulating, acquiring...the labels to describe thebehaviour, come with a real stigmaattached. John explained how atargeted service is needed with hismantra ‘Nothing aboutus without us!’

What next?We are grateful to the LHF forthis chance to gain a freshperspective and want to bringour learning from the trip to StMungo’s Broadway. As a newlyformed peer group, and asindividuals in our own right, wewere deeply affected by thesadness we witnessed. What wesaw, learnt and felt in America willbe our motivation as we start toshape and influence the work ofour own charity.

The London Housing Foundation funds managersfrom homelessness organisations in London to travelto other countries and cultures to see how they dealwith homelessness.

Margaret Malcolm, Acting Director, LHF

Why do we do this?

Our view is that learning from other people and other societiesis always useful. By understanding a different situation, withdistinct and specific problems, and seeing how people dealwith them, will always equip us to tackle our own problemsbetter.We also believe that it is a good investment to develop youngmanagers. As you can see from Kirsty’s account, impact ofseeing first-hand what happens in the USA was both shockingand inspirational. New ideas are developed, new skills sharedand new initiatives born. We hope St Mungos Broadway willbring about change and provide positive challenge to theirorganisation.

If you are interested in applying for a personaldevelopment grant, go to our website at

http://www.lhf.org.uk/personal-development-grants-and-bursaries


providers being significantly cutback, in some cases to the extentthat housing associations havewalked away from local authoritycontracts, as they feel unable toprovide the quality of care they wantwith the funding available.

The funding cuts have coincidedwith a much greater emphasis onservice integration and redesign:integrated services, based aroundthe person using care and support,are at the heart of the Care Act, andthe evidence for integrated servicesproviding better outcomes for peoplehas been clear from recent studies .

But there are major structural,cultural and financial barriers tointegrating social care and health.Financial incentives and funding

mechanisms aredifferent.

Debbie Sorkin reports on how Systems Leadership projects around the country arebringing together housing and care providers, commissioners and service users inorder to integrate services.

Housing Associations that alsoprovide care and support will be onlytoo familiar with funding pressures inlocal authorities. In its recent survey,the Association of Directors of AdultSocial Services estimated that since2010, local authority adult social caredepartments had had to makesavings of 26% in their budgets –the equivalent of £3.53 billion overthe last four years.

Aside from leading to a radicalreduction in the number of peopleeligible for local authority carefunding – the National Audit Officeestimated in March that 87% of theadult population lived in localauthorities that only provided careservices to those with substantial

needs or higher – thelast four years havealso seen fee levelsfor care

Health care is free at the point ofdelivery, and costs for acute care arecalculated on a tariff, or episode,basis. Social care is not free and forlocal authorities, is effectivelymeans-tested. And many housingassociations will have first-handexperience of the structural dividesthat make them feel they are oftenon the outside looking in as far asdecision-making around integration isconcerned, even though it is thehousing associations that are best-placed, through local knowledge andsector expertise, to ease thepressures on the acute hospitals intheir area.

So there are a number of ways inwhich health and social care have

been piloting new ways ofworking, to bring servicestogether for the benefit of

service users and to

The Revolution willbe improvised:New approaches to bringing togetherhousing, health and social care

The Revolution willbe improvised:New approaches to bringing togetherhousing, health and social care


support more efficient, and effective,use of resources.

One of these ways has been throughusing Systems Leadershipapproaches.

Systems Leadership describes thekind of leadership you use whenyou’re seeking to lead acrossorganisational boundaries – so whenyou go beyond your own service ororganisation and interact with others,often with very different prioritiesand points of view.

It describes the way you need towork when you face large, complex,difficult and seemingly intractableproblems; where you need to jugglemultiple uncertainties; where no oneperson or organisation can find ororganise the solution on their own;where everyone is grappling withhow to make resources meetdemand which is outstripping them;and where the way forwardtherefore lies in involving as manypeople’s energies, ideas, talents andexpertise as possible. It takesworking with uncertainty, andambiguity, is a given, and it’sexpected that people will experimentwith different methods andprocesses as a result.

Systems Leadership is thereforeparticularly useful when you’relooking to integrate services, and tore-design them around the person, ata time when you have less moneythan you need and moreexpectations than you can copewith. In other words, it’s leadershipfor our times.

Alongside identifying a researchbase, a group of nationalorganisations, spanning social care,health care and public health, haveput in place a new initiative to trySystems Leadership approaches inpractice. This initiative, which isalready involving social careproviders, is called SystemsLeadership – Local Vision.

Systems Leadership – Local Vision iscurrently funding 25 projects aroundthe country. The aim of theseprojects is to develop SystemsLeadership at local level, to createnew ways of working in support ofdelivering integrated services, and toachieve measurable improvementsin health, care and wellbeing. Themain criterion is that progress on anissue needs to involve differentsectors.

The current projects cover a broadrange of issues, and a numberdirectly involve housing associations.

So in Kent, housing associationshave come together with the localauthority and NHS Trusts to developnew approaches to integratedcommissioning, with large-scale‘open space’ events bringingproviders, commissioners, serviceusers and carers together to shapewhat future services should look like.In Birmingham, associations havebeen integral to a SystemsLeadership project around ‘HealthyVillages’ – a community asset-basedapproach that is using a range ofmechanisms to achieve

improvements in people’s health andwellbeing. And housing associationshave been part of wider public healthinitiatives linked to SystemsLeadership, such as projects inCornwall and The Wirral to alleviatethe rise in food poverty, not leastamongst older and vulnerablepeople.

Initial findings from the projects havebeen published in a recent report,The Revolution will be Improvised.Although the projects haveproceeded at different speeds, thereis emerging evidence of providers,including housing associations, beinginvolved earlier in discussions aroundintegration, and becoming centrallyinvolved, rather than being consultedlate in the day or not at all.

Increasingly, providers are findingthemselves in a position where theyneed to work alongside others suchas the local authority, ClinicalCommissioning Group, Health andWellbeing Boards, in thesecircumstances systems leadershipmay be the key to enabling everyoneto work together to achieve the bestoutcomes.

Further reading

Systems Leadership: Exceptional leadership for exceptional times.Synthesis Paper www.virtualstaffcollege.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/VSC_Synthesis_complete.pdf

The Revolution will be Improvised http://www.localleadership.gov.uk/docs/Revolution%20will%20be%20improvised%20publication%20v3.pdf

More information about systems leadership and the systems leadershipprogrammes, can be found at www.localleadership.gov.uk.

Details of how to apply for funding for new Systems Leadership –Local Vision projects can be found at www.localleadership.gov.uk/place/lvinvitation/

Debbie Sorkin is National Director of Systems Leadership at theLeadership Centre. Email: [email protected]

1 ADASS Budget Survey Report 2014, July 20142 Adult Social Care in England: Overview: NAO, March 20143 See, for example, The European Observatory’s Policy Study, what is the evidence on the

economic impacts of integrated care, WHO 2014


Alcohol is an everyday part of Britishlife; but our drinking habits andcheap booze cost us dearly. Alcoholis the second leading cause ofpremature death after tobacco1, withan estimated cost to the nationaleconomy of £21 billion each year.Alcohol is linked to more than amillion hospital admissions annually;47% of violent crime2; 39% ofdomestic violence incidents3, and anestimated 2.5 million children areliving in households affected byadults’ hazardous drinking4.

Housing organisations deals withalcohol related operational problemson a daily basis, including anti-socialbehaviour, property neglect and rentarrears, as well as increasingsupport needs to address domesticviolence and safeguarding. Housingproviders, serving the mostdisadvantaged communities aredisproportionately affected by theincreasing problems in health and

As part of the strategic partnership between National Housing Federation and PublicHealth England, Lynne Livsey of NHF and Alex Fleming of PHE discuss the role ofhousing organisations in meeting needs around alcohol misuse.

Well-managed, suitable housingpromotes wellbeing, while poorlymanaged, insecure housing orhomelessness damages people’shealth.

This was the key message inMichael Marmot’s seminal reportFair Society, Healthy Lives. Marmoturges collaboration betweengovernments, the third sector andmarkets to tackle the differences inhousing conditions to address healthinequalities. Now, NHS England andCCGs are legally required to improvethe health of the poorest, thefastest. The time is right to promoteactive collaboration betweenhousing and health. This paper willexplore how to move away fromtreating health and housing asseparate islands, with differentfunding, and commissioningarrangements, language andexplore, using ‘alcohol misuse’ as acase study.

wellbeing, literally from cradle tograve.

Alcohol: the housing andhealth response

Reducing alcohol related harm is ahigh priority for public health and webelieve the housing workforce playsa key role in delivering interventionsand preventing harm to people andcommunities.

Many housing associations arealready using their neighbourhoodpresence and facilities to reachpopulation groups at risk of alcoholrelated harm.

� In Middlesbrough, ThirteenHousing Group is establishing anetwork of community hubs tooffer a range of information andhealth promotion activities,including breakfast and lunch

Building bridges:Housing and health partnershipto tackle alcohol misuse

Building bridges:Housing and health partnershipto tackle alcohol misuse


clubs for people who may notbe eating properly because ofproblems with debt andsubstance misuse. Thesecommunity based activitiesprovide safe environments forpeople in recovery, and theirfamilies, offering access tostructured, specialist help andadvice, as well as routes intovolunteering and training, and insome cases apprenticeships andemployment.

� Gentoo in Sunderland havespecially trained outreach workersto support people at risk of losingtheir homes because of alcoholand drug dependency.

� St. Vincent’s housing associationprovide a pregnancy supportproject in Bolton that linksexpectant mothers to appropriatesources of help and supportwhere substance misuse is anissue.

Key messages forhousing

1. Engage with Public Health and

build awareness of housing’s

health offer

Housing and housing supportproviders in every local authorityarea should strategically engagewith health partners via Healthand Wellbeing Boards to ensuretheir contribution to public healthplans around alcohol arerecognised and fully integrated.The ideal time for this is when theboards are assessing their needsand priorities for the year(s) aheadand are preparing their JointStrategic Needs Assessmentsand Joint Health and WellbeingStrategies.

Providers should engage withexisting data around substancemisuse and use this evidenceto plan and deliver theirinterventions in conjunction withpublic health and local treatmentteams. We advise not to assumeprior knowledge of your servicesand accommodation and frameyour offer in a language thatchimes with local public health

priorities. For example, you candemonstrate how risky drinkingbehaviours among your clientsare reduced and to what extentthe repeated A&E visits areprevented.

2. Addressing health and

wellbeing in the housing

workforce

Providers can design and delivereffective workforce health andwellbeing strategies for staff aswell as clients. Evidence showsthat, when organisations improvetheir working environments byorganising work in ways thatpromote health and wellbeing, alladverse health-related outcomes,including absence and injuries,decrease. There is a strongbusiness case for creating ahealthy workplace5 and it showsyour organisation’s commitmentto health and wellbeing.

3. Mobilise the housing workforce

Neighbourhood management andhousing support teams provide astrong position to identify peopleexperiencing problems withalcohol misuse. Training front-linehousing staff to deliver‘Identification and Brief Advice’(IBA) can make a difference. IBAsare brief interventions whichtypically involve:

� Identification: using avalidated screening tool toidentify ‘risky’ drinking

� Brief Advice: the delivery ofshort, structured ‘brief advice’aimed at encouraging riskydrinkers to reduce theirconsumption to lower risklevels

IBAs are a very well-evidencedprevention approach, designed tohelp at-risk drinkers make aninformed choice about theirdrinking. They can be initiated byfront-line housing workersopportunistically, i.e. as part of ageneral discussion on health andwellbeing, rather than a specificsuspicion of heavy drinking. IBA’sare cheap, effective, simple andquick to deliver (5-10 minutes).Research shows that competentlydelivered IBA’s lead to at least 1 in8 ‘at-risk’ drinkers reducing theiralcohol consumption to lower-risklevels. Helping to reduce weeklydrinking by between 13% and34%. Even a reduction from 50 to42 units of alcohol (the equivalentto 14 pints of strong beer, or 14large glasses of wine) per weekreduces the relative risk ofalcohol-related illness bysome 14%.

Front-line housing staff can alsosupport alcohol dependent clientsto access appropriate help andadvice, and thereby potentially helpmake a significant difference totheir health outcomes. It isimportant they are well supportedand confident to make this offer.Screening and referral protocolsshould be in place betweenhousing and treatment services,with appropriate support providedby local alcohol services.

There are easy to follow e-learningpackages freely available to helptrain your staff to deliver IBA (seeAlcohol Learning Centre’s AlcoholIBA e-Learning course http://www.alcohollearningcentre.org.uk/eLearning/IBA/); and local alcoholtreatment services and publichealth teams may be able to offerpractical support.

11 Department of Health, Chief Medical Officer’s Annual Report, 2011. Chapter 3: risk factors, published in November2012:https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/141774/CMO_Annual_Report_2011_Chapter_3.pdf.

2 According to the 2011/12 Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW), victims believed the offender(s) to be underthe influence of alcohol in around half (47%) of all violent incidents, or 917,000 offences.www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171778_298904.pdf

3 Annual Report of the Chief Medical Officer. Surveillance Volume, 2012 On the State of the Public’s Healthhttps://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/298297/cmo-report-2012.pdf

4 2.6 million children in the UK are estimated to be living with parents who are drinking hazardously and 705,000 livingwith dependent drinkers. Ref: Manning, V et al (2009) New estimates of the number of children living with substancemisusing parents: results from UK national household surveys BMC Public Health 2009, 9:377

5 Faculty of Public Health and the Faculty of Occupational Medicine (2006) A guide for occupational safety and healthprofessionals and employers


Helen Rowe, Research and Innovation Lead at ViridianHousing, and Kelly Klein, CEO of Student@Home, talkdigital inclusion: the importance of pilot schemes, andusing technology to tackle social isolation, illiteracy andundiagnosed dementia.

Helen Rowe, ViridianHousing

Back in 2012, we did a survey ofour residents and found that 40%of them weren’t online. Most ofthese residents were over 50, andat the time there was quite a lot ofageism surrounding technology; anassumption that older peoplewouldn’t be able to use orunderstand devices like tablets. Wedidn’t believe this, so decided to doa digital training pilot called ActiveOnline, free one-to-one sessionsfor tenants at the age of 50+. Theproject was piloted in Barnet, localvolunteers from Age UK carried outgroup sessions, and inWandsworth, Student@Home didone-to-one tuition.

We found that, for us,Student@Home’s approach workedbest. The students they employspecialise in computer science andare trained in teaching, so we know

the quality of tuition will beconsistently high. Also, our widely-dispersed stock means thatorganising andscaling groupsessions just isn’tviable.

This wasimportant,because oftenthere’s a feelingthat if peopledon’t use theinternet everyday, training hasfailed somehow.But technologyshould be ahelpful additionto older people’s

lives – we shouldn’t expect them toadopt the same level of use asothers. Services can often bepushed on older people withoutactually having a conversation andtesting what works. Quite apatronising approach really,symptomatic of a wider problemwith ageism in our society.

Using the internet also kept theresidents’ minds active, whichlinked directly with our concernsabout undiagnosed dementia. TheAlzheimer’s Society reports thatone in three people over 65 willdevelop dementia; only 43% ofpeople with dementia currentlyhave a diagnosis; and a third ofpeople with dementia live alone.We wanted to find a way to speedup the process of flagging thewarning signs.

I went to Kelly at Student@Homeand talked it through. She came upwith the Indicator App, a mobileapp for IT trainers visiting residentsto report signs of things like earlyonset dementia, loneliness andpoor living conditions. Because ourhousing officers deal with largehousing patches, if a resident paysrent on time and doesn’t displayanti-social behaviour, we may notknow that they need extra support.

Our housing officers gave input on

The residents were given free tablets, free Wi-fi and severaltraining sessions, and they loved it. We discovered things we hadn’texpected. For example, older residents simply wanted the peace of mindof knowing that, if they were ill or the weather was cold, they could gettheir groceries online.

Active online: Digital inclusionfor older people


which measures of wellbeing theythought should be included:anxiety, depression, difficultyfinding words or staying focused,disorientation and delusion,irritability and mood swings,fearfulness and memory loss. TheIndicator App gives us a way tosupport those who mightotherwise be suffering quietly withemotional, mental or physicalproblems.

Another thing to come from the pilotis tackling illiteracy. We found thatsome of our residents can’t read:people in their 50s and 60s, whoperhaps left school at 15, at a timewhen things like dyslexia weren’tunderstood. And of course, you can’tteach someone to use the internet ifthey can’t read. So we’ve launched aprogramme with one-to-one literacytraining followed by one-to-oneinternet training. Our CEO had lovelyfeedback from one resident’s carer:the impact the training has had onher brother, his outlook on the world,feeling included – the change can bedramatic.

Our social impact agenda began afew years ago. We decided that wedidn’t just want to be a landlord,we wanted to enhance the lives ofour residents; and Active Online isa key part of this.

Since the Student@Home pilot,we’ve developed several newprojects. This summer we’restarting to research the impact ofdigital inclusion on residents livingwith dementia and disabilities.We’ll also be running anemployment-focused pilot, forresidents under 55 who’ll beimpacted by Universal Credit andwelfare reforms. And I’ve beenchairing the Connected HousingInitiative, which aims to findaffordable internet solutions foreveryone in social housing,irrespective of income.

Kelly Klein,Student@Home

Viridian was one of the firsthousing associations we partneredwith. Since Active Online, we’ve

worked closely with Helen and herteam to help them achieve theirdigital inclusion goals.

We employ students fromuniversities across London to trainpeople in IT skills. A part-time jobwith us offers students a goodsalary, flexible hours in their localarea and valuable work experience.The students benefit fromimproved communication skills,and the residents enjoy the socialaspect of meeting younger people.We’re also helping to reduce the14% unemployment rate amongcomputer science graduates.

An important outcome of theViridian pilot was how much morein touch people felt with the worldaround them. One of the trainingcentres was just 500m from someresidents’ homes, and they had noidea. Viridian wouldn’t have knownthis had they not done the pilot,and I think that’s their strongpoint – that they’re prepared totake chances and innovate.

Many residents hadn’t realised thatthe internet offers so much forfree. They loved Skype, and Viridianhas found it really helpful inreducing social isolation. One Italianresident talked about using Google

Earth, how he was able to zoom inand see the olive trees his latefather had planted. Another talkedabout how she uses Skype to keepin touch with her family in Greece.

In January we were commissionedto scale up the project: to providenine hours of one-to-one trainingfor 300 residents, using SamsungGalaxy tablets with 4G and ourIndicator App. Many residents arebuying their own devices, which isthe best outcome we could’vehoped for.

We offer all kinds of services to helphousing associations develop anddeliver their digital inclusionstrategies. As well as training andapps, we provide skills assessment,low-cost refurbished PCs, repairservices, educational materials,website building, plus projectmanagement and evaluation tools.The Indicator App has provedparticularly popular, and we’re nowrolling it out to other clients.

We were thrilled when Viridian’sActive Online won a TPASSouthern award for Excellence inDigital Engagement. We’re excitedto continue our partnership, and toshare what we’ve learned with theUK’s housing sector.

76% 61% 75% 80%

Results from Active Online Pilot

of residents foundtheir tablet easy

to use

of residents felt morein touch with the

world around them

of residents rated theorganisation of their

training as ‘good’or ‘excellent’

of residents ratedtheir new skills

‘invaluable’


At GreenSquare, around 1,000 ofour 11,000 properties inWiltshire, Oxfordshire andGloucestershire have beendeveloped specifically for olderpeople. We provide a range of‘Supporting People’ services,supported housing schemes andfloating community support. Following funding cuts, welooked at ways we could offermore tailored services to elderlypeople and make the most of ourfacilities. Our solution was tocreate two new roles, with only avery modest increase inresidents’ service charges;GreenSquare paid additionalcosts.

Community Officers manageproperties and facilities, tenantengagement and behaviour,benefit issues, and homeadaptations. Crucially, they alsofocus on developing communityspirit through residents’ groups,digital inclusion and keep-fitclasses, talks from police andsocial care professionals and funday trips.

This project shows that bydecreasing social isolation,providing practical help andcreating an environment ofmutual support, significantimprovements can be made toresidents’ overall well-being.

� Resident satisfaction hasincreased, particularly with thehousekeepers who havecaught a number of healthissues in their early stages,enabling residents to stay intheir homes longer.

� Our forum for representativesfrom each scheme to discussissues with Community Officershas been reinvigorated. Theynow address improvingcommunity life, rather than onlymaintenance issues.

� We work more with otherorganisations, providingservices to our residents andthe wider community. Forinstance, we run a popular‘memory café’ with MemoryClubs UK, suggested by aforum representative.

Martin Mellors, Head of Supported Housing at GreenSquare Group, discusseshow adjustments to job roles in older people’s services can improve health andwellbeing.

Beyond four walls:Improving olderpeople’s health

I used to stare at four walls every day; there was never anything worthleaving my flat for. Now we’ve made links with our neighbours at WilliamMorris Court and it feels like a real community. I want Meadowbrook to be inthat shiny magazine you send round 3 times a year; it never has been, butnow there’s stuff to be proud of and it’s all because of Shim . . . Since she’sbeen with us it has been a joy to live here.

“

”

Community Officer Lyn Allen gives an example of helping a

resident be independent.

‘Mr D has a brain tumour and . . . lives alone and his treatment islikely to cause epileptic seizures. After speaking with Mr D’ssupport worker and his Macmillan nurse, I advised Mr D’s son thatthere are Telecare monitors that could assist and provide peace ofmind. I also recommended the installation of an Epilepsy monitorfor his bed and a Passive Infra Red Movement Monitor. . . Theequipment has now been installed and has enabled Mr D toremain independent in his home.”


As the first stage of Sitra and HelenSanderson Associates jointcampaign to establish one-pageprofiles came to close, we arepleased to have found tenthousand profiles are already in usein the housing sector. Ourcampaign has helped to bring manyexamples of good practice inpersonalising the offer of support,breaking down barriers betweenclients and staff, facilitatingeffective communication andbringing cultural change in oursector.

During our campaign, we visitedour members that have establishedone-page profiles to improvecommunication among staff andclients and deliver personalisedsupport. Among these, our visit toCasa Support remained exceptionalas we have seen both staff andclient profiles in action.

In Casa, staff profiles are seen asan opportunity for clients to choosetheir support staff, based on theiraspirations and interests, as well as

an opportunity to initiateconversations during sessions.Staff we have met on the daycommented ‘one-page profilesenable us to showcase what isimportant to us as support workers,and assure clients that we are ableto support them in a way thatwould suit their needs andexpectations’. One client, whouses learning disability services,also commented ‘knowing a littlebit about my support worker reallyhelped ease my mind, I was able torelate to her and knew she couldrelate to me. We both havechildren of similar age; we havesomething in common.’

One-page profiles were ofteninterpreted as a window ofopportunity to initiateconversations, and in cases wherethis communication is limited asmeans to understand clients’preferences. One member of staffworking with individuals withlearning and communicationdifficulties, commented ‘whenclients are not able or willing to tell

us what they like and prefer, theirimmediate social network offriends and family can help usestablish how to deliver the bestsupport for them’. We observedthat engaging community supportalso enables clients to get in thedriving seat and steer the serviceaccording to their wishes andexpectations.

In other cases, one-page profileswas seen as a testament , or a will-This was particularly the case in asheltered scheme we had visited.Margaret, a delightful woman in herlate seventies, told us how: ‘Lastyear, I needed to be hospitaliseddue to a fall. But when it was timefor me to leave the hospital, theydidn’t let me. They asked me allsorts of questions: What year dowe live in? Who is the PrimeMinister? I was puzzled at first, butthen understood that I wasmistaken for my sister, who wasdiagnosed with dementia at thesame hospital. I was nearlyspending Christmas in hospital bymistake!’ Margaret then decidedshe would like to make sure towrite her one-page profile to sharewith NHS and any other serviceshe might require, to avoidcomplications. In her conversationswith the support worker, she toldabout experiences as an evacueeduring the War, lifetime of work asa family nurse and this in returnstrengthened the bond betweenthem. Her support workercommented ‘the value of havingone-page profile is that I got toknow her for what she hasexperienced and who she is. I lovelearning from her stories’

Thinking of dipping your toe inthe water of one-page profiles ormaking a big splash byintroducing them throughoutyour organisation? HSA & Sitraare continuing to work togetherto help you take this forward.We can offer fun, packagedinteractive days, for your board,SMT, staff and/or clients to helpyou take this forward. Want tofind out more? [email protected]

One-page profilesin Casa SupportSitra’s intern Luke Smith shares key learning from hisvisit to Casa Support that have been using one-pageprofiles as part of their personalised support offer.


Sitra’s Stephanie Hilldiscusses ‘Live Case

Studies’, a fresh approachto training which enables

participants to learnthrough illustration and

experience.

It is a late summer’s afternoon in abustling auditorium in East London.Sitra Members gather to enjoynetworking over coffee and cake;the room is alive with news-sharingand the sound of people makingnew connections. Slowly attentionturns to a discussion happening inthe middle of the hall. The roomstarts to quieten as we hear awoman explain her frustrationsabout a housing issue: she hascome home to find that she hasbeen denied access to her propertydue to rent arrears. The man triesto pacify her, explaining thereasons why. We all look on as thewoman raises her voice asking himwhere he expects her to go withher three children. As theconversation spins out of control, achair is thrown across the room.With relief, we realise that this is infact a drama to induce learning.

The tenant is Sitra’s Bo Garret, aco-trainer with a lived experience ofbeing both a victim and perpetratorof violent behaviour. The housingofficer is in fact, Sitra’s trainerGifford Sutherland. The situationwhich we’ve all just witnessed isthe introduction to Sitra’s newtraining: Live Case Studies.

Live Case Studies bring a newapproach to training which enablesparticipants to learn through

illustration and experience. Thesecourses are co-delivered by a Sitratrainer with sector expertise and aco-trainer who has been a serviceuser and is specially trained inusing a range of drama techniquesto communicate their experiences.Participants are immersed in thistraining ‘experience’ whichexplores a topic area from multipleperspectives. Interactive andengaging drama techniques arecombined with a range ofinnovative participatory andreflective learning activities to bringcourses that accommodate everylearning preference.

At the launch, Bo and Gifford tookparticipants on a learning journeywhich focused around Dealing withChallenging Behaviour. Dramasimulations allow a window intothe multi-dimensions at play; theseare then explored through activitieswhich allowed participants toquestion both Bo and Giffordfurther. Learners experience howLive Case Studies create an

environment where they canwatch, learn, question and practiceskills and techniques in a way thatdiffers from any other trainingthey’ve been on.

As Vic Rayner suggests, ‘This newapproach is ground-breaking interms of building staff resiliencethrough capacity development inthe training room’.

This approach received an‘excellent’ response from all whojoined Sitra at the launch and weare receiving a promising volume ofinterest from our members already.It’s an approach which can beapplied to any one of a number ofcourses we already offer and for avery reasonable cost.

So, if you and your team areconsidering how to approachupcoming training needs, and wantto really get the attention of yourlearners, call one of our team todayto discuss using a Live Case Studycourse on 020 7793 4710.

‘Great pace, time flew, really useful and learnt really usefulthings to take away from it’

Scott Summers, Skills Farm

‘Amazing, interesting concept that I’ll definitely use again’Kelly, Sign Posts

‘A really interesting approach which brings real lifeperspectives of the issues into the training room’

Perry Seymour

Live Case Studies


In privately rented accommodation,the requirement to register atenancy deposit has been in placesince 2007 and has become a firmfixture in the mountain ofpaperwork that accompanies thestart of a tenancy. But whathappens to that deposit when afixed term tenancy lapses into astatutory periodic tenancy?

We now have a clear answer fromthe court – the deposit “rolls-over”to the new statutory tenancy andthe landlord must serve theprescribed information (PI) to thetenant within 30 days ofcommencement of that tenancy.Failure to serve the prescribedinformation within 30 days canresult in (1) repayment of thedeposit to the tenant, (2) a penaltyof up to 3 times the value of thedeposit to be paid by the landlordto the tenant, and (3) nullificationof a Section 21 notice.

Last year’s Court of Appeal caseSuperstrike v Rodrigues [2013]EWCA Civ 669 dealt with anassured shorthold tenancy that hadoriginated prior to April 2007 butlapsed into a statutory periodictenancy in January 2008. In thatcase, the Court of Appeal ruled thata new tenancy was made and a

new deposit was deemed to havebeen received, thus triggering therequirement for the PI to beserved.

In May 2014 the unpublished caseof Gardiner v McCusker hasconfirmed what many suspected:all statutory periodic tenancies arenew tenancies and requirelandlords to serve the prescribedinformation on the tenant. Failureto do so can cost the landlord -both in terms of penalties to thetenant and the inability to use aSection 21 notice.

What does this mean fortenants?Tenants facing eviction based on aSection 21 notice should be awareof the possibility of this defence.

What does this mean forlandlords?While it appears that Parliamentis seeking to amend the tenancydeposit legislation to remove therequirement to re-register andaddress new prescribedinformation when a tenancylapses into a statutory periodictenancy, that fix is still sometime away.

For upcoming changes in tenancy,landlords should make sure thatthere are procedures in place toissue their tenants the PI within30 days of the statutory periodictenancy arising. For tenancieswhich have already lapsed intoa statutory periodic tenancy,landlords should seek legal adviceand consider their options onwhether or to do nothing, issue thePI now, or selectively issue the PIif they are seeking to use a Section21 notice. Please note that tenantshave a cause of action regardingthe penalty for non-service or lateservice of the PI whether or notthere is a Section 21 claim.

DisclaimerThe information and any commentary onthe law contained on this article isprovided free of charge for informationpurposes only. Every reasonable effort ismade to make the information andcommentary accurate and up to date, butno responsibility for its accuracy andcorrectness, or for any consequences ofrelying on it, is assumed by Sitra. Theinformation and commentary does not,and is not intended to, amount to legaladvice to any person on a specific caseor matter. You are strongly advised toobtain specific, personal advice from alawyer about your case or matter and notto rely on the information or commentson this site.

When is an oldtenancy new?

Sitra’s Roselee Molloy answers members’ questions about actions to followwhen a fixed term tenancy lapses into a statutory periodic tenancy.


instead see the agenda asencompassing a range of models andapproaches.

Personalised service delivery

models

Our study highlights a patchydistribution of procurement andtendering practices that promotepersonalised service delivery models.Commissioners who have previouslytaken part in the sector widepersonalisation networking eventsare more familiar with the possibleprovision and often more likely toagree to new models piloted in theirlocality. Commissioners who wereless familiar with models/activitiesexpressed a keen interest in findingout more.

Clearly, regional or nationalconversations have beeninstrumental in developing goodpractice across our sector and therestill is enthusiasm in our sector towork together to move this agendaforward.

Service user voice and

co-production

In the majority of local areas, serviceuser networks were at the providerlevel contributing to the lower end ofdecision making and engagement,e.g. day to day decisions at serviceuser meetings, with less involvementin strategic shaping of services.Again, in all but a few localauthorities, the lack of commissioner-level service user network preventedstrategic co-production of servicedevelopment. We also found, despiteconsiderable resources available,there remains confusion about the

There is a plethora of evidence forthe potential of personalisation toimprove practices of safeguarding1,promote inclusiveness2 and equalopportunities within services3 andenable citizens to shape services inways that are meaningful andvaluable to them4. But in anenvironment of reducing budgets andrising demand, do housing supportcommissioners still see principlesand practices of personalisationapplicable to the services theycommission? What is the influenceof social care and health markets inshaping the thinking aroundpersonalisation? And are thesedynamics likely to change?

These were the questions we wereseeking to answer in our recentstudy, assigned by Department ofCommunities and Local Government.Earlier this year, we carried out 73 in-depth semi-structured interviewswith commissioners of housingsupport across the country. Weachieved a reasonable geographicalspread and included a mix of unitaryand two tier authorities.

Findings

Key principles of personalisation

The majority of commissionersviewed personalisation as not onlyrelevant but critical to housingsupport, and argued that servicesdesigned and delivered in accordancewith service users’ needs, strengthsand preferences, yield sustainablepositive outcomes. Commissionershave moved away from reducingpersonalisation to Personal Budgets,

term co-production, with manyactivities being wrongly described assuch, when on closer examinationthey were in fact service userengagement in provider services.

However, as many articles inour bulletin have highlighted,coproduction agenda is gatheringsignificant momentum through thework of user led organisations andservice providers – indeed, changemay well be ‘bottom up’.

Current or planned strategies to

implement or further

personalisation

Our study demonstrates often itis the providers who take thelead in transforming services – butnot all share the same initiative.Commissioners share the view thatinnovative and good practice couldbe encouraged by commissioning,tendering and contract monitoringmechanisms, and they seek jointworking opportunities to developand adopt new measures that willenable them to transform thinkinginto reality.

The influence of social care and

health markets in shaping thinking

around personalisation

Although a significant number of SPcommissioners had been integratedor dispersed into Adult Social Care,there was no sense this moveincreased the personalisation ofservices. Whilst it was recognisedthat the agenda was furtherdeveloped in Adult Social Care, therewas a belief it centred on PersonalBudgets and with this a concern thatthe monies for preventative services

Sitra’s Burcu Borysik reports from the recent scoping study looking into currentstrategies and practices in commissioning personalised housing related support.

Commissioning forchoice and control


would simply disappear. We believethat this is a missed opportunity toutilise the wealth of intelligence andlearning that Adult Social Care hasamassed, although recognising thatthis needs to be adapted to housingsupport to convince commissionersof its value. One key step to supportthis will be the forthcoming launch of‘Making it Real for Housing withsupport’, which will highlight theconnections. This will be under thebanner of Think Local Act Personal(TLAP).

Commissioners of housing supporthave not yet considered theopportunities to promote the role ofpreventative services, asset basedapproaches and co-production whichunderpin the implementation of theCare Act 2014. Opportunities tohighlight the connection between thepersonalisation of housing supportand this new legislation promotingchoice will become clearer followingthe publishing of the implementationguidance.

Commissioners’ plans for the

future of personalisation

In order to enter into medium andlong terms goals, commissionersrecognised that resources, not least‘thinking time’, are required. Inorder to set and achieve objectivesin this area commissioners need tocombat the challenge of ‘culturalchange’ within their authority, withproviders and service users.Commissioners universally reportedthat lack of resources representedthe greatest impediment to housingsupport personalisation –particularly to developing a long

term strategy. We think that thelack of opportunities, resourcesand time to share and acquireknowledge has had a profoundimpact on the housing supportsector’s ability to respond to thepersonalisation agenda in astrategic and planned way.Commissioners also described theirenergy and attention is solelydirected to sustaining some level ofhousing support activity. Thereductions in staff numbers havealso diminished the capacity forcommissioners to lead, implementand monitor services

Next steps

The study has demonstrated anoverwhelming appreciation ofunderpinning the rationale and valuespersonalisation agenda and itsresonance for housing supportservices. Despite the hostile fundingenvironment, some local authoritieshave been able to thrive andtransform their services, by workingclosely and creatively with providersand users of services. However,there is still work to be done tofacilitate cultural change and re-adoptresources to make personalisation areality across the country. Housingsupport commissioners, like theircolleagues in Adult Social Care, canrecognise themselves as drivers of

the personalisation agenda and seekto work together to extend choiceand control.� Sitra remains committed to the

personalisation agenda and we willcontinue to share best practice,identify opportunities forcollaboration and support thedevelopment of vehicles availablefor its delivery.

� We believe Making It Real forHousing with Support will act as amechanism to bridge the dialoguebetween Adult Social Care andHousing Related Support andcreate joint working opportunitieson developing personalisedservices.

� The implementation of the CareAct 2014 and contribution ofagencies such as Sitra, ADASS,LGA and TLAP will be critical inpromoting the value ofpreventative services, identifyingand acting on individuals’ assetsand building community resilience.

� Sitra is also actively seeking towork with commissioners indeveloping contracting, tenderingand monitoring systems toencourage personalised servicedelivery.

� Sitra can help commissioners setup and run service user networksto ensure service user voice isheard at the strategic level and co-develop services that are botheffective and sensitive.

1 DH Consultation. A Safeguarding and Personalisation Framework. Retrieved fromhttp://www.thinklocalactpersonal.org.uk/_library/Resources/Personalisation/SouthWest/Safeguarding_and_Personalisation_Framework_revised_jan_2011.doc

2 S.Bailey. Scrutiny Review of Safeguarding and Personalisation in Adult Social Care.Retrieved from http://www.stockport.gov.uk/2013/2996/41105/scrutinyreviewsafeandpersasc

3 SCIE. Personalisation briefing: Implications of the Equality Act 2010. Retrieved fromhttp://www.scie.org.uk/publications/ataglance/ataglance41.asp

4 S.Duffy. Integration through Personalisation. Retrieved from http://www.centreforwelfarereform.org/library/by-date/integration-through-personalisation1.html

Perhaps unnoticed unless youoperate in North West England,Universal Credit has slowly beenexpanding the number ofJobcentres and the range ofclaimants able to make new claims1.

Until June 2014 Universal Creditcould only be claimed by single,newly unemployed people whoseclaims presented the minimum ofproblems: claims were not evenallowed from anyone who had acurrent Housing Benefit or TaxCredit claim.

Current position

Universal Credit can now be claimedby newly unemployed people even ifthey have:� A current Housing Benefit or Tax

Credit claim� Partners who also present the

minimum of problems.To move onto Universal Credit boththe claimant and any partner mustbe fit for and actively seeking work –the sort of cases where thealternative would have been a newclaim for Jobseeker’s Allowance.New Universal Credit claims won’tbe started for people who wouldotherwise have made a new claimfor:� Employment and Support

Allowance – because the claimantmay not be well enough to enter


paid work� Income Support – because the

claimant is either a full-time careror a lone parent whose youngestchild is below the age of five.

But even unemployed people whowalk into one of the Universal CreditJobcentres won’t be allowed to starta Universal Credit claim unless theyfit all the criteria listed in ourClaimants Box.

Next steps

By Christmas all 84 Jobcentres inNorth West England will be takingnew claims for Universal Credit fromthis narrow range of claimants2.

The Government says from 24November 2014 six (as yetunnamed) Jobcentres in the NorthWest will even start accepting newclaims for Universal Credit fromsome newly unemployed peoplewith dependent children ordependent older teenagers whoare in non-advanced education ortraining.

And in a surprise announcement on29 September 2014 Iain DuncanSmith, Secretary of State for Workand Pensions, said that in February2015 Universal Credit claims willstart being taken in Jobcentresoutside North West England.

The announcement was sounexpected civil servants wereunable to give any details of thisnational roll-out but it’s important tosay all of the claims so farmentioned will be limited to theeasier cases and be processed usingthe existing software.

The new software that is supposedto be capable of dealing with anyclaim will start being tested on asmall number but a wide range ofcases in Sutton – perhaps just 150cases and starting in November.

Clouds on the horizon

The Government’s plans don’tinclude full roll-out of the benefitbefore April 2016 and the currentLabour Opposition has pledged to“press the Pause button” on theroll-out of the new benefit if it winsthe next General Election3.

It has also been suggested that theTreasury is not willing to sign off thelatest Business Case for the newbenefit4. Commentators havewarned that some of the gainsoriginally linked to the new benefithave now been delivered without itincluding:

� Tighter conditions for jobseekers– via the Claimant Commitment

� Linking the Department – andsoon Housing Benefit authorities– to up-to-date earningsinformation through “Real TimeInformation” from the PAYEsystem.

So it’s now harder to justify thecosts of the new benefit such as theelaborate IT system needed to do somany things at once – essential if it’sto replace all the Jobcentre benefitsas well as the Tax Credits andHousing Benefit.

Implications

What should members therefore bedoing? If you have not already doneso, you should:� Conduct a wholesale review of

your approach to preventing andtackling rent arrears – unless all or

UniversalCredit

Sitra’s Geoffrey Ferres brings members up to datewith the snails’ pace roll out of the Universal Credit.


Capita 8th NationalSupported Housing Conference

Chaired by Vic Rayner, Chief Executive, Sitra

Our Supported Housing Conference is ideally timed to help you drive forward the provision of effective,sustainable and integrated housing support services. As the Care and Support Specialised housing fundenters its second phase of delivery, housing, health and care providers must find innovative ways toprovide continuous security for vulnerable tenants.

Bringing together Leading experts from housing associations, local authorities and health, thisconference will examine the integration of streamlined support services to ensure your organisation issufficiently prepared to deliver personalised, comprehensive and cost effective supported housingservices.

Expert speakers include:� Keynote Address: Fiona MacGregor, Executive Director of Programmes, Homes and Communities Agency� Kevin Belme, Group Director of Housing, Care and Support, One Housing Group� Dominic Wright, Chief Executive Officer, NHS Guildford and Waverley CCG� Mike Hay, Head of Quality and Transformation, Adult Social Care, Cambridgeshire County Council� Gary Chwalko, Head of Service, Forum Housing� Patrick O’Dwyer, Head of Mental Health Development, Look Ahead Care and Support� Ruby Smith, Head of Personalisation, South Yorkshire Housing Association

Friday 21st November – Central London

For more information:Visit: http://www.capitaconferences.co.uk/public-sector-conferences/housing/full-conference/article/supported-housing-conference-2.html?code=SITRA Download the brochure: http://www.capitaconferences.co.uk/pdfgen.html?filename=Supported_Housing_-_Nov_14.pdf&code=SITRAContact: Andy Wills – [email protected] / 020 7960 7751Follow us on Twitter @capitaconf #capitaconf

Special Offer20% discount when you book with SITRADoes not apply to concessionary rate; discounts cannot be combined

virtually all of your tenancies areeither “specified accommodation”or for people of Pension Creditage

� Look at the wealth of learning andthe many helpful suggestions inthe National Housing Federation’slatest excellent report5.

� Ensure you have the right level ofknowledge of Universal Credit inyour staff teams – at Sitra we’veincluded very short sessions onUniversal Credit in all our standardbenefit courses for the last coupleof years, but we’ve also run full-day courses on Universal Creditfor organisations that felt theyneeded to get to grips with thenew benefit urgently.

Universal Credit claimantsClaimants in the roll-out areas must:� Be a British Citizen, who has lived in the United Kingdom for at least

two years prior to the claim and has not left the United Kingdom fora continuous period of four weeks or more during that period

� Be aged between 18 and the current Pension Credit age� Be resident in the specific locations� Be available for work, or in low-paid work� Have a National Insurance number� Have a bank account that can handle standing orders and direct debits.

Claimants in the roll-out areas must not:� Have children – this rule will be amended for seven Jobcentres from

November 2014� Be pregnant� Be receiving Disability Living Allowance or Personal Independence

Payment.� Be responsible for providing care for someone with a physical or

mental impairment� Be in education or training� Be in self-employment� Be earning more than £330 per month (£270 for under 25s)� Have capital above £6,000� Be homeless� Be an owner-occupier� Live in temporary accommodation� Live in “specified accommodation”.

These conditions can be found in the Universal Credit (TransitionalProvisions) Regulations 2013 as amended subsequently.

1 An up-to-date list of Jobcentres accepting new claims forUniversal Credit is available at: https://www.gov.uk/jobcentres-where-you-can-claim-universal-credit

2 Go live dates for the remaining Jobcentres in North WestEngland are available at: http://nationalhousingfederation.newsweaver.com/qrclw8grledezizsc8jv2x?email=true&a=1&p=47964208&t=22527335

3 First announced by Rachel Reeves MP, Shadow Secretaryof State for Work and Pensions, in an interview with theSunday Times published on 22 June 2014

4 Eventually revealed by Sir Bob Kerslake, Head of the CivilService, when giving evidence to the Public AccountsCommittee on 7 July 2014

5 National Housing Federation, Universal Credit One Year In:The experiences of housing associations available at:http://www.housing.org.uk/publications/browse/universal-credit-one-year-in-the-experiences-of-housing-associations/#sthash.49x8Ey3R.dpuf

Dementia Leaders Programmefor the Housing SectorThis innovative new programme from Sitra, the Associationof Dementia Studies (University of Worcester) and theHousing LIN is now coming to London

Strategic Leaders Course – £625.00Nov 25th & 26th 2014 plus half day follow up 20th January 2015

BOOK NOW to avoid disappointment – Places are limited

Delegates will gain� An understanding of the role of person centred approaches to communication and

the environment in dementia care and support

� Understanding and application of the enriched model of dementia and the VIPstool, together with other tools to assist in leadership in dementia and organisationaldevelopment

� An opportunity to set your organisation, services and developments in the contextof national strategies and guidance

� Insight into developing best practice around housing and dementia – ‘what goodlooks like’

� Tools to assist in leadership in dementia and project development

These courses are a must for organisations serious about improving the waythey support people living with dementia. For more information go to http://www.sitra.org/training/dementia-leaders-programme-for-the-housing-sector-london/ or email [email protected]

Sitra bulletin no 5 2014 published

Documents

Transcript of Sitra bulletin no 5 2014 published