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Housing Options Training Sessions |
We are holding various training sessions around the country
this autumn, on the hot housing topics which you will need
to know about!
Spaces will be limited as we will try to keep these as interactive,
informative and as useful as possible.
The topics are:
These will be one day courses.
The price per person for Housing Options members is £115.
Non-members, £149.
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New Welfare Reform Green Paper - 'Reforming
Welfare to Reward Responsibility |
This is the Department of Work and Pension's Green Paper
which includes their ideas for changing the benefit system.
A large driver of this is the quoted 2.6 million people claiming
Incapacity Benefit - actually over 30% of those don't actually
get any cash from the system, and the majority of the rest
only get the money because they paid their National Insurance
but why let facts like this get in the way of a good shake-up?
Readers may well want to have a look at the government's plans
which can be viewed at www.dwp.gov.uk/noonewrittenoff.
People with learning disabilities and those who look after
their interests will want to make their voices heard, so that
this group do not get faced with problems in the wake of this
drive to get all those with depression, small children and
back problems (or perhaps all three together) into the workplace.
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Commissioning Housing Support for Health
and Wellbeing |
This recent report from the Care Services Improvement Partnership
explains what housing-related services are, and how they are
paid for. It also offers evidence that these services are
cost-effective mechansisms for promoting health, independence
and wellbeing, whilst reducing demand for more costly services.
Download
the Report >>
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Important New Guide for People with Learning
Disabilities, Their Families and Carers |
Valuing People Now said that housing is one of
the four big priorities. However for many families it's just
a big puzzle. The Valuing People Support Team have just published
a new guide called Finding a Place to Live. Finding
housing can be difficult so the Finding a Place to Live
guide tries to give information as simply as possible. The
guide is written by people who have learnt from first hand
experience. It includes pages to fill in with your personal
wants and wishes, helping to build a plan and how to make
it all work. Read
On and Download the Guide >> |
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New Research on Out-of-Area Placements |
New research by SCIE (Social Care Institute for Excellence)
has focused on the problem of out-of-area placements, where
Social Services place people in care homes away from their
home area. Often, of course, this is done because a specialised
service is needed, or people's choice, for example if they
want to stay near to where they went to college. However,
at Housing Options we have said for a long time that this
state of affairs is unsatisfactory, as many are placed away
from home simply because there are no locally-based alternatives.
Download
the Report >> |
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Latest Report Shows a Major Deterioration
in Services for People With Learning Disabilities |
Tell It Like It Is is a report which has just
been published by the Learning Disability Coalition, a group
made up of ten major learning disability organisations. The
report is based on a survey of people with learning disabilties
and their carers.
Over a third of people with learning disabilities said that
their daytime activities have been cut. The survey shows that
even where cuts have not been made, people feel that the quality
of the services they get has grown worse. Read
On and Download the Report >> |
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Telling You What Your Care Costs |
The government has given a commitment that local authorities
will tell elderly and disabled people the breakdown of the
cost of the care and support they receive. This is to promote
Individual Budgets, of which there are currently about 5,000
in action; a drop in the ocean compared to the numbers who
receive care and support.
The intention is that by spring next year, everyone receiving
services will be told what the equivalent would be in a personalised
budget, so they can make decisions about any future changes.
This
article from The Guardian gives more details >> |
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New Research Tells Us How Little We Know |
A new report from the Centre for Disability Research tells
us about the black hole that is statistics around the numbers
of people in the country with learning disabilties. 'It is
not possible to estimate the numbers of adults with learning
disabilities in England either from information held by government
departments or from large-scale, population based surveys',
says the report.
We have various ways of trying to estimate these numbers,
but this is a salutary reminder that services and planning
only touch of minority of people with learning disabilities.
One of the estimates is that one person in 50 has some degree
of learning disability, but only one in 200 uses learning
disability services. The gap is formed by the huge amount
of people cared for by families - until they pop out of the
woodwork when a crisis hits. Download
the Report >> |
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The Future of Care and Support |
Demographic statistics show that by 2028 a quarter of the
adult population will be over 65, and there will be twice
as many people over 85 than there are now. The Government
is putting their minds to the questions of how to plan for
this, and how to set up a viable care and support system that
will cope. Read
On >> |
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Damages of £100,000 Awarded to Couple |
A High Court judge has awarded a £100,000 payment
for a couple with learning disabilities terrorised in their
own home.
This case is the first in which a local authority has been
held to be under a duty of care to protect vulnerable adults
from abuse by third parties. Read
On >> |
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Free Training for Advocacy Groups |
Housing Options have been awarded a grant from the Department
Of Health, which will enable us to provide training around
housing issues to Advocacy groups. If you would like to know
more, or know of groups which might be interested, please
give Andrew Young a call on 0845 456 1497. |
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Valuing People Now: The Housing
Priority |
Housing Options has responded to the consultation on the
Valuing People Now document. We have done this in
conjunction with Mencap and the Association of Suppported
Living. View
the Response >> |
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Staying Out of the Mainstream |
An observation on the Commission for Social Care Inspection's
3rd annual report on the State of Social Care. Read
On >> |
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The Housing and Regeneration Bill |
The Housing and Regeneration Bill - this latest
piece of housing legislation is currently going through Parliament.
Read
On >> |
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Supporting People Pays its Way |
The Department of Communities and Local Government has
just released a research project on the financial side of
Supporting People. Read
On and Download the Report >> |
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State of Social Care in England |
The Commission for Social Care Inspection's 3rd annual
report on the State of Social Care, tells us very much the
same thing that callers to Housing Options say. Read
On and Download the Report >> |
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Budget 2008 - Did it Affect You? |
There were a small number of changes in the recent budget
which were helpful in the field of charities and housing.
Read
On >> |
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Human Rights - or lack thereof |
Readers will be interested to look through the Seventh
Report of the Joint Committee on Human Rights. Not the
snappiest title, but this recent report is about people with
learning disabilities in England and their position around
human rights. Or, their lack of human rights. Read
On and Download the Report >> |
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Changes to Independent Living Funds |
The Independent Living Fund have just announced that the
amount of social services contribution to a care package before
claimants are eligible for ILF payments will rise from £200
per week to £320 per week. This will be effective from
1st April 2008 and will affect new claims after that date.
See
our Quick Brief for more information >> |
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Valuing People Now: From Progress to Transformation |
Valuing People Now: From Progress to Transformation
is a new consultation paper which sets out the priorities
for services for people with learning disabilities over the
years 2008 - 2011. Read
On and Download the Consultation Papers >> |
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Services for People with Learning Disability
and Challenging Behaviour or Mental Health Needs |
The Department of Health has just published a report by
Jim Mansell which gives Local Authorities and service commissioners
firm guidance on what type of services should be provided
for this group, who have frequently suffered from inadequate
planning and high cost, low value services. Read
On and Download the Report >> |
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Managing Money and Living Independently |
My Home and Money is a guide for people who support
adults with learning difficulties to manage their money (including
parents and professionals).
The guide has been produced by Housing Options and published
by the Dimensions Group. This guide was also supported financially
with a grant from the Abbey Charitable Trust. Read
On and Download the Guide >> |
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Bringing Housing into the Health and Social
Care Agenda |
Connecting Housing to the Health and Social Care Agenda
is a case study-led report commissioned by Care Services Improvement
Partnership (CSIP). The paper suggests that both clients and
the NHS and social care agencies would benefit if they involved
housing and housing-related services in policymaking, planning
and provision of services at an early stage. Read
On and Download the Paper >> |
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Changes in Benefit Rules for Shared Ownership |
The rules around the availability of Housing Benefit which
is payable towards the rent part of Shared Ownership costs
are changing as of 1st October 2007.
The new rules say that housing benefit may be payable towards
the rental part of any Shared Ownership lease. They also say
that shared ownership leases will be 'excluded tenancies'
and so not will not have rent levels restricted by the Rent
Officer. Read
On >> |
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Help for the Digital TV Switchover |
From next year onwards, TV is going digital. To ensure
everyone can benefit from digital switchover, there will be
a Digital Switchover Help Scheme for which approximately 7
million households will be eligible.
Digital UK is offering help to older and disabled people so
they can switch from analgoue to digital. People on disability
living allowance can receive practical help and support. Further
Information >> |
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Council Told to Pay Family for Disabled
Woman's Care |
A council has just been told to pay a family compensation
of almost £100,000 for failing to arrange suitable care
for a disabled young woman. Read
On >> |
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Housing Corporation Prioritises Vulnerable
People |
The Housing Corporation have just published Investing
in Independence, a report which outlines their strategy
on funding for low cost housing for vulnerable people, including
people with learning disabilities. Readers will be interested
in this, especially those working as, or associated with,
housing providers. Download
Report >> |
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Anti Discrimination Protection in Eviction
Process |
The Court of Appeal has ruled that Local Authorities run
the risk of unlawful discrimination when seeking to evict
disabled tenants who breach their tenancy agreement for a
disability-related reason. The case, which will be of interest
to our visitors, is detailed in a press release from the Disability
Rights Commission. Read
the Press Release >> |
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No Place Like Home |
Hundreds of disabled people are being caught in a bureaucratic
bungle about disputes between Local Authorities over who should
pay for their care, according to a new report, No Place
Like Home, by the VODG (Voluntary Organisations Disability
Group). Read
On and Download Report >> |
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