ERoSH endorses Audit Commission report

ERoSH, the national consortium for sheltered and retirement housing, fully endorses and supports the Audit Commission’s recent report on the Supporting People programme.

The Audit Commission makes a number of recommendations that are in line with two of the key recommendations within the 20/20: a vision for housing and care report, launched at last week's LGA/ADSS conference in Birmingham.  ERoSH is a major supporter of the 20/20 Project.

• The Audit Commission has called on the government to act quickly to protect and improve housing-related support services like sheltered housing for older people.  The 20/20 Vision says that all local authorities should consider giving recognition to the value that the current generation of older people place on their housing - sheltered housing included, and the services they receive
• The Audit Commission recommends that agencies delivering the programme need a clear national framework, a minimum national standard of provision and a long-term financial commitment if improvements to services are to be maintained. The 20/20 Vision says that local authorities should consider establishing a set of core national standards for Supporting People services to avoid the development of a postcode lottery in housing and care

Since the Supporting People programme was introduced in April 2003, the sheltered housing sector has lived with the threat that schemes and whole services would be de-commissioned due to a lack of funding – an agenda that appears to be gathering pace.  This, in ERoSH’s view, is because commissioners do not fully know about and appreciate the social and health benefits of sheltered housing, how it contributes to the Government’s preventative agenda, and how it is a tenure of choice for hundreds of thousands of older people.

Imogen Parry, ERoSH trustee and independent consultant and joint author of the recent CIH publication Sheltered and Retirement Housing – a good practice guide, commented: "One of the most negative areas cited by providers in the 20/20 consultation was the increased bureaucracy caused by form-filling and auditing. There has also been unnecessary confusion and anxiety caused by the reduction in funding over the next two years.

"So, we fully endorse the Commission’s finding that sheltered housing is a major resource and that poor financial forecasting has led to uncertainty and a lack of confidence in the sector towards commissioning new and innovative services."

ERoSH intends to use the Commission's recommendations to lend weight to its ongoing work to promote sheltered housing amongst Supporting People and commissioning teams, and health and social care professionals, and in its support of the 20/20 Project which is planning a series of political events and written briefings between now and spring 2006 to take the 20/20 Vision report to the heart of government.