A manifesto set out the key actions which local and central government and homecare providers needed to take to ensure that high-quality homecare continued to be delivered in the future. It made 18 recommendations, including a call for councils to stop damaging the sector by 'inappropriate' cost savings, and for central government to act on the Low Pay Commission's repeated request to scrutinize how councils' commissioning practice damaged careworker pay.
Source: From Rhetoric to Reality: A manifesto for sustainable homecare, United Kingdom Home Care Association Limited (020 8288 1551)
Links: Manifesto | UKCHA press release
Date: 2008-Oct
Researchers examined the potential impact of personal budgets on the home-care market. Greater exposure to bad debts and increased administration costs were expected to lead to increased costs for agencies: but greater competition between agencies for individual clients and less exposure to local authority contracting regulations could reduce overall costs.
Source: Kate Baxter, Caroline Glendinning, Susan Clarke and Ian Greener, Domiciliary Care Agency Responses to Increased User Choice: Perceived threats, barriers and opportunities from a changing market, Social Policy Research Unit/University of York (01904 433608)
Date: 2008-Sep
A survey found that rising charges for people to receive care in their own homes were causing disabled and older people in England to reduce or even stop their support services. 80 per cent of people surveyed who no longer used care services said that charges contributed to their decision to stop their support. 29 per cent of respondents did not feel their essential expenditure (related to impairment/health condition) was taken into account in financial assessments to pay charges – meaning that they had to choose between essential support and food, heating, or utility bills.
Source: Charging into Poverty? Charges for care services at home and the national debate on adult care reform in England, Coalition on Charging c/o National Centre for Independent Living (020 7587 1663)
Links: Report | Coalition press release | Alzheimers Society press release | Carers UK press release | LGA press release | Community Care report | Guardian report
Date: 2008-Jun
A report by a committee of the Northern Ireland Assembly said that institutional care should be used for older people only in cases where domiciliary care was not a feasible option. It called for measures to encourage better use of the independent homecare sector, and to raise the status and esteem of homecare workers.
Source: Older People and Domiciliary Care, Tenth Report (Session 2007-08), Northern Ireland Assembly Public Accounts Committee, TSO (028 9023 8451)
Links: Report | UKHCA press release
Date: 2008-Apr