Housing with care and support: Cost-benefit tool for commissioners

This tool has been developed to help commissioners and other local planners consider the relative cost and benefit of different models of housing with care, through the best available data and research evidence.

The tool enables commissioners to compare the costs and benefits of four key forms of housing with care and support for older adults:

• residential care home
• extra care
• sheltered/retirement housing
• Shared Lives

This tool is part of the work being delivered by The Commission on the Role of Housing in the Future of Care and Support, which was launched in October 2020 with the aim of developing a vision and roadmap for housing with care and support for older people. The Commission is funded by the Dunhill Medical Trust.

The tool has three components:

• A summary report: a full introduction to the tool and key elements of the model, national estimates on potential costs and benefits nationally of investment in different models, and recommendations on how improvements to the evidence could be made in the future
• A user guide: a brief introduction to the tool and explains how commissioners can use it, using worked examples
• The cost-benefit tool: an Excel model which enables the commissioners and local planners to explore a range of different scenarios

The tool helps commissioners assess the extent of any cashable savings and cost avoidance from different housing options when they are compared, such as extra care compared to residential care or residential care compared to Shared Lives.

The tool should be used as one method within a range of approaches to building an evidence-based case for investing in housing with care, and we provide case studies of good practice to accompany this tool.