27 November 2024
Kathryn Smith, Chief Executive of the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE), responds to the final report of the Older People’s Housing Taskforce—‘Our future homes: Housing that promotes wellbeing and community for an ageing population’—for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and Department of Health and Social Care, published yesterday, 26 November 2024.
It was an honour to be a part of the Taskforce. Through our work, it became clear that no decision about care and support should be made without considering where people live—and the Social Care Future vision should serve as our guiding ‘north star’ as we navigate the future of supported housing: ‘We all want to live in a place we call home with the people and things we love, in communities where we look out for one another, doing the things that matter most.’
As this report demonstrates, there is no singular blueprint or one-size-fits-all model for achieving this. Instead, a dynamic approach is needed that recognises the diverse needs and aspirations of older people.
Housing plays a crucial role in achieving the Government’s vision for our national health and social care services, but it is not enough to ‘get Britain building again’—the Government must invest in the quality of housing, including accessible and life-time designs, in conjunction with the investment in the quantity of housing.
Better housing options prevent care needs from escalating and reduce the demand for social care and NHS services. However, without a robust, long-term strategy—one that considers the report’s nine core recommendations—thousands could face a lack of choice and control in their older age.
We support the task force recommendation requiring local planning authorities to co-produce an older people’s housing strategy in consultation with senior citizens with lived experience. SCIE recently published a toolkit to support local areas in creating effective place-based plans that include a full range of housing options for older adults. We also recognise the importance of partnership working to develop a housing strategy and deliver it, and recently evaluated how a ‘Serious game’ could be used to break down silo working and form a shared vision for local housing options. We stand ready to use our evidence-based expertise to help guide and deliver the Government’s vision for a housing market that responds to the needs of a range of communities.
Kathryn Smith
Chief Executive of the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE)
Notes to editors
The Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) improves the lives of people of all ages by co-producing, sharing, and supporting the use of the best available knowledge and evidence about what works in practice. We are a leading social care improvement independent charity working with organisations that support adults, families and children across the UK. We also work closely with related services such as health care and housing. We improve the quality of care and support services for adults and children by:
- Identifying and sharing knowledge about what works and what’s new.
- Supporting people who plan, commission, deliver and use services to put that knowledge into practice.
- Informing, influencing and inspiring the direction of future practice and policy.
Our mission is to support best practice, shape policy and raise awareness of the importance of social care, working together. With the government’s ambition of reducing consultancy bills, SCIE can serve as the not-for-profit partner of government, working collaboratively to identify and implement improvements.