Tendering For Care

The Commission for Social Care Inspection is calling for urgent action to ensure disabled children continue to get the help they need into adulthood. Inspectors found many have no idea where they will live or who will look after them when they grow up. Social services directors stressed the issue was being made a top priority. But the report criticises local authorities not only for failing to plan ahead, but also for failing to consult young people about their futures.

The government announced plans yesterday to create a new agency to deliver regeneration and housing in England. Communities England will combine the functions of regeneration agency English Partnerships, social housing regulator the Housing Corporation and some work done by the Department for Communities and Local Government. The new agency is not likely to be operational until 2009.

National Housing Federation chief executive David Orr said bringing housing and regeneration together would allow the government to plan strategically how to create successful neighbourhoods. He urged the government to include Supporting People within the remit of the new agency, a matter that the government is currently considering. Housing charity Shelter said “re-arranging which agency delivers what is less important than ensuring that 20,000 extra social homes are built each year for those hit by the housing crisis”.

Awards totalling £75,000 have been handed out by Microsoft to help people with learning disabilities use computers and improve their IT skills. Thirty charities and community groups across the UK have each received grants of £2,500 and Microsoft’s Office software to help those affected by physical and mental disabilities through Microsoft’s annual Community Learning Awards.

Don't expect too much from your council if you're in that in-between zone - you can't quite cope on your own, but you don't want or need to go into a residential care home. A new report warns that as the number of older people grows - the UK's over-85s are expected to double in number by 2025 - and costs increase, many local authorities are raising the qualification thresholds for "social care" (also known as home care), where you stay in your own home but receive regular help.

In October 2002 the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, now Communities and Local Government, commissioned a research team from the School for Policy Studies, University of Bristol, to evaluate the Safer Communities Supported Housing Fund (SCSHF) and the pilots for teenage mothers funded through the 2000/2001 round of the Approved Development Programme (ADP). The ADP pilots focused upon accommodation-based support, but the SCSHF supported both accommodation-based and floating support schemes for young people at risk; victims of domestic violence; offenders and those at risk of offending; and people with drug and alcohol problems.

Proposals to widen the scope and improve the delivery of the Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) programme by making the application process more flexible, easier and quicker are being consulted on. The DFG programme provides nearly 35,000 grants each year in England to older and disabled people for housing adaptations such as ramps, lifts and level access showers. Disabled people in all housing tenures can apply for a grant. The Government is proposing changes in the short and long term to enable councils to provide more front line support for vulnerable people who need help with home adaptations, as part of a wider progressive social care package which supports independent living.

Organisations who regularly use agency workers will be pleased to hear that the uncertainty around the possible acquisition of employment rights by agency workers has now been settled. Previous case law has suggested that employment contracts can be easily implied by the Courts.

The Employment Appeal Tribunal in James v Greenwich Council has finally set out clear criteria required if such a contract is to be implied: it is not appropriate to imply a contract where the end-user cannot insist on the agency supplying a particular worker; the reality of the situation must be examined and clear indicators identified to establish a contract, otherwise the original agency situation will prevail, and the passage of time alone does not justify the implication of a contract. Anyone using agency staff should read paragraphs 53-61 of the decision.