Democracy under threat: Elections Bill’s risk to people with additional needs
Dr Mark Brookes discusses why measures to introduce voter ID could affect voter participation for those with learning disabilities.
Council chiefs call for care ‘fix’ after lockdown impacts mobility of millions
11/05/2021 The ability of one in four older people to do everyday activities has worsened during the pandemic, research from the charity Age UK has revealed. |
Housing-with-care ‘safeguarded lives’ during pandemic
29/04/2021 A new study looking at how housing-with-care has coped over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic has found that retirement village and extra care housing operators successfully ‘safeguarded lives’ of residents and staff. |
Care home residents 'barred' from voting booth says care group
14/04/2021 A care group has branded it a 'national scandal' that care home residents will be unable to vote in person in the local elections without self-isolating for 14 days afterwards. |
Charity warns of 'astonishing' level of underclaimed council tax support
14/04/2021 Older people on low incomes in Scotland missed out on £88m in Council Tax Reduction support last year, a charity has warned. |
MPs call for action to improve care options for older people
22/03/2021 A cross-party group of MPs and Peers have called on the Government to take urgent action to improve housing and care options for older people. |
Lords call for urgent action to improve health in old age
15/01/2021 The Government will miss its pledge of delivering five extra years of healthy living by 2035 without urgent action, Lords Committee has argued today. |
Local services need funding to support elderly impacted by COVID-19, council chiefs say
19/11/2020 Council chiefs call on Government to use Spending Review to ensure council-run services are able to look after elderly residents impacted by COVID-19. |
Charity calls for new standards for accessible housing
18/11/2020 A charity for elderly people is calling for national building standards to be raised to be ‘accessible and adaptable’ as a minimum baseline as a new survey reveals there is a shortage of accessible housing. |
Housing-with-care is 'critically low', report warns
22/10/2020 The UK has an ‘acute’ lack of housing-with-care for older people, a report has warned. |
Charity calls for end of domestic abuse data 'scandal'
01/10/2020 The Government has been urged to end the ‘scandal’ of only collecting domestic abuse data for people up to the age of 74. |
Supporting over 50s ‘crucial’ to building post-pandemic resilience, charity says
15/09/2020 Stronger action to support those in their 50s and 60s will be ‘crucial’ to building the UK’s resilience after the coronavirus pandemic, charity says. |
Government handling of social care during pandemic attacked
29/07/2020 MPs have delivered a blistering attack on the Government’s handling of social care during coronavirus. |
Thousands of people 'wiped out' by care bills, charity warns
24/07/2020 Fourteen people a day are being wiped out financially by care bills, new research has revealed today. |
Planning system is failing housing for the elderly, report finds
14/07/2020 The vast majority of housing-with-care planning applications are speculative, new research has revealed. |
Give councils the tools to incentivise retirement communities, says report
30/06/2020 Retirement communities could play a major part in addressing the adult social care funding crisis and keep people out of hospital for longer, a new report has argued. |
Older carers ‘forgotten’ by care system says charity
12/06/2020 Older carers have been ‘forgotten’ by authorities despite them bearing the brunt of the pandemic, a charity has warned today. |
Downsizing crucial to tackling ‘skewed’ housing market, says report
03/06/2020 Better housing options for older people in the UK could reduce the national housing target by 50,000 a year, a new report has found. |
Researchers propose a two-tier approach to ending lockdown
06/05/2020 The UK should adopt a twin approach to relaxing restrictions for lockdown in order to protect the most vulnerable, academics have said. |
First food parcels for vulnerable people are delivered
30/03/2020 The first 2,000 food boxes for those that are clinically vulnerable have been delivered this weekend. |
Older people face ‘litany of damaging stereotypes’, charity warns
20/03/2020 Older people in the UK are seen as incompetent, hostile or a burden on society, according to the findings of a new study into ageism. |
Two million over-55s in ‘dangerous’ homes
05/03/2020 Over two million over-55s are living in a home that endangers their health and wellbeing, an alarming new report has revealed. |
Care denied to 700,000 older people, charity reveals
07/02/2020 Around 700,000 older people have had their request for care turned down in the past year, analysis by a charity has discovered. |
Visionary housing for the elderly
19/12/2019 A project in London has linked private and public sectors to provide quality care for older people alongside a block of luxury apartments, Mark Whitehead says. |
Elderly save the state £23bn a year by providing unpaid care
19/12/2019 A new study has revealed how some of the oldest in society save the health and care system £23bn a year by providing free care to loved ones. |
Local leaders pledge to tackle ageism
01/10/2019 Mayors and council leaders have pledged to tackle discrimination on grounds of age. |
Older people face ‘significant barriers’ in applying for EU Settlement Scheme
27/09/2019 The Government has been warned it could face a ‘Windrush 2’ as vulnerable older people are failing to apply to the EU settlement scheme (EUSS) in time. |
Over 300,000 people forced to sell homes to pay for care
19/09/2019 Over the last 20 years hundreds of thousands of older people have been forced to sell their home to cover the cost of social care, charity reveals. |
Over 14 million living in poverty, think tank reveals
30/07/2019 Millions of people, including children and pensioners, are living below the poverty line, new research into poverty has revealed. |
Learning from Leeds
26/07/2019 Joanne Volpe the best of giving people the information they need to find a home right for them. |
Elderly people in rural communities have less social care provision, report warns
19/07/2019 The way adult social care is funded has led to deep inequalities in provision, the Salvation Army has warned. |
For local authorities, the social care crisis is about more than money
02/07/2019 David Cundy explains why reducing demand for social care means supporting people to age well. |
Calls to make cycling more inclusive for women, older and disabled people
06/06/2019 Women, older and disabled people are neglected in provision of resources to support cycling, according to a report. |
‘Postcode lottery’ for accessible homes
05/06/2019 Less than a quarter of homes built outside London by 2030 will be suitable for older and disabled people, housing experts have warned. |
Older people waiting too long for care, charity warns
28/05/2019 Four out of ten older people with critical or substantial needs are waiting more than six weeks for social care in Scotland, a charity has warned. |
Free social care for the elderly could save NHS £4.5bn a year, think tank says
23/05/2019 The introduction of free social care for everyone over 65 would save the NHS in England £4.5bn a year and help improve care in the community, think tank says. |
Charity calls for £2.4bn Dementia Fund
08/05/2019 A report calling for a new £2.4bn Dementia Fund has received backing from 68 cross-party MPs. |
Potholes in pavements preventing more older people from walking
01/05/2019 Cracked and uneven pavements are stopping nearly one in three (31%) older people from walking on their local streets, according to a new survey. |
Charity calls for free personal care for elderly
27/03/2019 Campaigners have called on councillors to back a call for free personal care for the over-65s. |
Charity warns people at risk of suffering poverty, ill-health and hardship in later life
13/03/2019 Action must be taken to create communities that enable older people to stay active, campaigners have urged. |
Women ‘bear the brunt’ of social care crisis, charity warns
08/03/2019 Women are paying the highest price for the Government’s continued inaction on social care, an elderly persons charity has warned. |
Britain faces ‘accessible housing crisis’, charity warns
25/02/2019 An elderly persons charity has warned that Britain is on the verge of an ‘accessible housing crisis’ due to planning policy failures. |
Councils should prioritise strength training to prevent falls
12/02/2019 Local authorities are not prioritising programmes which can help people at risk of falling strengthen their muscles and improve their balance, new research has revealed. |
Underfunding of bus scheme leaves elderly ‘isolated’
11/02/2019 Elderly and vulnerable people could be left isolated because the concessionary bus fares scheme is underfunded, local government leaders have warned. |
Council chiefs warn of scams targeting the vulnerable
16/01/2019 Local authority leaders have called on carers and families to be aware of fraud targeting older and more vulnerable people. |
Over four million older people do not have access to care services
13/12/2018 A long-term fix to pay for adult social care has been 'kicked into the long grass', local government leaders have warned. |
A 'wake-up call' for the sector
09/10/2018 With figures showing thousands of older people are living in hazardous homes, William Eichler finds out what can be done to provide more suitable accommodation for the UK's ageing population. |
Home adaptations ‘cost-effective’ means for improving accessibility
08/10/2018 Only 7% of UK homes meet basic national accessibility requirements, an ageing charity warned as they urged councils to provide adaptations to older people's homes. |
Number of elderly needing round-the-clock care set to double by 2035
31/08/2018 The number of elderly people requiring 24-hour care is set to double by 2035, social care experts have warned. |
1.4m older people ‘not getting the care they need’, charity warns
09/07/2018 The number of older people living with an unmet care need has risen by nearly 20% in two years, an ageing charity warns. |
Loneliness prevention initiatives can save councils £2m, council chiefs say
11/06/2018 National health policy needs to recognise the ‘cost-effective benefits’ of initiatives designed to tackle loneliness, local government leaders say. |
Charity warns councils are depriving four million older people of benefits
23/05/2018 Nearly four million older people are being denied access to key benefits because they do not use computers, according to campaigners. |
Welsh programme to help the elderly ‘lacks direction’, committee warns
21/05/2018 A £125m programme to help vulnerable, elderly and homeless people in Wales ‘creates uncertainty and lacks direction’, assembly members say. |
Councils chiefs call for a ‘residential revolution’ in older people’s housing
01/05/2018 Local authority leaders have said they should be granted the powers necessary to undertake a ‘desperately-needed’ residential revolution in older people’s housing. |
Half a million older private renters are ‘invisible’ in housing policy
27/03/2018 Older private renters are being overlooked by housing policy despite being more likely to report cold and damp in their homes, a charity has warned today. |
Hospital admissions due to falls set to rise ‘dramatically’ to 1,000 a day
19/03/2018 Council chiefs call for more adult social care funding as research reveals the number of hospital admissions due to an older person falling is set to rise dramatically. |
Government invests £300m to address ageing society challenge
12/03/2018 The Government is investing £300m from its industrial strategy challenge fund to help prepare for 'the challenge of an ageing society'. |
Majority of older people living in areas with illegal levels of air pollution
05/03/2018 More than half (56%) of older people in England lived in an area which breached legal air pollution limits in 2015, according to new analysis. |
Housing adaptation system ‘complicated, reactive and unfair’
22/02/2018 The housing adaptation system in Wales is ‘complicated, reactive and unfair’ and does not deliver for those who need it, auditors warn. |
Councils welcome call for ‘focus’ on housing for older people
09/02/2018 Local government leaders have welcomed a call by MPs for a 'national focus' on providing more housing for older people. |
Javid finds extra £166m in final settlement
06/02/2018 Local government secretary Sajid Javid has found an additional £166m to ease spending pressures in social care and rural areas in the final 2018/19 settlement. |
This issue of Public Property examines how how flexible workspaces can lead the way in regeneration for local authorities, Why local authority intervention is key to successful urban regeneration schemes and if the Government’s challenge of embracing beauty is an opportunity for communities.
The March issue also takes a closer look at Blackburn with Darwen Council's first digital health hub to help people gain control over health and care services.
