Wealden District Council

Contents

Chapter 1: Purpose and Aim

Chapter 2: Identifying Residents in Need of Support

Chapter 3: Accommodation Options to meet Residents Needs

Chapter 4: Supporting Residents

Chapter 5: Our Objectives and How We Will Meet These

Purpose

The purpose of this strategy is to set out what might make a tenant or leaseholder in need of additional support (known as a vulnerability), highlight how we identify those that are in need of extra support and what we do to support these residents.

For the purpose of this strategy resident means a council tenant, A2 dominion tenant or a retirement living leaseholder.

What do we mean by, “in need of extra support” or “vulnerable”?

For the purposes of this Strategy, we have defined “vulnerable” as:

“A tenant or retirement living leaseholder who is aged eighteen years of age or over, and who is or may be by reason of physical or mental health, addiction, financial and/or digital, isolation, circumstances or other reason/s unable to take care of themselves or unable to protect themselves against harm or exploitation or is at risk of losing their tenancy.”

Some of our residents may be vulnerable due to the following reasons[1]:

Physical Health – including long-term illness or health conditions, hearing or vision impairments, mobility, communication impairment or neurological conditions such as dementia, short-term health conditions under treatment. Whether registered or registerable as disabled.
Mental Health – including PTSD, social anxiety, depression.
Addiction – including drug and alcohol abuse or gambling.
Financial and/or digital exclusion (lack of access to the internet) – includes food insecurity, fuel poverty.
Isolation – includes rural isolation.
Social or welfare reasons – includes vulnerability due to anti-social behaviour, domestic abuse, being a care leaver, having been homeless, someone suffering bereavement or having caring responsibilities.
Other – including social or behavioural (including neurodiversity such as autism, attention deficit disorder), dyslexia or learning disabilities or age, particularly very young or older residents. It would also cover where tenants/s are unable to or have limited ability to read or write.

We have included additional information on older residents as approximately a third of our residents are aged 65+ and 14% of our accommodation is retirement living[2] and with an ageing population this is likely to continue. As such in the past, we had a separate strategy on older people’s housing and support needs, but this strategy has now been combined with what was our Vulnerable Tenants & Leaseholders Strategy to create this Housing & Support Strategy. It is worth noting that older residents may be vulnerable due to age, and/or any of the other reasons listed above.

Who is the Strategy for?

The Strategy is for both tenants (Council and A2 Dominion (a housing association whose homes we manage in Wealden)) and Wealden’s retirement living leaseholders.

Aim

The ultimate aim of this strategy is to ensure residents are supported to sustain their tenancy. In addition to this aim we have clear objectives which are set out in Chapter 5.

[1] The examples listed are not an exhaustive list.

[2] 2021 Census highlighted that 41.6% of Wealden’s population were aged 55+, with 26.5% aged 65+ of which 7.2% were aged 80+. The Office of National Statistics trend-based projections predict that our population will age further and between 2023 and 2043 the percentage aged 65+ years will grow from 27.2% to 33.6%. Whereas we will see a decline in those aged 55-64 years from 15.8% in 2023 to 13.8% in 2043.

Chapter 2: Identifying Vulnerable Residents

Not everyone with a vulnerability will have a support need. However, it is essential that those that do, are identified quickly, to ensure that they receive the support and services necessary to maintain their tenancy.

We will identify vulnerable residents by the resident, family member or friend informing us of a support need. Our staff also receive training so that they can identify residents who might be vulnerable and in need of extra support.

Any safeguarding concerns[1] will be identified by the housing service and referred to East Sussex County Council for investigation.

New Tenants

The housing service manages in-house the housing register for all households that require social housing whether that be council housing or Private Registered Provider/Housing Association homes.

All housing applicants, including those for retirement living (rented and leasehold) are assessed and any support needs identified. Applicants with high support needs may be referred on to East Sussex County Council for consideration of more specialist supported accommodation, such as extra care. Some housing applicants may also have existing support in place. Where a need is identified the Housing Options team will make referrals for additional support to appropriate services.

When a new tenant is nominated for a vacant council property, information is shared between housing teams to ensure that all staff involved with the resident are aware of any support needs or vulnerabilities of the customer. The sign-up process and 6-week visit for all new tenants is another opportunity to identify any support needs including any assistance required to help them sustain their tenancy. New tenants that could be financially vulnerable or at risk of financial vulnerability will be offered an appointment with our Tenancy Support Officer to ensure that they are receiving all the benefits to which they are entitled.

When a customer moves into Retirement Living, the Retirement Living Court Manager will produce a wellbeing assessment with the customer, and this will be reviewed regularly (see page 6/7). This identifies any support needs and how these will be met.

For most customers their support needs will be low-level and short-term and as such they will be referred for support to East Sussex Floating Support Service (ESFSS).

New Leaseholders

All leaseholders, like housing applicants for rented accommodation, will complete an application form and this can identify any support needs.

Prospective leasehold purchasers meet or have a telephone discussion from our Leasehold Officer prior to their purchase, which provides an opportunity to identify any support needs.

All leaseholders moving into Retirement Living will have a wellbeing assessment with the Retirement Living Court Manager (as detailed on pages6/7).

Existing residents

General Needs tenants

There are often many opportunities to identify tenants who might have support needs that develop after they move into their council accommodation. It is essential that we continue to maximise these opportunities in order to ensure tenants are able to sustain their tenancy. These include:

Tenancy Audit visits/ Property condition checks and other visits by the Housing Officer including for reports or antisocial behaviour or breach of tenancy conditions.
Visit by contractors to carry out repairs or other works including improvement works.
Visit by other housing staff.
Contact by third party e.g., concerns raised by neighbours/friends/relatives or other service provider including voluntary and statutory services.
Referrals from other council services who have reason to believe a tenant is in need of additional support e.g., benefit service.
Referrals from other services – this can include Brighton Housing Trust, adult social care, children’s services, Citizens Advice etc.
Other intelligence – e.g., a complaint/s, certain types of repairs being requested, antisocial behaviour.

Retirement Living tenants and leaseholders

All Retirement Living residents will have wellbeing assessments developed with them at sign-up and reviewed on an annual basis or before then if a need arises. They are not care plans but identify any support needs the tenant may have in areas such as physical and emotional wellbeing. Relevant referrals and signposting will then be made as a result. The Court Manager will also collect practical information such as next of kin, GP details, how many calls the resident would like per week from the Court Manager and the networking activities that the resident would like to be involved with.

The Retirement Living Court Managers make regular welfare calls to all residents. These can be daily or weekly. Some residents decide to opt out of welfare calls, in which case the Manager will perform one weekly call through the system to check the equipment is working. Court Managers strongly encourage residents to take up regular welfare calls. The manager will also identify any additional needs (physical and mental health) and act accordingly. They also support residents to access to social activities.

The manager is on site regularly and this provides an ideal opportunity to identify any additional needs that a resident might have. Due to the fact that there is a communal lounge and a shared main entrance this provides an opportunity for other residents to identify and report any concerns to their court manager about another resident or the building.

All Retirement Living properties have a fixed lifeline service with pull cords and a speech module so that they can contact the lifeline service 24 hours a day in the event of an emergency such as a fall. Some residents are also issued with pendants if required.

The court manager will liaise with GP’s, Adult Social Care and other services as appropriate. This ensures their residents receive the support that they need to sustain their tenancy.

Temporary Accommodation tenants

Those placed in temporary accommodation may have already been referred for support to ESFSS (see page 10) by their Housing Options Officer. Our Temporary Accommodation Co-ordinator maintains contact with customers in temporary accommodation and will offer help to apply for benefits and ensure residents can access any additional support they need.

Why is it important that we identify vulnerable residents?

As well as ensuring that they maintain their tenancy/lease, it means that we can:

Take account of known vulnerability factors in the provision of services and in decisions around tenancy management and enforcement.
Assist vulnerable residents in accessing additional services that they may need.
Record any known representatives who have consent to represent a vulnerable resident, or with power of attorney to act on the resident’s behalf.
Consider any additional needs due to the vulnerability and make appropriate referrals to statutory agencies and other external partner support agencies.
Ensure that their existing housing meets their needs – this could include considering specialist accommodation or adaptations.
Make safeguarding referrals whenever needed.
Ensure we maximise our in-house support staff to help those most in need.

[1] Where there a reasonable cause to suspect that an adult who has care and support needs or any child is at risk of or experiencing abuse and neglect.

Chapter 3: Supporting Vulnerable Residents

General Needs Accommodation

The Council owns and manages 2590 rented properties across the 5 main towns in the district and in 30 of the 37 parishes with just under two thirds concentrated in the main towns of Hailsham, Crowborough, Heathfield, Polegate and Uckfield. The remainder of the stock is in the small hamlets and villages in rural locations. This is made up of 86% general needs properties and 14% retirement living.

We currently have 29 one- and two-bedroom flats for temporary accommodation used for homeless households. Two of these have been adapted for disabled use, of which one is fully wheelchair accessible.

The bungalows are predominantly one- and two-bedroom bungalows, with 3 three-bedroom bungalows. By virtue of the Council’s allocations policy and reinforced in our tenancy policy all bungalows will only ever be allocated either to people aged 60+ or to disabled people. Whenever a bungalow becomes vacant it is referred to our Housing Solutions Officers to ensure that it is allocated to the most suitable occupant/s.

Within our supply of general needs housing the Council has a number of age restricted properties designated for people aged 60+ years.[1] These are spread across four sites and consist of:

20 one- and two-bedroom flats at Helen Court, Hailsham completed in 2016.
12 one-bedroom bungalows at New Barn Close, Hailsham.
23 units at St Peters Mead, Rotherfield consisting of flats, bungalows and houses.
14 one- and two-bedrooms flats at Molesey Court, Uckfield.

All of these properties benefit from a Lifeline emergency call service and the flats with communal entrances have door entry systems into the building for added security.

Retirement Living

The council has 427 rented properties, or 14% of its stock, as retirement living accommodation made up of bedsits, one, two and a very limited supply of three-bedroom flats as well as one- and two-bedroom bungalows. These can be accessed by those aged 60+ or those who are disabled.

Our retirement living properties are spread across 11 retirement living courts with bungalows attached to a court in Heathfield, Horam, Crowborough and Buxted. All retirement living tenants benefit from:

Lifeline in all individual properties.
Court Manager who is available 8am to 4pm Monday to Friday.
Use of communal gardens.
Use of communal lounge/s and kitchens and laundry facilities.
Door entry systems into the main building for added security.
Individual self-contained flats which means that they have their own bedroom/s, bathroom, kitchen and living room area.

Many also benefit from:

On site activities such as arts and crafts, yoga, bowling, coffee mornings and much more.
On site facilities such as guest room and hairdressers.

Leasehold accommodation for people aged 60+

The Council has a number of retirement living properties available for leasehold, these are available from as little as a 25% share, up to full ownership.

Leasehold is currently available on 6 of the 11 courts: Buxted Court, Cherry Tree Court, Hampton House, Mary Burfield Court, Church Bailey Court and Maryan Court.

Specialist Accommodation Options

We have eight units of accommodation for rough sleepers. These are known as Housing First units and come with specialist support including access to a range of other services delivered through a multi-agency approach to help the former rough sleeper. This support is currently provided by Southdown Housing Association.

We have access to some specialist accommodation within the district. This includes extra care housing for older people in need of care and support. East Sussex County Council manage referrals to extra care to the two schemes in Wealden. They also deal with referrals to accommodation for those with learning disabilities which also comes with onsite support, with two schemes in Wealden as well as some dispersed accommodation.

We have access to Refuge within the district and across the UK, which can be accessed by victims of domestic abuse who cannot stay in their current home.

Moving On

As a local authority managing our own housing and delivering housing advice in-house, we have benefitted from ensuring all tenants are able to explore the best housing options for them and some households will move through a range of accommodation types within the social housing sector in accordance with our Housing Allocations Policy as their circumstances change. This could be due to changes in their household composition or changes to their health and support needs.

We also benefit from in-house Housing Solutions Officer who work closely with the Housing Options & Homelessness Team to ensure the best housing solutions are explored for those needing housing to meet their specific needs such as adapted accommodation.

Available Homes

The turnover of stock is largely affected by the number of new homes being built. In recent years we average around 250 lettings per annum. In 2021/22 there were 296 lettings but in 22/23 there were just 217. Of these lettings 90 were existing tenants moving to alternative accommodation and 115 to new tenants. Up to a fifth of moves each year involve retirement living, with 50 in 22/23, with under a tenth of moves being to temporary accommodation with just 18 in 22/23.

We issue an average of four new retirement living leases per annum.

[1] These properties are designated as such due to planning restrictions put in place when the properties were built.

Chapter 4: Meeting our Objectives

Supporting Residents

The support needs of our residents vary considerably. Many will have a combination of support needs as opposed to one isolated issue. The way in which residents can be supported varies but this section outlines some of the ways we can help. Support may come in the form of a referral or signposting to another agency or assistance from staff within the housing service. Tenancy sustainment is the key priority for us as a housing provider.

The services available locally change regularly and so an East Sussex online directory has been developed. It details all the services available by type and the contact details for them and how referrals can be made. This is used by staff to ensure residents are able to access appropriate support.

When a support need is identified we will work closely with the resident to ensure that the right support for them is explored and delivered. Any decisions will be agreed with the resident.

In line with the Council’s Reasonable Adjustments Policy, we will ensure that residents can access our services in a format suitable to meet their needs.

What support is available?

The support provided will be based upon the resident’s support needs but can include, but is not limited to:

Housing Advice/Options– If it is appropriate a resident might be given housing advice to consider the best housing solution for them if their needs have changed since they moved into their current home. We have in-house Housing Solutions Officers to ensure the best housing solutions are explored for those needing housing to meet their specific needs such as adapted accommodation.
Aids and Adaptations – The Council continues to provide funding to help people live independently within their current home. The Council is able to carry out minor adaptations in conjunction with the tenant such as grab rails, lever taps and major adaptations that are practicable and reasonable based upon the referral of an Occupational Therapist through the Disabled Facilities Grant process. We have an in-house Occupational Therapist to ensure an efficient service is delivered.
Details of Local Charitable services – This is not an exclusive list but includes: those to support people with disabilities and their carers such as Care for the Carers, Possibility People, East Sussex Vision Support and East Sussex Association Hearing as well as Wealden Dementia Action Alliance. Wealden Citizens Advice play an important role in helping residents with advice, help debt management, to access vouchers for things such as food and fuel and household essentials. There are also a number of community fridges which can be accessed by anyone and are designed to prevent food waste. Wave Community Bank can help with savings, borrowings and budgeting.

Partnership working – Even when a referral is made, we will often work in partnership with that agency to support the resident for example working with the police in cases of antisocial behaviour or if a resident is/suspected to be the victim of exploitation (such as cuckooing/modern slavery).
Specialist support – For example for former rough sleepers placed in Housing First accommodation.

How can we ensure effective monitoring of those with support needs?

It is essential that those with support needs are identified on our housing management system so that Officers who are in contact with the resident is aware of their specific needs and can ensure that any services/contact with them is tailored to take into account these needs.

In addition, we have a separate IT solution for our Retirement Living accommodation which records details of wellbeing assessments and these are used to ensure the specific needs of those in retirement living are meet.

[1] Either on or off site

Chapter 5: Our Objectives and How we will meet them

Our aim is to ensure that our residents are able to sustain their accommodation. National research has shown that the benefits of early intervention are wide and include financial and social benefits. Through ensuring vulnerable residents are supported appropriately, we can ensure accommodation is sustained and well managed. This not only improves the health and wellbeing of our residents but also leads to cost savings for the housing service.

It is essential that as a service we are proactive in identifying vulnerable residents at the earliest opportunity.

Who is responsible for delivering our aim?

All of our staff are responsible for identifying any resident that may be potentially vulnerable.

We will deliver our aim through the following objectives:

Objective 1: identifying vulnerable residents

We will ensure that residents can self-refer, be referred and that housing staff and contractors use every opportunity to identify vulnerable residents.

We will meet this objective through:

Promoting all methods of contact for our residents so that we provide a variety of ways for residents to let us know that they need extra support.
Following up any concerns raised by relatives, friends or neighbours about a potentially vulnerable resident.
Explore ways to collect and keep up to date information about our residents.
Using standardised forms at sign-up and the 6-week visit.
Using standardised tenancy audit forms.
Completing risk assessments for all cases of antisocial behaviour.
Utilising wellbeing assessments in Retirement Living accommodation.
Ensuring Housing Officers and Retirement Living Managers have access to standardised referral forms.
Ensuring the recording of vulnerability is standardised and recorded on our Housing Management system and regularly monitored and updated.
As part of the sign-up carrying out a pre-tenancy assessment.
Working closely with contractors who are visiting our tenants’ homes.

Objective 2: Signposting/referring

With their consent we will sign-post[1]/refer[2] vulnerable residents to appropriate support services and also promote general awareness of the services available locally that can be accessed without a referral from us.

We will meet this objective through:

Objective 3: Tenancy Sustainment

We will ensure that most vulnerable tenants are supported by our Tenancy Sustainment Officer. In addition, we will utilise the services provided by our Tenancy Support Officer and/or Housing Solutions Officers and/or in-house Occupational Therapist.

We will meet this objective through:

Prompt referral to the Tenancy Sustainment Officer via an internal referral and screening process.
Prompt referral to Tenancy Support Officer and ensuring that new tenants that are financially vulnerable or at risk of financial vulnerability are supported to claim all the benefits to which they are entitled.
Prompt referral to Housing Solutions for those needing housing to meet their specific needs.
Prompt referral to Occupational Therapist for those needing aids and adaptations to meet their specific needs.
Ensuring tenants are involved in their support planning/wellbeing assessments to address any areas of concern.
Working collaboratively with other Wealden departments to identify the most vulnerable tenants such as the benefits and enforcement teams.
Ensuring officers have up to date and relevant Safeguarding knowledge and training.
Working in close partnership with key agencies such as CAB, Adult Social Care, Children’s Services and Mental Health services.
Ensuring tenants are provided with an opportunity to provide feedback on the support they have received to further shape the delivery of the service.
Ensuring those that need it receive appropriate housing advice about other housing options suitable to their needs.

Objective 4: Training

We will ensure that Housing staff have the necessary knowledge, training, and skills for their role.

We will meet this objective through:

Ensuring all housing staff complete training on identifying vulnerable adults and children – safeguarding training
Ensuring all frontline housing staff undertake trauma informed practice training.
Ensuring all housing staff receive training on equality and diversity.
All housing staff to undertake compulsory online training for all staff including the new neurodiversity training.
Ensure all housing staff attend regular refresher training.
Ensure our Court Managers undertake Best Practice in Dementia Care.
Providing other appropriate and timely training for housing staff relevant to their role e.g., on new legislation, lone working, first aid.

Objective 5: Delivering good quality accommodation and Services

Subject to budgetary constraints, we aim to ensure that we provide a range of good quality accommodation options and support services to meet resident’s needs.

Ensuring that any new build that the Council build meet current building regulations standards for accessibility level 2- accessible and adapted dwellings.
Provide some new build homes that meet current building regulations standards for accessibility level 3 – wheelchair user dwellings, subject to demand.
Looking at the suitability of all bungalows for different groups of customers – older or disabled residents and carrying out works needed to ensure they are suitable for these residents.
Exploring the need for future provision of older person’s accommodation (including retirement and extra care) as well as specialist accommodation.
Making progress on the installation of Wi-Fi into the communal areas in retirement living courts.
Continuing to provide Housing Revenue Account funding to assist those needing minor and major adaptations.
Continuing the arrangement with East Sussex County Council to have a seconded Occupational Therapist within the service.
Ensuring the alarm call services are able to work using internet protocol technology once the digital switchover happens.
Exploring the provision of telehealth/telecare services^[4].
Exploring enhanced living services within retirement living courts to enable residents to stay within the court for longer.
Encouraging older tenants living in general needs accommodation to use the council’s telecare^[5] provider for alarm and other services.
Funding a Housing Solutions Worker to ensure residents have assistance and support to access long term housing solutions that meet their needs.
Through partnership working with other organisations promote involvement in the community, well-being and healthy living.
Continuing to fund a Tenancy Sustainment Officer to support the households most in need of support.
Providing a range of options for residents to get involved to help shape our services.

Conclusion

The range of factors which can lead to vulnerability are diverse. Residents might have a number of factors which make them vulnerable and in need of extra support from us as their housing provider and/or other support services, either statutory or voluntary. There are many opportunities for the Council, its contractors and others to identify where a tenant or leaseholder is vulnerable and in need of extra support. We utilise all opportunities available to us to ensure that those needing extra support are identified as soon as possible, in order to limit the impact both to the individual, other residents and on the council.

Tenants and Leaseholders Housing & Support Strategy

Objective 1: identifying vulnerable residents

Objective 2: Signposting/referring

Objective 3: Tenancy Sustainment

Objective 4: Training

Objective 5: Delivering good quality accommodation and Services