Housing and Safeguarding Adults Alliance – press release

Why a ‘Housing and Safeguarding Adults Alliance’?

The Housing and Safeguarding Adults Alliance brings together leading-edge housing providers to work alongside professional and trade body representatives, and our partners in adult social care and health, to encourage, assist, promote and recognise the role and contribution of the housing sector in safeguarding adults.

Although many social housing providers engage effectively in safeguarding adults, many have not or do so only partially.  This may be for a range of reasons including: a lack of incentives to do so; being unclear about their responsibilities or how they can contribute and add value; the challenges of partnership working.   This lack of engagement is particularly the case for some non specialist housing providers of general needs accommodation.

The Alliance recognises that there are cross-cutting issues with domestic abuse and anti-social behaviour that  housing providers will need to consider when developing policies, procedures and practices in relation to safeguarding adults.

The launch of the Alliance is particularly timely in the light of the adult safeguarding clauses of the  new Care Act 2014 and its related draft statutory guidance and the recently published  Social Care Institute for Excellence Guide on ‘Adult safeguarding for housing staff’.   We fully endorse the messages of the guide which are consistent with our aims and objectives as set out below.

Aim of the Housing and Safeguarding Adults Alliance

To improve the engagement of all social housing providers in safeguarding adults and build greater understanding by the statutory partners of the key role housing can play.

Objectives of the Housing and Safeguarding Adults Alliance

To:

• increase awareness across the  social housing sector, in particular non specialist providers of  general needs housing,  of the need to engage in adult safeguarding
• improve practice within the sector through sharing learning between members  and promoting safeguarding adults training
• increase awareness of the economic and social value that participation by the housing sector  brings to safeguarding adults across all sectors
• demonstrate the commitment of the social housing sector to improving engagement in  safeguarding adults to a range of partners, particularly adult social care staff
• work with statutory partners to address the barriers to effective partnership working, including those relating to information sharing
• improve the strategic  engagement of all housing providers with  Safeguarding Adults Boards, addressing the barriers
• increase joint working on safeguarding adults between housing providers in any geographical area
• capture and disseminate positive practice, and celebrate success!

Alliance members currently include:

• one representative from each of the following housing providers:   Peabody, Sutton Housing Partnership (Co-Chair),  Together Housing
• one representative of each of the following housing professional and trade bodies: Centre for Housing and Support,  Chartered Institute of Housing,  Housing Learning Improvement Network, National Housing Federation, SITRA,  Social Landlords Crime and Nuisance Group
• Imogen Parry (Independent Consultant, Researcher and Trainer for the Housing Sector – Co-Chair)

Alliance plans currently include:

• Good practice materials to be gathered and posted onto the Safeguarding resource of the Housing Learning and Improvement Network website
• Producing self-assessment checklists for housing providers and for adult social care
• Promoting the development of local and regional events on housing and safeguarding

Housing and adult social care staff are invited to email the Alliance with good practice examples and other demonstrations of how housing’s engagement in safeguarding adults has been enhanced and improved.

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