We don’t need to tell you that there has been a huge number of changes to the older people’s housing related support sector not least because of the refocusing or withdrawal of Supporting People funding. New models of service delivery have grown up around sheltered housing schemes and government has placed greater emphasis on the importance of preventative services in improving health and well-being. At the end of last year therefore, we asked both members and non-members to take a Sector Selfie to give us a better understanding of your view of the impact of the recent changes on the services you deliver.
68 people/organisations completed our online survey and we have just started to analyse the findings. Very briefly, as we would all expect, the results show significant changes in the sector over the last three years – over half of respondents say their support services have shrunk and most respondents have lost Supporting People income. Training budgets have also shrunk with in-house training the most popular form of staff development. Less expected was the positive feedback about the emergence of other service models and a quarter of respondents reporting that their support services have grown.
In relation to erosh, we found that there is a high level of awareness of erosh in the sector but not so much awareness of the resources we provide. Respondents found the policy briefings, good practice guidance and lobbying activity most useful as well as erosh news and our regional network events.
What next? We will finish evaluating the results and finalised our report as well as considering how the findings impact on our priorities and member services. We will send a copy of the report to all those who completed the survey and gave us their email address. The report will be free to erosh members and £45 to non-members.
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