40
Creating new age-appropriate housing and housing with care isn't just about
building new sites but it can also involve adapting existing buildings. We therefore
also agree with Demos about extending the measures that were introduced in
2013 to relax change of use regulations around converting offices to housing,
in order to allow various types of buildings to be converted into housing with
care models more easily. This would be aided by the implementation of a
dedicated planning designation - in the jargon use class - covering all housing
with care which would help providers offer more flexible, innovative and multi-use
developments.131
Moreover we strongly believe that the planning system should encourage the
development of more age-appropriate housing from the bottom up, and that
neighbourhood plans could be an immensely powerful mechanism for achieving
this. Introduced in the Localism Act 2011, neighbourhood plans allow local people
to get directly involved in determining the quantity and type of development
that their community needs. Currently there are more than 1500 communities
engaging in the process of producing neighbourhood plans, with more than 30
having 'gone live' after having been approved in local referendums . We are
confident that neighbourhood plans are an ideal vehicle for using the planning
policy changes described above to exercise a positive influence over the planning
regime in local areas and push the case for more housing with care. For example,
it seems likely that in many areas local people would seize the opportunity to
ensure that there is suitable housing with care in their community for their elderly
relatives. This would be boosted if planning categories were changed to create a
dedicated use class covering all housing with care and if change of use measures
were relaxed.
Recommendation: Local plans should be co-produced with care
commissioners and those responsible from drafting local Join
Strategic Needs Assessments. Change of use measures should
also be extended to allow more buildings to be converted into
housing with care models. Finally neighbourhood plans should be
promoted as a way to ensure that local demand for housing with
care is satisfied.
Impact: This would:
• Ensure that need for care is covered in the planning system and land is put
aside.
• Make it easier to convert existing buildings into age-appropriate housing.
• Allow communities to have a greater say in the provision of age-appropriate
housing from the bottom up.
4.12 A more sustainable care workforce?
With the increasing emphasis on high quality 'basic care' - not just for the sake
of the patient, but with poor care costing the NHS £2.5 billion a year132 - on the
back of the Cavendish Review, the Government plans to introduce a new 'Care
Certificate' from April 2015. This hopes to give greater confidence that Health
Care Assistants and social care support workers will have "the required values,
behaviours, competences and skills to provide high quality, compassionate
care."133 The 'Care Certificate' - as a central quality assurance mechanism -
would also help carers by allowing them to take their qualifications from one
employer to the next.
Given the challenging nature of work, low pay and high staff turnover care
providers should ensure that their care workforce have the right support structures
131 Demos, Commission on
residential care (2014)
132 Department of Health, "Good
care costs less" (16 October
2014)
133 Skills for Care, Care Certificate
(accessed November 2014)