ASSET: Adult Social Services Environments and Settings

Introduction

This project explored the views and experiences of people commissioning, delivering and receiving adult social care services in extra care housing and retirement villages. This research demonstrates that for some older people a move to housing with care is associated with a better quality of life when compared with living in mainstream housing; local authority approaches to commissioning adult social care vary considerably in response to a complex range of drivers including public spending cuts, welfare reforms, the personalisation agenda and changing aspirations for later life; there is an urgent need to provide better financial information to current and prospective residents and their families. This could include information on personal budgets, direct payments and charging arrangements; the housing with care model can support residents who are very diverse in terms of their abilities, needs and care packages, including those not receiving any planned care.