Resource list
This section provides a comprehensive list of policies, reports, toolkits, projects and programmes, networks and other resources relating to Independent Living and older people.
Government policies
This category includes Government policies and reports across a range of areas.
| Year | Title | Department | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Independent Living and Older People Readiness Check | South East Regional Initiative on Independent Living and Older People | This Readiness Check will help services and communities to better understand what's involved in increasing older people's voice, choice and control, especially when older people need a lot of support in their lives. It is for local authorities to use with local partners. It uses a simple traffic light system to show where things are at now. | 2010 | The Coalition: Our programme for government | HM Government | Sets out a programme for partnership government over the next five years. Includes a section on Pensions and Older People. |
| 2010 | White Paper: Building the National Care Service | Department of Health | Sets out the Government's plans for the creation of a National Care Service for all adults in England, based on the principle of shared social insurance. |
| 2010 | Equality Act 2010 (with explanatory note) | HM Government | Harmonises existing discrimination law and strengthens the law to support progress one quality, including age equality by banning age discrimination in the provision of goods, facilities and services. Received Royal Assent in April 2010. |
| 2010 | Confident communities, brighter futures: A framework for developing well-being | Department of Health | Sets out the argument and evidence base for prioritising well-being, and provides a systematic approach to improving mental well-being with selected evidence-based approaches and interventions that have been shown to be effective across the life course, and across key public health domains. |
| 2009 | New Horizons: A shared vision for mental health | Department of Health | Set out a new approach to make services for adults with mental health problems of all ages (including older adults) better in the future, and to help everyone have better mental health. Replaces the National Service Framework for Mental Health which did not include older people. |
| 2009 | Building a society for all ages | HM Government | Sets out a strategy for how we as a society can address the challenges and make the most of the opportunities of demographic change. Proposals include a new 'one stop shop', a new prevention package, a grandparents summit and a new UK Advisory Forum on Ageing. |
| 2009 | Research and development work relating to assistive technology 2008-09 | Department of Health | Outlines the role of assistive technology in making independent living easier for older and disabled people. Describes the wide range of government-funded projects supporting the development, introduction and evaluation of assistive technology. Relevant projects funded by the EU have also been included. |
| 2009 | Working to put people first: The strategy for the adult social care workforce in England | Department of Health | Provides a framework to support the transformation of the adult social care workforce. Enables implementation of Putting People First (2008). Sets out a number of initiatives including more apprenticeships, a new National Management Trainee Scheme and a new voluntary registration scheme for home care workers. |
| 2009 | Living well with dementia: a National Dementia Strategy | Department of Health | The first ever National Dementia Strategy. Sets out initiatives designed to make the lives of people with dementia, their carers and families better and more fulfilled. Focuses on three key areas: improved awareness, earlier diagnosis and intervention, and higher quality of care. Backed by £150m over the first two years. |
| 2008 | Carers at the heart of 21st century families and communities: a caring system on your side, a life of your own | Department of Health | Sets out the Government's short-term agenda and long-term vision for the future care and support of carers. Underpinned by £255m to implement some immediate steps alongside with medium and long-term plans. Commitments include more planned short breaks, piloting of annual health checks and pilots to examine how the NHS can better support carers. |
| 2008 | Independent Living Strategy | Department for Work and Pensions | Sets out a five-year plan that seeks to realise the Government's aim that all disabled people (including older disabled people) should have the same choice, control and freedom over their lives as every other citizen, with support based on individuals' own choices and aspirations. Commitments include this resource on independent living and older people, and a demonstration project to put it into practice. |
| 2008 | Lifetime homes, lifetime neighbourhoods: A national strategy for housing in an ageing society | Communities and Local Government | Sets out the Government's plan for making sure that there is enough appropriate housing available in future to relieve the forecasted unsustainable pressures on homes, health and social care services. Includes proposals for ways to provide better homes for older people and to increase their housing options beyond care homes and sheltered housing. |
| 2007 | Putting people first: A shared vision and commitment to the transformation of adult social care | Department of Health | Sets out a shared vision and commitment to the radical transformation of adult social care. Underpinned by £520m funding to local authorities over three years, as announced in the Local Authority Circular LAC (DH)(2008)1: Transforming adult social care. |
| 2007 | World class commissioning: Adding life to years and years to life | Department of Health | Sets out a vision and organisational competencies for outstanding performance in the way primary care trusts commission health and care services in the NHS. |
| 2007 | Public Service Agreement (PSA) targets | HM Treasury | Sets out 30 priority outcomes for the period 2008-2011. PSA 17 sets out to tackle poverty and promote greater independence and well-being in later life. |
| 2006 | Our health, our care, our say: A new direction for community services (White Paper) | Department of Health | Sets out a vision to provide people with good quality social care and NHS services in the communities where they live, by promoting healthier lifestyles and giving service users more independence, choice and control. |
| 2006 | Commissioning framework for health and well-being | Department of Health | Sets out eight steps that health and social care commissioners and service providers should take in partnership to commission more effectively. Part of implementation of Our health, our care, our say. |
| 2006 | Strong and Prosperous Communities: the Local Government White Paper | Communities and Local Government | Sets out a vision for local people and local communities to have greater influence and power over decisions affecting their lives; and the delivery of better public services through a rebalancing of the relationship between central government, local government and local people. |
| 2006 | A Sure Start to Later Life: Ending Inequalities for Older People - A Social Exclusion Unit Final Report | Communities and Local Government | Sets out 30 cross-government action points aimed at tackling exclusion in later life and addressing the needs of the most excluded older people. |
| 2005 | Opportunity Age: Meeting the challenges of ageing in the 21st century | Department for Work and Pensions | The Government's first ageing strategy. Aimed to end the perception of older people as dependent; ensure that longer life is healthy and fulfilling; and that older people are full participants in society. 'Refreshed' and replaced in 2009 by Building a society for all ages. |
| 2001 | National Service Framework for Older People | Department of Health | Ten-year framework that set new national standards and service models of care across health and social services for all older people. Will come to an end in 2011. |
Other key reports
This category includes key reports produced by campaigning organisations and academics.
| Year | Title | Author | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Round-up of everything we know so far about older people with high support needs | Joseph Rowntree Foundation and others | The Round-up draws together research on how we can improve the quality of life of older people with high support needs. Key messages include: old age is about everyone, everyone needs to be able to live a meaningful life; older people in the UK are becoming more and more diverse; simple changes to the current system could lead to a better life; and understanding how to promote happy and inclusive communal living can make a big difference. |
| 2010 | Under pressure: Tackling the financial challenge for councils of an ageing population | Audit Commission | Councils face the challenge of an ageing population as public spending reduces. This report says most councils do not know enough about the costs of their ageing population. They may also miss the savings that could flow from preventive services and better work with other organisations. |
| 2009 | At your service: Navigating the future market in health and social care | Demos | Looks at how personal budgets will impact the social and health care market, what prospective budget holders know and think about personal budgets, how they would spend it and what difficulties they envisage. Sets out the likely challenges facing local authorities and service providers in delivering the personalisation agenda and contains recommendations about how to make the transition successfully. |
| 2009 | The new old age: Perspectives on innovating our way to the good life for all | Nesta Lab | Collection of essays that seeks to promote understanding of older age as a series of transitions that can be prepared for, to increase the chance of developing the new services and products that will help more people become optimal agers. |
| 2009 | State of social care in England 2007-2008 | Commission for Social Care Inspection (now Care Quality Commission) | Describes trends in the range, quality and availability of social care services in 2007-08 across the public, voluntary and private sectors. Looks at support to people with multiple and complex needs to see whether these people are benefiting from the new personalised care agenda as described in Putting People First. Finds that progress on personalised care is patchy and that too few people with complex needs are experiencing it. |
| 2008 | Don't stop me now: Preparing for an ageing population | Audit Commission | This report looks at the challenges and opportunities facing England as its population gets older. It aims to help local public services adapt to the needs of an older and more diverse society, and identifies solutions that can be implemented quickly, as well as exploring how councils should plan strategically for the wider challenges ahead. |
| 2008 | A-Z: Mapping long-term care markets | Resolution Foundation | Provides an analysis of the long-term care system to produce an holistic 'market map', identifying weaknesses in the market which can be modelled to take into account future demographic and policy trends. Part of larger research project focusing on low-earners and long-term care. Other reports include a study of low earners' experiences and perceptions of the care market, and discussion papers on Navigating care, Innovation and efficiency, Local market shaping and Funding. |
| 2008 | Advancing opportunity: Older people and social care | The Smith Institute | Collection of essays that seek to articulate more fully how and where policy change and intervention are required to making social care fit for the 21st century. Examines the trade-offs between quality and coverage; the case for more targeted support; the concept of co-payment; and the role of the private market for care insurance. |
| 2008 | Making it personal | Demos | Advocates a simple yet transformational approach to public services – self-directed services – which allocate people budgets so they can shape, with the advice of professionals and peers, the support they need. |
Toolkits
This category includes toolkits and guidance produced by Government bodies and others.
| Year | Title | Author | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Resource guide for Local Authorities transport solutions for older people | Department for Transport | Contains information including web links and good practice examples on schemes and resources to help local authorities when considering the needs of older people for transport planning. |
| 2008 | Personalisation toolkit | DH Care Networks | Online resource to support councils to begin to plan and deliver the transformation of their social care systems, as set out in Putting People First. Its main focus is on learning from the Individual Budget Pilot programme. |
| 2008 | Promoting independence self-assessment tool | Department of Health | A tool for local authorities and health communities that provides a comprehensive overview of the elements that need to be addressed to make a sustainable shift towards promoting independence. Very effective for working out the priorities for the older people's dimension of Local Area Agreements. |
| 2007 | Dementia toolkit: Strengthening the involvement of people with dementia | DH Care Networks | A toolkit to help service commissioners and providers to engage meaningfully with people with dementia when planning, delivering and reviewing services. |
| 2007 | Making a strategic shift to prevention and early intervention | DH Care Networks | A practical 'how to do it guide' which includes a DVD that demonstrates how the POPP pilots are improving outcomes for older people, a high-level summary of key messages for local decision makers such as chief officers and commissioners and a more detailed compendium of best practice for operational managers. |
| 2004 | A toolkit for older people's champions: A resource for non-executive directors, councillors and older people acting as older people's champions | Department of Health | A practical guide for lay people who are older people's champions |
| 2003 | How can we help older people not fall again? Implementing the Older People's NSF Falls Standard: support for commissioning good services | Department of Health | Provides guidance for commissioners to implement the National Service Framework for Older People Standard on falls prevention. |
Projects and programmes
This category includes national and regional pilot projects, demonstration projects and other initiatives related to Independent Living and older people.
| Year | Name | Sponsor | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009-2013 | A Better Life | Joseph Rowntree Foundation | A five year, £1.5 million programme to understand what needs to change so that older people, especially those with high support needs, can have 'a better life'. |
| 2009-2011 | South East Regional Initiative on Independent Living and Older People | Office for Disability Issues, Department for Work and Pensions | Regional initiative involving three local authorities in the South East of England (Oxfordshire, Portsmouth and West Sussex) to demonstrate and measure the effectiveness of investing in independent living for older people with high support needs. |
| 2009-2011 | Dementia Choices | Mental Health Foundation | Two year project based in England to explore, support and promote different forms of self-directed support, including direct payments, individual budgets and personal budgets for people living with dementia and their carers. |
| 2007-2010 | Link Age Plus Pilots | Department for Work and Pensions | Pilot programme involving eight projects to find new ways of providing older people with access to a wide range of more integrated, joined up services. |
| 2007-2009 | Practicalities & Possibilities | Lloyds TSB Foundation | Development programme involving nine projects to apply the principles and practices of self directed support with and for older people who need support to live their daily lives. Delivered by Helen Sanderson Associates, Centre for Policy on Ageing and the Older People's Programme. |
| 2006-2007 | Individual budgets | Department of Health | Pilot programme involving 13 local authorities to test new ways of giving individuals who currently receive services greater choice and control over their support arrangements. Evaluation report published in 2008. |
| 2006- | Dignity in Care | Department of Health | Campaign to end tolerance of indignity in health and social care services through raising awareness and inspiring people to take action as Dignity Champions. |
| 2005-2009 | Partnerships for Older People Projects (POPPs) | Department of Health | Pilot programme involving 29 local authority areas to develop services for older people to promote their health, well-being and independence, and prevent or delay their need for higher intensity or institutional care. A national evaluation published in 2010 found that a wide range of projects resulted in improved quality of life for participants and considerable savings, as well as better local working relationships. |
Networks and other resources
This category includes networks, online forums and other resources related to Independent Living and older people.
| Name | Summary |
|---|---|
| Ageing Well Community of Practice | The Ageing Well programme is designed to support local authorities to improve their services for older people within this challenging environment. It will be delivered by Local Government Improvement and Development (formerly the IDeA). |
| Better Commissioning Network | A network that works with commissioners across health and care to develop commissioning as a transformational process to meet the new demands of the health and care system. Hosted by DH Care Networks. |
| Care Services Efficiency Delivery Network | A network that helps councils to identify and develop more efficient ways of delivering adult social care. Hosted by DH Care Networks. |
| Dementia Network | A resource to help local health and social care economies get ready for the first ever National Dementia Strategy which will focus on improving awareness and information, early diagnosis and intervention and living well with dementia. Hosted by DH Care Networks. |
| Dignity in Care Network | A network that aims to put dignity at the heart of care services. Hosted by DH Care Networks. |
| Housing Learning Improvement Network | A network that brings together groups of senior staff within local authorities, Primary Care Trusts, Registered Social Landlords and the private sector interested in forging closer partnerships in delivering housing with extra care solutions for older people. Hosted by DH Care Networks. |
| In Control | Organisation promoting self-directed support for disabled people. |
| Integrated Care Network | A network that helps frontline organisations to work together to deliver flexible services. Hosted by DH Care Networks. |
| Personal Health Budget Learning Network | A place where people who are interested in personal budgets in the NHS can find out about the pilot programme being run by the Department of Health, and find information about learning so far in this area. This network also houses a learning community which is a place where those directly involved in the pilot programme can communicate with each other. Hosted by DH Care Networks in partnership with In Control. |
| Personalisation Network | "A place where people involved in changing the Adult Social Care system can get guidance and examples from across the country." Hosted by DH Care Networks. |
| Prevention and Early Intervention Network | A resource to support local authorities and health partners make the kind of strategic shift to prevention and early intervention envisaged in Putting People First. Hosted by DH Care Networks. |
| Social Care TV | An online channel for everyone involved in the social care sector. Includes a series of short films and links to multi-media and e-learning resources that reflect the issues, challenges and rewards in current social care practice. |
| Telecare Learning Improvement Network | A national network supporting local service redesign through the application of telecare and telehealth to aid the delivery of housing, health, social care and support services for older and vulnerable people. Hosted by DH Care Networks. |