independent living

Report that looks at how far government and other organisations are making information about social care more easily available. It examines the challenges that organisations providing home care services face in responding to service users’ choices and the help that local authorities can give these organisations to meet such challenges.

It also reviews the available research evidence on how service users, carers and professionals balance the benefits of choice against the potential risks involved.

Fim that highlights two innovative approaches to meeting people's accommodation needs.

The first is an example of ‘Shared Lives', a service provided by individuals and families in local communities who offer accommodation and support in their family home to people who are unable to live independently.

The second is ‘Home Share', a simple way of helping people to help each other. The film shows two people with different sets of needs, both of whom also have something to offer each other.

Report looking at what good support means to people with disabilities.

Report that starts by taking stock of what it is that people want as they get older. It reviews the patterns, the emerging policy and the implications for the personal and state pocket of an ageing population. At its heart this report examines how our society, young and old, can pursue a good life.

Shaping our Age is a three-year, Big Lottery Funded project and unique partnership between WRVS, the Centre for Citizen Participation at Brunel University and the Centre for Social Action at De Montfort University.

Paper that reviews the evidence on the cost effectiveness of preventative support services that assist older people with care and support needs to remain in their own homes.

The costs of these preventative support services are contrasted with the costs of specialist housing options, such as sheltered and extra care housing and also with the costs of health services, as part of reviewing the value for money of preventative support services (henceforth PSS).

A social media website dedicated to building a community that aims to include disabled people in the design of everyday household products from their living rooms, and where people can share ideas and tips on how to overcome everyday challenges they face with appliances and technology.

The site was created by the Blackwood Foundation an independent subsidiary of Blackwood (previously known as Margaret Blackwood Housing Association). The Blackwood Foundation supports people to live independently and to get the most out of life.

This report aims to explore the contribution that occupational therapy makes to social work services and the profession’s potential contribution to the government’s vision for Scotland. It identifies best practice and opportunities to improve the provision and quality of occupational therapy within social work services.

Website resource of Joseph Rowntree Foundation research reports. Resources range from education, training and employment, housing and communities and social problems, to health and care, involvement and engagement, and arts, culture and technology.

Publication offering an overview of what personalisation is and how the idea originated. It also explains some of the basics of personalisation and considers what it might mean for different social care stakeholders and the sector as a whole.