PIP and Sheltered Housing

Hello,
I am just looking through a draft PIP claim form and under the question about residential or nursing care it lists types of accomodation for which the daily living part of PIP will not be paid - “sheltered Housing” is in this list.

I know this is just a draft (page 11 of short form if anyone has a copy) but this is a little alarming.

Does anyone know if this has been raised anywhere and whether there is a definition of “sheltered housing”. In draft regs there is no mention of sheltered housing.

But given that this short form is the one to be completed over the phone prior to completing paper form, it may cause a few problems. As a housing provider we have sheltered housing available for people aged 55+ - so if this is correct it will affect these tenants.

Any comments welcomed.

Thank you

Hi,

It depends on both the type of service and the source of funding. s.85 WRA 2012 ( http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2012/5/section/85 ) says:

(1)Regulations may provide that no amount in respect of personal independence payment which is attributable to entitlement to the daily living component is payable in respect of a person for a period when the person meets the condition in subsection (2).
(2)The condition is that the person is a resident of a care home in circumstances in which any of the costs of any qualifying services provided for the person are borne out of public or local funds by virtue of a specified enactment.
(3)In this section “care home” means an establishment that provides accommodation together with nursing or personal care.
(4)The following are “qualifying services“ for the purposes of subsection (2)—
(a)accommodation;
(b)board;
(c)personal care;
(d)such other services as may be prescribed.
(5)The reference in subsection (2) to a “specified enactment” is to an enactment which is specified for the purposes of that subsection by regulations or is of a description so specified.
(6)The power to specify an enactment for the purposes of subsection (2) includes power to specify it only in relation to its application for a particular purpose.
(7)In this section “enactment” includes an enactment comprised in an Act of the Scottish Parliament or in an instrument made under such an Act.

I think that the first question for you is proabably whether your accomodation counts as a ‘care home’ as defined in s.85(3).

For the ‘specified enactments’ see Reg 28 of the SS(PIP) Regs 2013 ( http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2013/9780111532072/contents - still draft at present). This reproduces the catch-all of ‘any enactment relating to persons under a disability except…’ from the DLA Regs.

For the sake of completeness, you should also check out s.86 of WRA 2012, and Reg 29 of the SS(PIP) Regs if there is any danger of your sheltered accomodation being mistaken for a ‘hospital or similar institution’...

Jon

I think our biggest worry is the wording on the form, which clearly asks if you live in sheltered accomodation - for which the daily living part will not be paid….a definition of sheltered accomodation is:

Sheltered housing (also known as retirement housing) means having your own flat or bungalow in a block, or on a small estate, where all the other residents are older people (usually over 55). With a few exceptions, all developments (or ‘schemes’) provide independent, self-contained homes with their own front doors.
There are many different types of scheme, both to rent or to buy. They usually contain between 15 and 40 properties, and range in size from studio flats (or ‘bedsits’) through to 2 and 3 bedroomed.
Properties in most schemes are designed to make life a little easier for older people - with features like raised electric sockets, lowered worktops, walk-in showers, and so on. Some will usually be designed to accommodate wheelchair users. And they are usually linked to an emergency alarm service (sometimes called ‘community alarm service’) to call help if needed.
Many schemes also have their own ‘manager’ or ‘warden’, either living on-site or nearby, whose job is to manage the scheme and help arrange any services residents need. Managed schemes will also usually have some shared or communal facilities such as a lounge for residents to meet, a laundry, a guest flat and a garden

I can see Mrs Cannybody stating that yes she lives in sheltered housing and then not being paid….

Today I have seen a decision letter that states that

‘Although you’re entitled, you can’t be paid the Daily Living Component of Personal Independence Payment from and including 01/10/13 as you’re in Sheltered Housing’ 

We are going to try and establish more detail regarding the support/assistance/personal care the client receives in his Sheltered scheme.  Having visit the scheme in the past, I would imagine it is very minimal, to non existent. 

I’m not sure that the matter is clear cut either way as it is for DLA.  For DLA the question is not so much whether the home is a care home (a person’s own home is clearly not a care home as such) but whether the claimant is in receipt of any qualifying services.  Regulation 8(6)(a) clearly excludes services given to the claimant in his own home.  For PIP however, the definition of a care home might be more of an issue.  Jon rightly points to the definition in s85 of the WRA.  It is at least arguable that sheltered accommodation is “an establishment that provides accommodation together with nursing or personal care”.  This is what the DWP appear to be saying.

However, the question then becomes whether the services the claimant receives amount to personal care?  Absent further definition pursuant to s85(4)(d) of the Act, then there is no apparent definition of personal care in the PIP legislation.  It is common ground that an establishment (other than a hospital) that requires registration under the Care Standards Act 2000 is probably a care home.  However, that Act contains no definition of personal care either.
 
The first statutory definition of personal care in England can be found in regulation 1 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (regulated activity) Regulations 2010 and they are intimate, hands on care with activities such as washing, dressing, etc, or prompting or supervision of such activities.

So, if that is used as the starting point it remains to be argued that the claimant is not receiving personal care of the type usually provided in a care home and so the services provided in sheltered accommodation (if none of the above) should not be classed as personal care for the purposes of the WRA.

There is some useful guidance of what is accommodation and care provided together here.

http://www.cqc.org.uk/sites/default/files/documents/rp_poc1c_100832_20110210_v1_00_ras_a_supported_living_scheme_needs_to_register_for_for_publication.pdf

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2010/9780111491942/regulation/2

What about extra care housing schemes?  These typically consist of purpose built self-contained properties with care staff available on site.  Properties may be owned or rented.  As residents’ needs increase they can access personal care services.  I’m scaring myself imagining a resident becoming less able, deciding to spend their PIP on a bit of home care and then being told they can no longer get PIP.

I’ve discussed this with my social worker colleagues as I got the woolies up me about a new facility that’s just opened round here. Apparently registration as a “care home” is exclusive of registering with cqc to provide care services.

However important to bear in mind that most Sheltered Housing is funded as supported housing, a.k.a exempt accomodation paid via HB and those; not being funded under a specified provision will still qualify.

The difficulty will come where people have got care packages or S117 aftercare in exempt accomodation; they’ll be caught by the exclusion from PIP… (I might be wrong about care packages… watch this space)

Edit; it must be said that the definition of care home would appear to my fatigues eyes to be lifted from S72(8)&(9) SSCBA ‘92 as amended by s60.2 of the 2007 Welfare Reform Act.

Maybe DWP are intending to tighten up, or maybe we’ve got a scrap on our hands as to where the “care home” line lies.

Cordelia - 27 January 2015 01:09 PM

What about extra care housing schemes?  These typically consist of purpose built self-contained properties with care staff available on site.  Properties may be owned or rented.  As residents’ needs increase they can access personal care services.  I’m scaring myself imagining a resident becoming less able, deciding to spend their PIP on a bit of home care and then being told they can no longer get PIP.

If they’re buying the care in themselves they’ll be fine. If there’s an element of social services funding it will be more difficult.

Although for a different purpose (HB ineligible service charges) the Court of Appeal considered the meaning of “sheltered accomodation” in Oxford City Council v Basey [2012] EWCA Civ. 114; [2012]AACR 38. This decision included consideration of ‘very sheltered’ or ‘extra sheltered’ accomodation and determined that “sheltered accomodation” should be given its (very wide) everyday meaning and not the very restricted meaning argued by the City Council.

In the context of PIP I would suggest this is DWPs clumsy way of trying to establish if someone is living in accomodation where “qualifying services” are provided.

Of course DWP staff may jump to the erroneous conclusion that “qualifying services” are provided in all types of ‘sheltered accomodation’ particularly if some residents do receive them and others do not!

Not sure about this but S.85 of the Welfare Reform Act lists the def as ‘accommodation, board, personal care and other as may be prescribed’.
When did sheltered housing provide food?
When did sheltered housing provide personal care unlike social care. Social services def of personal care and needing to be registered to provide such care should exclude all sheltered housing as they are not registered.

Or have I misunderstood something about Sheltered housing?

We have some sheltered accom that could be seen to be providing care however they have been clever and made sure that the care providers are a different entity than the landlord. That gets us a way round it.