HOUSING & CARE
In their later years, most people end up making one or more changes to their housing situation.
Down-sizing & re-location
First may come ‘down-sizing’ to a smaller home with less maintenance worries, or to release capital to supplement a pension. Some people re-locate to be nearer family, or to move to a different environment, including overseas. Never rush into this. Property laws in other countries can be a legal minefield. A move away from your established network of contacts can prove to be disappointing, and somewhere you love to spend holidays may not be so attractive 365 days a year.
Retirement schemes
Government policy is designed to keep people living independently for as long as possible. This may be in your own ‘normal’ home or, perhaps, as you get older, in a development designed for older people, a retirement scheme, a retirement village or sheltered accommodation. Depending on the scheme, flats can be bought, part-bought through shared ownership schemes (often operated by housing associations), or rented as ‘social housing’ through local authorities, or housing associations. The Housing Department of your council can provide local information.
Retirement schemes usually have some limited support, such as a visiting or resident warden or house manager, and possibly ‘call’ alarm facilities. The burden of maintenance is lifted from the individual, and buildings insurance and communal gardening are also organised centrally and paid for via service charges. Larger schemes have on-site restaurants and some have excellent leisure facilities.
Support for independent living
There are many ways in which you can retain your independent lifestyle. For example, you can:
o Arrange home care, possibly with help via Social Services – see below
o Social Services also provide specialist rehabilitation and enablement services for people recently discharged from hospital, and all sorts of useful equipment
o Use a ‘call’ alarm service
o Get meals-on-wheels or use a home delivery service
o Attend day centres or lunch clubs. Transport is often available
o See if you are eligible for ‘Attendance Allowance’ to help towards the costs of care. This state benefit is not means-tested
Sources of detailed information include the ‘Age’ and ‘Care’ charities, Citizens Advice Bureaux, and local authority Social Services Departments. Your local Age Concern, for example, can explain your options and the help that you may be eligible for from Social Services. The following web link to the Government website gives a good introduction: http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Over50s/HomeAndCommunity/StayingInYourHome/index.htm
Home Care Services
Firms which provide home care services are registered with and inspected by the Care Quality Commission. They provide care assistants to help with anything from shopping and domestic chores through to personal care - to enable frail older people to remain at home. Your local Social Services help desk can advise about funding and the options open to you. This may include Social Services making arrangements for you or providing financial support to enable you to employ help directly.
Some care providers can arrange staff to live in and be available 24 hours a day. The Quality Care Commission will supply details of providers in your area.
Supported Living
Some older people need more support than in a typical retirement scheme, but less than in a care home. There are many variations on the extra support and services available and the descriptions of such schemes. Terms like ‘assisted living’, ‘supported living’ and ‘extra care’ are typical. Such schemes are, again, available privately, through housing associations and charities, or local authorities.
Care Homes
Ultimately, you may need the much greater level of support that can only be provided by a residential care home or a nursing home. Most of us want to avoid such a move altogether, if we can, or at least delay it for as long as possible. It is better to retain our independence for longer and, of course, care homes are expensive.
Catering and the VfL – UK List
You may worry about food provision in care homes or retirement complex restaurants. However, VfL works hard to persuade operators to cater properly for vegetarians. In 2008 we published our guide Catering for older vegetarians and vegans and distributed it to all care homes and many retirement schemes throughout the UK; we organise catering courses in conjunction with the Cordon Vert Cookery School; we publish the VfL Code of Good Practice; and we operate the VfL – UK List
Care homes which agree to follow the VfL Code can become members of the VfL – UK List. The List has over 280 members – throughout the UK – and is available via our website, or by mail, for anyone looking for a care home. The List also includes other organisations and establishments which cater well for older veggies.
The ‘Vegan Fund’ and the ‘Vegetarian Fund’
These funds award modest grants to individual older vegans or vegetarians in financial need, to help with independent living. E.g. for smaller-scale disabled adaptations (grab handles, ramps etc) or for respite care (so the individual can move into a care home for a short period to allow a break for their carers). The funds are coordinated through the VfL office on behalf of the Vegetarian Housing Association (VHA). Please contact us for further information - full details are also available on the grants section of our website.