Ealing Council's Handyperson Service

The Ealing council's handy person service has just been roled out in 2009 to include a broader section of society and is a free service to residents in the borough of Ealing. I have spoken to the manager of the service whom explained to me that it is part of the social care department and is a government body.

To qualify for the service the client must be:

Aged 60 or over (and not in paid employment) or

Disabled or

A single parent in receipt of an income related benefit living with child(ren) under 16 or

Being released from hospital

The services that hte Handyperson offer are things like:

Replacing lightbulbs

Fitting smoke/carbon monoxide alarms

Putting up curtains / tracks / blinds (but not curved corded types)

Fixing down hazardous carpets, rugs, trailing electrical leads etc

Fitting grab rails, towl rails, shelves to walls

Changing a doorlock fitting or a doorchain to a timber door

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To request a handyperson visit please phone the Contact Centre

on

020 8825 6070 and select option 1 after the recorded message.

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According to the Ealing Council website:

Handyperson grants (discretionary)
The handyperson service arranges minor jobs in the home for elderly, disabled or otherwise vulnerable people. Our home improvement agency administers the handyperson service and will assist with all aspects of the grant process.
To qualify for the basic handyperson grant the applicant must be:

• aged 60 or over (and not in paid employment)
• or disabled
• or a single parent in receipt of an income related benefit (*) living with child(ren) under 16
  
  (*) please refer to grant conditions

Typical works which may attract grant aid include:

• replacing lightbulbs
• setting thermostats/timers
• fitting smoke/carbon monoxide alarms (but not supplying them)
• unblocking or sealing around sink/basin/bath/shower tray
• unblocking a toilet, replacing toilet seat
• refixing/regrouting small numbers of loose wall tiles
• putting up curtains/tracks/blinds (but not curved corded types)
• fixing down hazardous carpets, rugs, trailing electrical leads etc
• fitting grab rails, towel rails, shelves etc to walls
• advising about energy efficiency and condensation/dampness
• changing a door lock (except special types), fitting a door chain to a timber door

The following conditions/limitations apply:

• each visit is limited to 90 minutes of work on site
• maximum of three visits per year in any 12 month period
• clients must agree to a brief survey to identify what work is necessary
• all materials to be supplied or paid for by the client
• clients must have the power or duty to carry out the works

For further information contact the repairs and adaptation service.

• Case Study of the Handyperson Service

• Introduction
• To complement the panel’s programme of external engagement the Scrutiny Unit has undertaken a case study of the council’s handyperson service. The purpose of this case study is two-fold:

• To illustrate for the panel how the handyperson service operates
• To illustrate how the council, NHS and voluntary sector work together in respect of the handyperson service to identify examples of best practice or areas for improvement

• As part of its research for the case study the Scrutiny Unit interviewed two service users about their experiences of the handyperson service.

• The study found that, for older people themselves, the two key positive features of the handyperson service were:
• Accessibility – older people do not have to go through an assessment or means test to be eligible. This and good links with partner organisations have led to a high number of referrals to the service
• Flexibility – the service is not too prescriptive and handypersons will do what they can to meet the older person’s needs, within certain limits. The scheme is enhanced by partnership agreements with other agencies to provide a more comprehensive service to older people in their homes. Visits include a basic survey/assessment for referral purposes

• An overview of the handyperson service
• Set up in January 2003 Ealing’s handyperson service is an effective means of supporting people to remain in their own home. The service offers help with small DIY tasks and safety checks for the disabled, people over 60 not in employment and those recently discharged from hospital. Applications are not subject to a means test. Labour costs are free, whilst materials are charged at cost unless the council has received the materials for free. See Appendix A for full details of the eligibility criteria and conditions.

• In all cases a basic survey is undertaken to ensure, for example, that there are no unreported trip hazards and the property is fitted with smoke alarms and a carbon monoxide detector. The survey is also undertaken for referral purposes where the service user may be able to benefit from services to improve energy efficiency or arrange larger home improvements, as well as social services and benefits.

• The current partnership arrangements between the council, voluntary sector and NHS
• The handyperson service is administered by the council’s Home Improvement Agency (HIA). The HIA employs one handyperson to undertake work but due to the popularity of the service (the number of cases is growing by approximately 200 per annum and now stands at over 1,000) the following external partners are also used:

Voluntary sector                             Age Concern Ealing (over 60s only)
Approved contractors                    IT Butler
                                                                        Mullin & Sons
                                                                        Jay Cee Facilities

Monitoring of all service providers is undertaken in the same way. Handypersons are required to complete a checklist for each visit, which must be signed by the service user, and each user is given a customer satisfaction survey to complete at their convenience and return in a pre-paid envelope (see Appendix C). Neither of the service users interviewed reported any problems in terms of co-ordination between the handyperson and the HIA.

• The handyperson service has signed a partnership agreement with the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority (LFEPA) to provide a free home fire safety check and smoke alarm fitting service as part of every handyperson visit, in order to jointly target the most vulnerable householders at risk from fire. The LFEPA part funds the scheme and provides training to handypersons to enable them to undertake safety checks. The service also has partnership agreements with DeafPLUS, who provide advice about the procurement of smoke alarms for the deaf, and previously with the now defunct Beesafe to provide home security improvements.

• An HIA Advisory Group comprises representatives of the HIA, service users, contractors and partner organisations such as LFEPA, DeafPLUS and Age Concern Ealing. The Group meets every four months to share knowledge, consider policies and procedures and ensure effective communication with stakeholders and service users. Foundations, the national co-ordinating body for HIAs, has recommended that given the nature of its user group the HIA may wish to establish a panel of users who do not attend meetings but provide feedback on documents/literature sent to them.

• Roughly one third of cases dealt with by the handyperson service arise from referrals, demonstrating the good links that have been established with partner organisations. The service receives referrals from a wide range of agencies including the PCT, housing associations, Ealing Homes’ wardens, social services and voluntary organisations.

The handyperson service is often asked by the PCT to undertake tasks such as moving beds from the first to the ground floor to allow patients who are ready to be discharged from hospital to return home, helping to prevent delayed discharges. These and other referrals from agencies that could feasibly undertake the work themselves have added to the increasing demand for the service and pressure on resources.

• The service has given talks to the PCT and social services to improve links between agencies. The HIA project manager also sits on Ealing PCT’s working group on the National Service Framework (NSF) for Older People.

• Accessibility and flexibility: users’ perspectives associated with the current partnership arrangements
• One of the service users interviewed found out about the handyperson scheme after seeing an advertisement in Around Ealing. The other service user had a leaflet passed on to her. The handyperson service is primarily promoted through word of mouth. Leaflets have been distributed to partner organisations and social services teams and the service also undertakes outreach work through attendance at external events. Recent examples include the Over 60s Club and World Mental Health Day.

• There is a single first point of contact for people wanting to get in touch with the HIA, which can arrange small works such as those carried out by handypersons or refer people to the appropriate service for larger adaptations.

• One of the most attractive features of the handyperson service is that it is accessible; a point repeated by other older people spoken to as part of the panel’s programme of external engagement. Both service users said that in general they are put off applying for help by the prospect of either an assessment by the PCT or the council’s occupational therapy service or a means test. One of the users said this was not because she thought she wouldn’t be eligible but because she didn’t like the idea of someone going through her finances. In the absence of the handyperson service both users indicated that they would probably not have got the work done. This notwithstanding, concern was also expressed that the service could be taken advantage of and one of the service users suggested that more stringent controls might be required if its popularity continues to grow. In fact the service recently did tighten the eligibility criteria to people over 60 who are not in paid employment.

• With certain limits, such as a maximum two hours allocated for each visit, handypersons will do what they can to meet the older person’s needs including a basic survey of the property to pick up on any problems. Both service users greatly appreciated this flexible, non-prescriptive approach and the focus on outcomes. In addition it was appreciated that older people using the handyperson service can, as a result, be recommended additional services provided by the HIA or referred to social services, benefits or partner organisations for further help.

• Returned surveys show that customer satisfaction with the handyperson service is above 95%. Both service users interviewed were highly complementary about both the people who they had dealt with by telephone and the handyperson who visited them. Both users said they would use the service again although they also said that they were aware the service had limited resources and they would be reluctant to use it too often.

• Taking the needs of Ealing’s diverse communities into account through partnership arrangements
• The service monitors the ethnicity of its service users (see Appendix D). Outreach work is done with day centres and at events such as the Caribbean Elders Event to promote the service to all of Ealing’s communities through ethnic minority organisations.

• Barriers to better joined up working across agencies
• The impact of handypersons can be hard to quantify due to the preventative nature of their service. However recent research by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation in 2005 concluded that handyperson services not only improve older people’s quality of life but also help to prevent injuries in the home such as falls and other problems that can bring forward demand for more expensive and intensive care. In 2001 the combined NHS and social care costs, for example, for a single hip fracture in the UK were estimated to be over £20,000. One user interviewed in this case study commented that services such as the handyperson scheme can make the difference between independent living being bearable and not, because an inability to do small tasks such as mending a broken curtain rail can add to an older person’s sense of helplessness.

• The handyperson service plays a role in preventing hospital admissions and delayed discharges, and improving home energy efficiency, fire safety and security. Although the handyperson service has established good links with partner organisations, partnership agreements modelled on arrangements with the LFEPA could be explored with other current partner organisations such as the PCT to reflect the contribution that the service makes towards their strategic objectives. The development of such agreements would undoubtedly be assisted by more analysis of the effectiveness of low cost preventative services with broad eligibility criteria in reducing demand for intensive care services.

• Similarly, greater importance could be attached to schemes such as the handyperson service by making changes to the way key performance indicators, such as the number of older people helped to look at home (the Commission for Social Care Inspection’s PAF Indicator 32), are measured. These presently exclude older people supported through low level preventive services without a Community Care Act assessment. The CSCI is currently looking at ways to improve the definition of this indicator.

• The service might consider approaching new potential partner organisations, particularly in light of the loss of Beesafe and its work in respect of home security and crime prevention, with a view to further enhancing the comprehensive nature of the service offered by handypersons.