By Matt Jarram, Local Democracy Reporter
Nottingham City Council is planning to move more people with mental health and learning disabilities into supported living accommodation rather than residential care to save more than £700,000.
The Labour-run authority said the move ensures more people are living independently and can remove the sometimes costly bills attached with offering residential accommodation.
The council spends £89million a year on delivering adult social care to around 5,000 elderly people at any one time as well as around 1,500 people with mental health and learning disabilities.
The total number of people the council supports has grown by more than 1,000 over the last five years and has been described in the past as a crisis in social care.
Oliver Bolam, lead officer for the programme, addressed councillors at a health and adult social care scrutiny committee on Thursday, April 14.
He said the plans are to increase the number of people with mental health and learning disabilities into supported living arrangements in “cohorts of 60″ each year from 2022/23.
In total, he said the council will save £702,219 over a four-year period.
He said supported living ensures people can live as “independently as possible.”
“If you are in residential care, it is a 24/7 model and more like an institution. In residential care, it is done for you rather than with you. It is better value for money.
“There are some risks,” he added. “Some of the biggest challenges of supported living is the recruitment and retention of people to work in care.”
He said there was no shortage of properties where people can live, sometimes with other people with the same needs.
Care packages can range from 10/15 hours to 40 hours a week.
In 2017, the number of people living in supported living was 23.4 per cent versus 76.6 per cent living in residential care.
In 2021, that number has changed to 40 per cent living in supported accommodation compared to 60 per cent in residential care.
He said an additional 159 people moved to supported living in that four-year period.
Supported living accommodation is being delivered at Hungerhill, where there are nine beds, Palm Street, where there are 13 beds, and St Andrew’s Hall where there are 10 beds.
Other supported living schemes in the pipeline will be based in places such as Carlton, Netherfield and Sneinton.
Councillors in the meeting praised the scheme after a short video was shown of people who had benefitted, including three women who live together under one roof.
Cllr Anne Peach (Lab) said: “It looks like a really good programme.”
Cllr Georgia Power (Lab) added: “It is a great ambition to have more people in supported accommodation over residential care to keep their independence as long as possible.”
Cllr Maria Joannou (Lab) was concerned this was not “a new initiative” and it was a programme the council had been running for a long time.
Mr Bolam explained the difference: “We had too many people living in residential care that could have benefitted from supported living.”
