Tag Archives: Housing

Thousands of OAPs are denied handrails or stairlifts in their homes

Despite alterations helping to keep them independent

Number of home adaptations installed has plummeted by 5,500 since 2011

  • Lack is one reason why elderly patients can not be discharged from hospital
  • But critics say councils have cut back while still paying huge salaries

By Tamara Cohen

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Thousands of elderly people are being denied vital home alterations that keep them out of hospital and help them stay independent, it emerged yesterday.

Improvements such as handrails, stairlifts and ramps can stop them being hurt in falls – but the number being installed has plummeted by 5,500 since 2011.

Landmark bedroom tax ruling issued

A tribunal has overturned a decision on the bedroom tax, setting a precedent that could force some councils to rethink how they decide who needs a room for an overnight carer.

Solicitor Giles Peaker  (photo) said he would not be surprised if ‘a fair number of councils’ had calculated who needs a spare room for overnight care in the same way as Eastleigh Council did.

Former carer ‘stressed’ after being told to leave Victory Housing Trust bungalow in Blakeney

A former carer is concerned he will become homeless

Owen Arundel, who has been told by Victory Housing Trust that he can no longer live at his late grandmother's bungalow at Blakeney. Photo: Karen Bethell Owen Arundel, who has been told by Victory Housing Trust that he can no longer live at his late grandmother’s bungalow at Blakeney. Photo: Karen Bethell

Sophie Wyllie sophie.wyllie@archant.co.uk
Friday, March 7, 2014 9:27 AM

A former carer is concerned he will become homeless following the death of his grandmother whose home he shared.

Owen Arundel, 23, from Hayward Close, Blakeney, was told by Victory Housing Trust to leave because he lived in the two-bedroom property with his relative a few weeks short of the 12- month period in the rules to qualify him to stay.

His grandmother, Janice Arundel, 68, who died in January 20 from cancer, was the tenancy holder and her grandson moved in on February 25 last year to care for her.