Home improvement agencies

Introduction

Home Improvement Agencies (HIAs) help homeowners and private sector tenants who are older or disabled to remain in their own home, living independently, in safety and comfort

HIAs advise on improvements and adaptations that their clients may need in their homes and help them to apply for local authority grants or loans needed to carry out the required work. They also help to identify reputable local contractors to do the work, and oversee the work to ensure that their clients are completely satisfied.

Many agencies also run handyperson services to carry out small jobs around the home, or operate specific schemes to improve home safety and security, prevent falls in the home, improve energy efficiency or make homes suitable for people to return to after a stay in hospital.

HIAs are usually small, locally based not-for-profit organisations; some are independent organisations, some are local authority in-house agencies, and some are run by a managing agent, such as a housing association or charitable body.

Background and policy for Home Improvement Agencies

The Home Improvement Agency (HIA) movement started in the 1970s and grew throughout the 1980s with Government encouragement. From 1991 to 2003, the Government provided direct grant support for the work of HIAs.

Since 2003 HIAs have received most of their revenue funding from local government through Supporting People (SP) and general housing funds. Under SP, funding decisions are made by local authorities rather than by central government. This has encouraged HIAs to become more diverse as they work to local rather than national agendas.

In May 2003 £5.2m of additional funding was made available, over two years, to promote geographical expansion of services. Over the past few years, the HIA sector has undergone substantial restructuring. In 1999 only 54 per cent of local authorities had a HIA, rising to 69 per cent by 2001 and 90 per cent by 2006. The proportion of the population over 75 years old covered by HIAs has risen from 61 per cent in 1999 to 92 per cent in 2006. The restructuring process has included the expansion of existing HIA services and the creation of new HIAs. HIAs are now on average larger, more robust organisations.

The monitoring returns for 2004/05 show that HIAs in England dealt with 103,000 enquiries where substantial advice was given, and in 38,700 cases, this led to work being carried out by the HIA. These figures do not include handyperson jobs. A 2004 census of activity carried out by Foundations found that there were 102,000 handyperson enquiries resulting in 98,000 handyperson jobs carried out in 2003/04.

Eighty-one per cent of HIAs report that their primary client group is older people with support needs, with a further 9 per cent giving their primary client group as people with a physical or sensory disability and 5 per cent the frail elderly.

National co-ordinating body for Home Improvement Agencies

Communities and Local Government sponsors Foundations, the national co-ordinating body for HIAs. Foundations support the work of HIAs by:

providing advice and support to the sector
promoting and raising the profile of HIAs
representing the movement in dealing with government and other stakeholders, and
building capacity within the sector.

A directory of local HIAs can be found on the Foundations website at http://www.foundations.uk.com (external link).

Foundations can be contacted at:

Foundations
Bleaklow House
Howard Town Mill
Glossop
Derbyshire, SK13 8HT

Tel. 01457 891909
Fax. 01457 869361
Email. foundations@cel.co.uk

Communities and Local Government is reviewing the future of the National Co-ordinating Body. An independent paper by PA Consulting commissioned by the Department reports the findings of a stakeholder research project to help scope any subsequent contract for a National Co-ordinating Body. The Department is considering the findings and will make a decision on the future of the National Co-ordinating Body in the light of the Spending Review.

The Department has extended the current contract with Foundations for a further six months, to provide a National Co-ordinating Body until the end of September 2008.