Latest News from Everycare
The University of Kent have produced a report looking into the cost of care in a residential setting versus the cost of staying at home with live in care. Everycares Eastbourne office was one of the businesses involved in helping collate the data for the universities report. Andy Taylor, Managing director of Everycare Eastbourne said “It has been a fascinating project to be involved in and it highlights the fact that Live in Care is a real alternative to residential care in most areas of the country”
The university paper is now available to view/download from their website. It is no surprise that, particularly in London and the South East of England, live in care represents an affordable alternative compared to residential care. To view the report and get an insight into how care fees vary – click here.
For further information about Everycares live in care service and how it might help you, contact us today.
Carers who have to sleep at their workplace in case they are needed overnight will not be paid minimum hourly rates after a Court of Appeal ruling.
In a decision which could have cost the UK care industry billions if it had gone in favour of workers, three leading judges said carers were only entitled to minimum wage when they were required to be awake for work.
At a hearing in March, the Royal Mencap Society challenged a tribunal decision made in favour of Claire Tomlinson-Blake, a Mencap support worker in the East Riding of Yorkshire.
The court was told that Mrs Tomlinson-Blake received a salary for her full-time job helping vulnerable adults living in their own homes, and sometimes had to work a sleep-in shift between 10pm and 7am. For those shifts she was paid an allowance of £29.05, which included pay for an hour’s work.
If she was woken in the night and had to work for more than an hour, she would receive extra pay for the time worked.
But the Employment Tribunal found she used her “listening ear” and her experience to know when she was needed, and was “working” even when she was asleep.
The tribunal said she was entitled to receive an hourly minimum wage, which would have been more than £60 per shift, a decision upheld by the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) last year.
However Lord Justice Underhill, sitting with two other senior judges, said: “For the reasons which I have given I believe that sleepers-in… are to be characterised for the purpose of the regulations as available for work… rather than actually working and so fall within the terms of the sleep-in exception.
To read full details visit the ITV News website
Any new system of funding social care will be capped, Jeremy Hunt has confirmed, in his first policy speech since he took responsibility for social care reform in January. He also pledged to find new ways to support councils struggling to meet the demands of a rapidly ageing population in the green paper on social care due this summer.
Addressing a conference of social workers, the health and social care secretary said: “The way that our current charging system operates is far from fair. This is particularly true for families faced with the randomness and unpredictability of care, and the punitive consequences that come from developing certain conditions over others.
“If you develop dementia and require long-term residential care you are likely to have to use a significant chunk of your savings and the equity in your home to pay for that care. But if you require long-term treatment for cancer you won’t find anything like the same cost.”
Asked directly if that meant there would be a cap on what any individual had to pay, he replied: “Yes.”
For more information on this story please visit the Guardian website
Scientists in Oxford are inviting members of the public to a free event on Saturday 17 March to hear more about current progress in dementia research.
The meeting will involve talks from scientists at the forefront of research into the condition.
The event is organised by members of the Alzheimer’s Research UK Oxford Network Centre, a community of dementia researchers from universities across the region.
Alzheimer’s Research UK is the UK’s leading dementia research charity, funding research into the causes of dementia, diagnosis, preventions and treatments. They fund more than £27m of dementia research across the UK, including pioneering work at the universities of Oxford, Oxford Brookes, and the University of Reading. The funding is allowing scientists in the region to uncover more about causes of dementia and contribute to the global effort to put a stop to the heartbreak of the condition.
Speakers on the day include Dr Francesco Tamagnini, from the University of Reading whose research involves exploring the causes of Alzheimer’s disease by measuring the electrical activity in brain’s memory centre. Also speaking is Dr Timothy Johanssen, who will talk about exciting new initiatives that are accelerating research towards new treatments for dementia. Attendees will get a chance to hear from Marianne Talbot, the author of ‘Keeping Mum – Caring for Someone with Dementia’. There will also be stalls with free information about dementia and how people can get involved in research studies.
The free event is being held from 10.00am – 1:00pm on Saturday 17 March at the Academic Centre, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, OX3 9DU. Refreshments will be provided, and parking is available (hospital charges apply). To find out more go to http://www.alzheimersresearchuk.org/our-research/what-we-do/meet-our-scientists/ and you can also book your place by contacting Mel Witt at aruk.administrator@dpag.ox.ac.uk or 01865 282358.
