Associated Retirement Community Operators (ARCO) – Written evidence (SOC0044)

1. About ARCO

1.1 The Associated Retirement Community Operators (ARCO) represents UK private and not-for-profit providers of Retirement Communities.

1.2 Retirement Communities sit between care homes and retirement housing (also known as sheltered housing). Our member’s schemes combine high quality housing options for older people with tailored support services. They allow residents to rent or own a property and to maintain their privacy and independence, with the reassurance of 24-hour on-site staff, communal facilities, and optional care and support as needed.

1.3 Retirement Communities are also sometimes referred to as retirement villages, extra care housing, housing-with-care, assisted living, or independent living settings.

1.4 ARCO’s members use long term business models that go beyond traditional housebuilding, creating operational businesses and schemes that provide housing, care, hospitality and wellbeing services for our ageing population.

1.5 ARCO operates a rigorous, independently assessed self-regulatory framework through ARCO’s Consumer Code.

2. Our Recommendations

2.1 We believe that all older people in the UK should have the opportunity to live in a Retirement Community that meets their housing and care needs and promotes their physical and mental wellbeing. Our vision is for our sector to give 250,000 older people the opportunity to live in a Retirement Community by 2030.

2.2 A conservative estimate of the health and social care savings this growth could deliver over the next twelve years is valued at £5.612 billion in 2018 prices.

2.3 In order to achieve this Government should:

-          Introduce sector specific legislation – along the lines of the Retirement Village Act 2003 in New Zealand – to protect consumers and create certainty for operators and investors.

-          Continue to sustainably fund Retirement Communities – often referred to as ‘Extra Care’ - for those with moderate means through Housing Benefit and continue to make land and funding available for more such schemes to be delivered.

-          Create clarity in the planning system to ensure the Retirement Communities our ageing population needs get built. 

3        Retirement Communities: Part of a Sustainable Social Care System

3.1 The growth of our sector is essential in preventing spiraling social care costs for both private payers and the public purse. Retirement Communities are preventative, reducing the need for social care, and enable social care to be delivered more efficiently and effectively.

3.2 Residents of Retirement Communities are around half as likely to enter more expensive institutional accommodation such as residential care homes, compared to those in general needs accommodation also receiving domiciliary care.[1] The cost of living in residential accommodation for one year is approximately £30,000 – whilst the cost of living in a retirement community is significantly less – leading to substantial care cost savings.

3.3 Retirement Communities enable high quality social care to be delivered more efficiently. The UKHCA estimate that 16% of domiciliary care costs are spent on travel between visits. Since care recipients in Retirement Communities live nearby each other, this cost does not incur and means that the efficiency savings can be put towards higher quality care.[2]

3.4 Improved wellbeing experienced by Retirement Community residents reduces the need for social care services. In one study a significant number (19%) of residents designated as ‘pre-frail’ when they entered a Retirement Community had returned to a ‘resilient’ state 18 months later. A frail person’s average annual care costs were £4,720.96 at the 12 month point, as compared to £61.40 per year for a pre-frail resident.[3]

3.5 Local authority social care costs are lower overall as a result of an older person moving into a Retirement Community. A large study found that local authority costs of providing lower and higher level social care were found to be 17.8% (£1,222) and 26% (£4,556) lower respectively on average per person per year than providing the same level of care to those outside Retirement Communities.[4]

3.6           Our vision is for our sector to give 250,000 older people the opportunity to live in a Retirement Community by 2030. A conservative estimate of the health and social care savings this growth could deliver over the next twelve years is valued at £5.612 billion in 2018 prices.

4. Learning Lessons from Abroad

4.1 In July 2018, at our annual conference ARCO launched Vision 2030 – our ambition to grow the sector to give 250,000 older people the opportunity to live in a Retirement Community by 2030. In order to achieve this, we identified 10 key priority areas which are:

-          A clear customer proposition

-          Effective self-regulation

-          Enhanced health and wellbeing

-          Intelligent use of technology

-          Flexible models of tenure

-          Sustainable funding streams

-          Sector-specific legislation

-          Comprehensive and robust data

-          Clarity in the planning system

-          A highly trained workforce

4.2 In New Zealand, which has a flourishing Retirement Community sector, the 2003 Retirement Village Act has enabled the sector’s growth through creating certainty for older people, operators and investors. The Act also includes extensive consumer protection legislation which ensures older people’s assets are protected alongside providing adequate access to consumer redress and financial advice.

4.3            More information on the international context, including sector specific legislation in other countries, can be found in the International Longevity Centre’s report ‘Stronger Foundations: International Lessons for the Housing-with-Care Sector in the UK’.

9 October 2018

Our Members

A2Dominion

Abbeyfield

Anchor

Audley Group

Aura Care Living

BEN

Berkeley Healthcare

Birchgrove

Brio Retirement Living

Capital Care Villages

Elysian Residences

Enterprise Retirement Living

ExtraCare Charitable Trust

Housing & Care 21

Inspired Villages Group

Jewish Care

LifeCare Residences

MHA

Middleton Hall

Notting Hill Genesis

One Housing Group

Rangeford

Retirement Security

Retirement Villages

Richmond Villages

St George’s Park

St Monica Trust