Electrical safety is an often overlooked but essential piece of the puzzle in ensuring older people can live safely, independently and with dignity at home.
The prohibitive cost of electrical repairs coupled with the additional challenges older people face in getting work done in the home (including lack of access to the internet to search for reputable traders, worries about scams, and cognitive and physical challenges) mean that electrical repairs and preventative safety works are often inaccessible for older people.
Working together, Care & Repair and Electrical Safety First coproduced a bespoke Electrical Improvement Grant Scheme available to Care & Repair clients with no means of funding to improve the condition and safety of their electrics at home. The Fund was available across Wales over a 5-month period to provide up to £1,000 towards electric related works for homeowners and private sector tenants aged 60 or above (or 50+ if living with sensory loss) and who met one or more means or disability-related criteria.
Our new report assesses the impact of the Electrical Improvement Grant Scheme.
Our Key Findings Include:
- Dangerous and damaged electrics can result in older people living in cold, dark, hazardous homes. Several of the types of works eligible under the Fund contributed to improving safety at home beyond just the quality of electrics; trailing wires and poor lighting could contribute to an accident or fall at home and result in an older person being unable to live safely and independently at home.
- Mental health and wellbeing impact – electrical safety has a big influence on how safe and happy older people feel at home. Of Care & Repair clients who accessed the Scheme, 59% said they felt unsafe at home, and 14% rated their happiness at home as 1 out of 10.
- Supporting the move to telecare – 74% of works undertaken through the Scheme helped improve or enable modern standard reliably working electrics in older people’s homes.
- Supporting older people with health conditions – 71% of people receiving support through the Scheme were registered disabled. 29% of people receiving support through the Scheme told us they were living with sensory loss. Only 16% of people accessing the Scheme were not registered disabled or living with sensory loss.
- The fund facilitated electrical works or repairs that enabled other works to go ahead to make the home safer and suitable for independent living. For example, having good quality, safe, modern electrics is essential to support housing accessibility and ensure that statutory adaptation provision such as Disabled Facilities Grants can go ahead without delays.
- The Scheme highlighted the importance of Care & Repair being a home visiting service. Through our Healthy Home Checks, we were often able to identify electrical safety repairs as an issue that clients were unprepared for or did not recognise as a problem.
Good electrics support older people in Wales to have the care they are entitled to closer to home, maintain a good quality of life, and reduce or delay the need for longer term care and support.
