Housing and innovation

Source: Department for Health and Social Care

Updated 8 December 2021

Our long-term vision to transform social care aims to ensure that everyone in England is able to access the right care, in the right place, at the right time.

The place people live in, the technology they use, and the care they receive are all important to help people to live the life they choose.

Our reforms will ensure the care and support people receive is personalised, helps maintain and build their independence, and allows them to have more choice and control over the things that matter, enabling them to live healthier, happier and more fulfilling lives.

We want to ensure that everyone in England can access the right care, in the right place, at the right time

Improving housing

Making sure that people receive the right care and support all begins with where they live, and the people they live with. 

We want to ensure everyone who draws on care and support has a choice of housing options that work for them, which help them to live well in their own home or in their community.

Our ambition is to give more people the choice to live independently in their own homes for longer. We also want to increase the supply of supported housing for people whose care and support needs mean they need a home that is specifically designed to support independent, healthy living.

What's changing

To achieve this ambition, over the next three years we will:

• Support local authorities to provide more supported housing for those who need it to help them live as independently as possible, with at least £300m of new investment.
• Increase the supply of specialised housing for older people and people with a physical disability, learning disability, autism or mental ill-health with £210m investment in the Care and Support Specialised Housing (CASSH) Fund.

• Launch a new practical support service to make minor repairs and changes to people's homes to help people remain independent and safe at home.

Innovation and technology

When technology is embedded seamlessly into care and support services, it can be transformative, helping people to live happy, fulfilled lives in their homes and communities.

We want to make the most of technology to support people to live independently and ensure care professionals have the right digitised information at their fingertips to provide safe, outstanding quality care.

We also want to develop new and innovative ways of providing care and support to people at scale, increasing the choice of care available to individuals.

What's changing

To achieve this vision over the next three years, we will:

• Accelerate the digitisation of social care with a £150m fund. This will improve broadband connectivity, cyber security and the digital skills of the social care workforce to help drive uptake of digital social care records and other technologies that improve the quality, safety and personalisation of care.
• Support local authorities to launch innovative new ways of delivering care in the community, improving the choice of care available to individuals through a new £30m Innovative Models of Care Programme.

Find out more about the social care reforms