Registered Homes (Rights to Residence) (Hansard, 18 October 1989)

§ Mr. David Hinchliffe (Wakefield)

I beg to move, That leave be given to bring in a Bill to provide for the residential security of persons living in voluntary, private residential or nursing homes and for connected purposes. The proposed Bill aims to introduce a clear legal framework to protect the residential security of people admitted to private and voluntary homes. It seeks to place a statutory obligation on the proprietor or manager of a home to enter into a care contract with a resident prior to admission. The terms of the contract would be governed by regulations and include a requirement that residents being asked to leave the home must be given a specific period of notice. In addition to the resident being supplied with a copy of the contract, the Bill requires a copy to be supplied to the resident's nearest relative or representative and the local registration authority. They will also have to be notified formally if the home asks the resident to leave. The Bill would place a clear duty on the registration authority to ensure that—[Interruption.]

§ Mr. Hinchliffe

The Bill would place a clear duty on the registration authority to ensure that, where necessary, the resident is given advice and assistance to obtain alternative accommodation.

Although paying residents possess certain common law rights of occupation, very few people in private or voluntary homes are made aware of their legal position. As a consequence, it is rare to hear of anyone challenging the legality of an attempt by an establishment to force that person to leave. The Bill aims to simplify the legal position and to ensure that residents of private and voluntary homes, who are often vulnerable and isolated people, cannot be forced to leave before appropriate alternative arrangements for their care have been made. The legal position of a resident in such a home appears markedly different from that of a person in private or local authority housing.

For many people it is clear that entering care significantly reduces or effectively ends the right to residential security that they previously enjoyed, and at a time in their lives when often they are least able to defend their interests. People directly affected by evictions from homes are rarely able to make a stand on the issue, and therefore the extent of the problem that the Bill addresses is difficult to assess because it is largely hidden.

I am particularly concerned that there are worrying examples of people being dumped by private homes. Some time ago I came across a case in my constituency where a private home admitted an elderly lady for a short stay while her family went away for a well-earned holiday. Within hours of her arrival the home determined that her 146 condition was such that it could not care for her. Rather than taking appropriate steps to arrange proper alternative accommodation, the home simply put her in a taxi and packed her off to the local police station.

Elsewhere in Yorkshire a local authority has recently had to threaten private homes with deregistration because of concern about the eviction of residents and the use of what is, effectively, emotional blackmail to pass responsibility for them on to relatives. A report to Sheffield's social services committee earlier this year described how one woman had been dumped at the out-patients department of the city's Royal Hallamshire hospital simply because she had become too difficult to handle. As the hospital's report confirms, it is more common to hear of relatives being forced to make alternative arrangements for the care of a relative, often with little, if any, prior notice. While a marked change in the condition of a resident may mean that in the resident's own interests, as well as those of the home, he or she needs more appropriate care, many evictions arise because of inadequate or non-existent assessment of the person's circumstances prior to admission.

Even more frequent are examples of people being forced to leave because of a reduction in their financial resources and their inability to meet the required fees with their retirement pension and an insufficient income support supplement. This point was raised by numerous hon. Members in yesterday's debate on community care and the Griffiths report. In these circumstances, people who do not have relatives who are prepared to top up their contributions—as many do nowadays—frequently move down market to cheaper and what must be described as less desirable conditions.

I hope that the care contract provided for in the Bill will improve the assessment process before admission and reduce the number of residents with inadequate financial resources who are admitted to care, only to be forced to leave subsequently when they are unable to pay their bills. The Bill addresses a problem facing some of our most vulnerable and dependent citizens. I am sure that, from their experience of cases in their constituencies, many hon. Members on both sides of the Chamber will see the logic behind the measure, and I hope that they will support its continued progress through Parliament.