The
Abbeyfield
Society
Value for Money
Self Assessment
2014-15
2
Contents
5
Introduction
6
Value for Money at Abbeyfield
7
Resident Input on VFM
7
How the Board manages and monitors VFM
8-13
Our Five VFM Objectives
Enhancing our financial effectiveness
14-17
Modernising and growing better places for older people
18-19
Delivery of great services through
great people
20-21
Making time for older people
22-25
Focussing on the whole person
26 Looking back, moving forward
3
4
Introduction
A
bbeyfield is a registered provider of both housing and care services working with people
aged over 55 but more commonly those aged over 70. The primary aim of an Abbeyfield
service as envisaged by our founder Richard Carr-Gomm is to alleviate loneliness and
enhance well being in later life.
To this aim Abbeyfield not only works across the UK but in 9
countries across the world including Canada, Australia and
South Africa.
Abbeyfield is a collection of these worldwide member
organisations and 186 UK members and ‘The Abbeyfield
Society’ to which these members are affiliated. It is The
Abbeyfield Society that is the subject of this self assessment
although much of the work done by The Abbeyfield Society
adds value across the Abbeyfield movement.
The self assessment has been led by the Board members
of The Abbeyfield Society. It has been prepared for our
stakeholders and regulators and aims to reflect what we
have done in terms of achieving our Value For Money (VFM)
objectives; to summarise our current activity and to look
ahead to our future plans for progress. The assessment will
be published on our web site with our annual accounts and
be made available to our stakeholders, including residents,
volunteers, partner organisations, funders, families and the
wider public.
Overall Abbeyfield is home to just under 8,000 residents
living in supported houses, Independent Living services and
care homes. Abbeyfield is keen to grow these numbers and
develop the Abbeyfield brand in a planned way with a number
of developments now on site. The quality of these services
is at the core of the current services and those planned for
the future.
Volunteers are the lifeblood of Abbeyfield and underpin our
proposition of ‘making time for older people’. Value for money
is inherent in all of Abbeyfield’s structures as a volunteer-led
organisation. Over 4,000 volunteers give their time to our
organisation, and more importantly to our residents. This is
reflected at all levels from volunteer contribution at local level
e.g. pastoral care, through to the strategic and operational
direction of the Society on the Board.
2014/15 facts and figures
7,800
residents
601 houses
in 9 countries
The
Abbeyfield
Society
£148 million
turnover
4 new
developments
started in
2015
4,000
volunteers
5
Membership
Centrally Managed
Abbeyfield has a broad reach across the UK which is
evident in the map opposite. The Abbeyfield Society at
the end of 2014/2015 had 24 care homes, 5 Independent
Living schemes and 102 Supported Houses. Abbeyfield as
a whole has 72 care homes including 7 nursing homes and
416 supported houses plus the Independent Living.
Our Mission: Aberdeen
To enhance the quality of life for older people
Dundee
Our Values:
Glasgow
Caring, openness, honesty and respect
Our Proposition: Sunderland
Middlesbrough
Making time for older people
York
Bradford
Liverpool
Sheffield
Nottingham
Telford
Birmingham
Gloucester
Swansea
Bristol
Peterborough
Luton
Norwich
Ipswich
Colchester
London
Crawley
Exeter
Southampton Brighton
Bournemouth
Plymouth
In support of our mission, values and proposition,
Abbeyfield in all of our services whether Independent
Living or a dementia care home focuses on caring for the
whole person. In doing so we promote independence,
choice and dignity to our residents. We aim to provide
an environment that meets the needs of all residents,
staff, families and volunteers whether these are physical,
emotional or spiritual. It is recognised that Abbeyfield in
doing so not only enhances the lives of those living in
our services but provides a unique value and contribution
to society.
Value for Money
at Abbeyfield
In providing for the whole person, the Board has
consciously taken the view that The Abbeyfield Society
should position itself within the care and housing market
as a provider of quality services, which are affordable
to all, but which may not be the cheapest available.
Against this The Abbeyfield Society none the less seeks
to optimise the relationship between the costs and the
quality of its work. This ideal is central to framing the
objectives of our business strategy and provides the
context in which we address value for money issues.
The charitable objects of The Abbeyfield Society
specifically guide the role of the Board in requiring them
to maximise use of resources for the benefit of the
public. These state that The Abbeyfield Society has been
established for a number of objects including “the relief
and care of elderly persons of all classes, beliefs and
nationalities suffering from the disabilities of old age or
6
otherwise in need” and “the application of humanitarian
Plans to promote the relief of the elderly”. (from Abbeyfield
Society Article of Association, 2012)
Resident feedback is supportive of the emphasis given
to the quality of service we deliver, and we will continue
to focus on improving our resident satisfaction and their
wellbeing. We regularly consult with our residents about
the quality of our service and during 2014/15; we have
also consulted with 10% of residents explicitly about how
we can better achieve VFM.
Abbeyfield’s whole ethos is about community and
volunteering, therefore promoting and supporting resident
involvement is our reason for being – it is at the heart of
our business. At the local level, we want to have a sound
understanding of whether residents think we are offering
good value for money and capture their ideas on making
savings or achieving more efficiency.
Resident Input on VFM
Whilst residents are consulted locally on a regular basis
they were keen to provide an update on the organisational
Value for Money survey carried out last year. The number
of services involved increased and results were very
consistent with food being the top priority for residents and
maintenance being their key concern due to the desire to
use local contractors.
How is the VFM?
Abbeyfield’s action plan
2014-16
By who and by when?
22 of the 23 focus groups
recorded at least 8/10 in
terms of satisfaction with
VFM in their home. Food and
staff being the highlight.
• Resident suggestions to be
actioned where appropriate
locally and centrally
• Managers to focus on area
of improvement and maintain
high standards
Business managers and
local managers, ongoing
Responsive and
Planned
Maintenance
services
Very mixed response,
excellent local services
and dissatisfaction with
some centrally organised
contractors –timescales.
•P
rocurement of new
contractors is underway with
aim to build a balance of local
and central
•M
anage resident expectation
in terms of timescale
Property services teams
supported by Divisional
Directors. Review is on
target for 2016
completion
Meals service
12 of the 23 services
recorded 10/10 for their meal
provision with no service
scoring less than 8/10.
•M
aintain high standard and
managers to action those not
achieving expected level
All managers and
cooks, ongoing
How can we
reduce costs?
Generally comment was not
to in case quality affected.
•E
fficient lighting to be
installed through replacement
programmes
•C
entrally and locally
evidence best value food
purchasing
•L
ocal handyman service to
be developed further
• Utility cost management
Property services to plan into
major works – 2015 – 2017
• Develop more local media
focus
• Involve local community more
• Volunteers – try and get more
younger people involved
Local and business managers
with central marketing and
volunteer team – prior to this
years Coping at Christmas.
Generally
Residents feedback
on VFM
Status
• Reduce bureaucracy
• Use local services
• Install sensor lighting
How can we
further
develop our
social value?
Generally positive feedback
received about the
community events Abbeyfield
hold and the positive impact
these have e.g. Sharing
Sundays and Coping at
Christmas. Suggestions
made about further work
required.
How the Board manages
and monitors VFM
The Board monitors the Executive Committee’s
performance on VFM in the following ways:
• Approval and implementation of the VFM strategy
• Monitoring of performance
o Quality of services through our internal process
– Core Standard
Business Managers and local
managers – for 2015/2016
Divisions April 16
Procurement review on target –
2014-2016
By December 2015
o CQC inspection
o Financial performance and improvement plans
• Approval of the budget and associated process including in
depth challenge of business plans
• Monitoring and approval of strategic plans –
Summer/Autumn 2015
7
Our Five VFM Objectives
The Abbeyfield Society is clear that its VFM objectives assist with delivering its overall strategic and business plans.
The VFM objectives are:
1 Enhancing our financial effectiveness
2 Modernising and growing better places for older people
3 Delivering great services through great people
4 Making time for older people
5 Providing space for the whole person
1
Enhancing our financial effectiveness
Our overall performance for 2014/15 is reported in the Annual Report and Accounts and summarised in the Annual
Review 2015. The results show an operating surplus for the year of £8.4m which includes the benefits gained from a
number of mergers into the society.
This surplus is essential in enabling Abbeyfield to improve the lives of residents through the development of new quality
services, investing in current and future accommodation, the recruitment and development of quality staff teams through
the payment of the Living Wage and career-focused training programmes.
Turnover from operations has advanced by 4.9%. The implementation of the Living Wage as opposed to the Minimum
Wage has increased costs but this has generally been covered by some increased fees and cost savings and the positive
benefits to staff outweigh this.
Financial Summary
The Abbeyfield Society – Income and Expenditure
£k
2013-14
£k
Turnover
39,173
37,333
Surplus from Managed Operations
1,872
1,982
Deficit after Membership and International
50
281
Surplus after property sales
139
1,164
(Deficit) Surplus for the year
8,410
(856)
a. Investing in the right assets
The five year strategy for growth draws to a close in 2015
with a new strategy being developed for the following 5
years focusing on quality and development.
8
2014-15
2014 -15 saw the start on site of a number of new
developments including the innovative Winnersh dementia
care home and the Hale Court Independent Living service
in Tunbridge Wells. Both of these services will come on
line in 2016/17.
Winnersh: Care Home Development
The review of current stock remains ongoing in terms
of viability and investment. As an organisation which is
dependant on relatively small Supported Housing units we
recognise it is essential to ensure that the standard of these
properties meets the needs aspirations of current and
future residents. To this end the services are continuously
monitored using our viability and closure toolkit, resident
and staff input is sought on major works, marketing and
future options for services. In 2014/15 we closed a number
of houses and two care homes that we could not improve
to the standards required. The income achieved from their
sales will be invested in new developments and services.
Marketing success:
One of the Abbeyfield houses had 6 voids and an on
going level of zero residential enquiries. In addition, four
Abbeyfield houses in the same locality had high voids
and were getting no enquiries. Rather than advertise in
five different publications and produce five different direct
mail inserts at additional costs, we created one generic
advert using the county town as the main focus and
included details of the four other house locations to create
awareness and enquiries. In addition we did targeted
mailings and advertising across the region sharing the
burden of cost across the houses and enabling them to
reap the benefits
b. Improving void management
The Abbeyfield Society like all other organisations places
great importance on occupancy levels in our services. This
is not only to ensure that financially our income levels are
consistent but also due to the types of accommodation
we have. The ethos of the ‘sheltered house’ is around
alleviating loneliness through a shared home environment,
if the houses are not full then this ethos is lost.
To this end a real focus has been placed on void
management with the introduction of a targeted resource
in the Marketing Officer responsible for voids. This role is
structured to work with all services providing support and
guidance and materials to meet local need.
This resulted in a number of new enquiries, across all five
houses with six new residents. The plan now will be to
have adverts and posters up on local community boards
free of charge, promote Sharing Sundays, install “Room to
let” estate agent style boards, banners etc where required
all of which will have longevity, create local awareness
in the community and provide an excellent return on
investment.
In 2014-15 our void loss figure in Supported Housing
improved on previous years as can be seen by the month
on month graph overleaf and the continuation of this is a
priority for all in 2015/16.
9
Supported Housing – Void Loss
Void Loss Percentage
22%
20%
20.3%
18%
16%
14%
16.6%
15.1% 15.1%
14.2%
13.9%
12%
10%
13.5%
FY 2011 FY2012 FY2013 FY2014
Apr 14
May 14
11.3%
Jun 14
c. Benchmarking
1. The Abbeyfield Society services
In the same way as previous years each individual
house or home is managed according to its own
separate income and expenditure account. This
enables the real costs and income of running each
to be individually assessed against the minimum
viability level. The local manager of each home is
given detailed financial data on a monthly basis,
which is targeted to keep the budget for 2015-16
within the minimum viability level (currently a 5%
surplus following overheads) for existing units of
stock. This approach encourages local Managers
to deliver cost savings and ensures they are able
to meet and exceed business objectives while
contributing to Abbeyfield Society’s financial
viability. Local Managers have performance
targets for each area of their service including staff
costs as a percentage of their budget. Those who
exceed the 5% surplus generate more funding
to be able to invest locally for the benefit of their
residents. While trading accounts also include an
element of overall central costs (to full recovery)
we see this as an important part of embedding
VFM into the organisational culture and ethos.
10
13.7%
12.2%
12.2%
Jul 14
Aug 14
Sep 14
10.5%
Oct 14
12.0%
Nov 14
10.8%
Dec 14
12.7%
11.7%
Jan 15
Feb 15
Mar 15
older people and generally both housing and care. Our
Supported Housing service can not be compared in terms
of cost against these due to the size of our houses and
the intensive service provided in them. The same can be
said of re-let times within Supported houses. A room in
an Abbeyfield house can take time to re-let as we need
to find residents who wish to be part of a family home
environment, sharing mealtimes and facilities with other
like minded people. As our Independent Living services
develop we will be on more of a par with the key providers
and have discussed with them opportunities to benchmark
more effectively.
This emphasis on the performance of individual services
in monthly reports drives VFM across the Society through
highlighting best performers and spreading good practice,
and identifying those needing more peer or management
support. Similar performance reports are available at
local, Business unit, divisional and national levels showing
spend against the overall budget for the year, and enabling
effective control of spending by the local Managers.
2. External organisations
39
Re-let times
Resident satisfaction
88.0%
84.0%
CQC Compliance
71.4%
Gas Safety checks
99.9%
GP
HAN
FM
TAS
16
29
25
23
95
97.0%
75.0%
93.0%
77.0%
96.5%
91.30%
99.0%
Average cost of
repairs (£)
£140
£893
Resident satisfaction
with repairs
97.0%
96.0%
Current tenant
rent arrears
The Abbeyfield
Society (TAS)
SAHA
Family
Mosaic (FM)
H21
Hanover
(HAN)
Housing 21
(H21)
AH
Guiness
Partnership
(GP)
Anchor (AH)
MHHA
The information we have collected is detailed in the
table below:
Salvation Army
Housing Association
(SAHA)
Methodist
Homes Housing
Association (MHHA)
The Abbeyfield Society recognises that by the nature
of our services detailed meaningful benchmarking with
external providers is difficult to achieve. We therefore
focus on the other organisations who provide services for
4.28%
£102
77.0%
100.0%
£785
94.0%
1.40%
5.09%
1.50%
11
3. Member societies
Benchmarking against the independent member societies
is more useful at this stage and a target of 5% surplus
was set across the whole Abbeyfield movement. Accounts
are sent into The Abbeyfield Society by all members
which allows us to compare performance and importantly
talk to and support those who are not achieving the
target aimed for.
The operating performance of the member societies
can be seen below:
Operating Performance - YOY
100
90
80
70
60
No. of societies
13.9%
50
12.2%
40
30
20
10
0
>100k
0-£100k
0-(£100k)
>(£100k)
Operating Performance - YOY
2014/15 2013/14
d
. Operational changes –
financial savings increased local ownership
It was clear through the early part of 2014/15 that having
regionalised the day to day operations that the asset
management side of the organisation should move in
this direction too. A review of current and future costs
was undertaken and a programme of decentralisation
12
commenced in November 2014 and was completed in April
2015. A review of the impact will be undertaken at the end
of 2015/16 looking at the financial impact and change in
satisfaction levels from all involved.
13
2
Modernising and growing
better places for older people
a. Strategic direction
The Abbeyfield Society continues to advocate that VFM
is about more than managing our costs. The ‘Strategy for
Growth’ written in 2010 focused on the need to develop and
invest in homes and services that matter to older people.
This continues to be key to the strategic decisions we take
with more new ‘extra care’ developments being brought to
the table and the recognition that the growing unpopularity
of the traditional supported houses is managed carefully and
sympathetically, with a long term divestment plan for those
that can not be improved.
In the autumn of 2015 the Strategy for Growth will
be superseded by our new 5 year strategy ‘United in
Excellence’. The development of this strategy has involved
staff and residents across the Abbeyfield Movement. It is
our opportunity to expand our focus on quality and value for
money in new larger more cost efficient developments and in
our current services.
Whilst the aim for growth continues the spotlight is very
much on the quality of our services and the needs of our
current and future residents. Through new stock condition
surveys and market research internally and externally the
units that can be upgraded to better meet the aspirations
of our customers. In addition we have plans to extend a
number of services where the sites allow for it, in both care
and housing services. An opportunity to do this allows us
to provide services to more people whilst in some cases
making financial savings for those already using the service.
b. Development – services and funding
opportunities
2014/15 has been a period of standardisation and focusing
on the detail of future developments. The Development
Department have consciously carried out reviews and
identified improvements rather than reinventing the wheel in
our plans for the future.
14
The key areas of importance have been
1. Introducing an interior designer to the team to develop
standard specifications for each type of service right
down to the type of knife and fork most suitable to the
resident type. This has enabled us to speed up the
interior design process whilst ensuring quality is not
reduced.
2. Reinforcing the emphasis on social value in
development from local employment to steering
groups for all developments which must at the Boards’
insistence include local volunteers from the start.
3. Managing risk against the development opportunities
available to us.
4. Using the most modern methods of constructions –
the new 62 bed dementia care home at Winnersh is a
circular timber framed building – not only innovative in
design but in build.
Service types for the future remain focused on the three
models identified in the strategy for growth in 2010.
• Independent Living with care : apartments with communal
facilities, meal provision and on site care and support
services. Local community accessing meals and
services where possible to embed the service within that
community.
• Care homes : all new care homes will be dementia
friendly and carefully designed to meet the needs of
those with the highest need where required. We hope to
enable residents to remain with us for longer and only
move on if imperative to their nursing needs.
• Integrated living: the ideal option if a site will allow it
would be to have a combination of Independent Living
and care home. This would enable Abbeyfield to provide
a home for life and is key to meeting the aspirations of
future residents.
No new developments were completed in 2014/15 but
there were a number of mergers of Societies and other
small charities in to the society which netted off the lost
units and allowed stability within the divisional operations.
c. Social value – Abbeyfield communities
The Abbeyfield founders determination to relieve
loneliness means it is important to the organisation to be
part of a community. We aim to ensure that our residents
feel at home whatever kind of service they choose to live
in. Part of this is ensuring that the service provides value
for money financially but largely through quality of life.
We invite the community into our houses and homes in
many different ways and our staff aim to be known in the
community and be part of the local life.
Examples of the variety of ways this may happen are
featured below:
1. Lois Rogers – Senior House Manager,
Isle of Wight
She is a familiar and wellrespected face in the
community around her. When
Lois is not out and about
putting up posters in shops
and community centres for
Abbeyfield events, you can
find her in her spare time
giving talks and attending
open days or drumming up
voluntary support from local schools and colleges.
Lois says: “I have built up a successful network of
contacts and friends in the community around us. We
have links with an array of local community groups and
organisations, including Age UK, Older Voices Isle of
Wight, local churches, the Red Cross, Social Services,
the Homeless Prevention Team through to the Women’s
Institute. Our door is always open to them. Our local MP is
also very supportive of our work and often comes along to
Abbeyfield events, like our Abbeyfield Week Lunch Party.”
Bringing the outside world in to its homes and houses
has far-reaching benefits for both residents and isolated
older people living alone, too, and is a core Abbeyfield
philosophy Lois is passionate about achieving.
Lois says: “Our door is always open to older people
from the surrounding communities to come and join us.
We throw ourselves into national Abbeyfield initiatives
like Abbeyfield Week, Coping at Christmas and Sharing
Sundays – or in our case – Sharing Wednesdays where
we invite older people living alone to join us for lunch in
return for a small donation. We send out flyers into the
local community for all of our events and make sure people
who have attended previously get a special invitation.”
“We have a monthly ‘Teapot Club’ that our residents were
actively involved in setting up, alongside Age UK. It’s a
one-stop shop with activities and information sharing about
issues to help make life better for older people.
15
“Events like these are a way of taking away the loneliness
experienced by people living alone living alone in the
community. They enjoy the company just as much as the
tasty, nutritious meal we’ve home-cooked especially
for them.”
Solution: To perform a regular daily fitness regime which
consisted of personal training, self training and group
based training. The exercises where performed under the
guidance and recommendation of combining physiotherapy
and commercial fitness exercises.
“Meeting new people certainly has many advantages
for our own residents. They form new friendships
which allows them to enjoy meaningful and stimulating
conversations. I encourage them to invite their own
friends to our events and many come along to our
Wednesday lunches and Coping at Christmas events.
We have all made new friends and everyone involved
has benefited.”
After: Once Resident ‘A’ had completed the 12 week
program of aqua and gym based exercises it was
concluded that there would be no further investigations
into joint replacements as these areas of the body where
no longer a concern for them. The consultants and staff
at Addenbrookes Hospital were also very impressed with
Resident ‘A’s general health and wellbeing with showing
lower levels of blood pressure, resting heart rate and
cholesterol levels.
2. Abbeyfield Week
Abbeyfield Week is an annual week of activities and
open door events to promote Abbeyfield and its schemes
to local communities. Abbeyfield houses and homes
across the country open their doors and invite people in
to celebrate with events ranging from cream teas to BBQ
and tea dances. This year was no exception and whilst
events took place in Abbeyfield Week during June many
houses offer hospitality and companionship throughout
the year. On hearing the plight of one lonely local
lady in the Manchester Evening News the local house
manager called by return to invite her to Sunday lunch.
She attended a week later and is now looking at local
Abbeyfield schemes and considering moving in.
3. Girton Green Case Study 2015
The Independent Living service in Girton, Cambridge has
an on site gym and pool which is open to the over 55’s in
the local community as well as to all residents. The personal
trainer on site works with each individual and builds them
specific exercise plans to improve their well being and
health. We featured an example of resident success in
the VFM assessment for 2013/14 and do so again as the
importance of this service can not be underestimated. In
addition the variety of classes provided by the trainer brings
residents and the local community together giving significant
social benefits on top of the health.
Resident ‘A’ Age: 79
Before: Various lower body aches, pains and injuries.
Consultants at Addenbrookes Hospital (Cambridge)
diagnosed a possibility of ankle, knee and hip replacement.
16
Future Progress: To ensure that Resident ‘A’ maintains
this level of fitness and wellbeing they have agreed with
the onsite fitness trainer to keep attending weekly personal
and group based training sessions as well as training them
selves individually.
d. Property services
Having monitored the increasing expenditure on our
older stock, The Abbeyfield Society made the decision
to decentralise the Asset Management into divisional
Property teams. One reason being to enable the divisions
to increase the local input into this management and
increase the investment in the right places whilst divesting
where this is the only option. The changes took place in
the last quarter of 2014/15 and the teams are bedding in
taking time to collect the information they need to make the
appropriate decisions going forward. The regionalisation
of the staffing has already resulted in costs savings on
a staff and travel basis which can be invested back into
maintenance directly.
We continue to look for options to expand our current stock
through the conversion of flats previously used by live
in managers, reconfiguration to add en-suite bathrooms
but any of these changes require detailed business plans
that not only include the cost but the benefit to the service
and the residents. In 2014/15 we invested 16% of our net
income into planned work improvement and extensions
of our services. The updated stock condition surveys
will further enable the new teams to plan in line with the
strategic direction and invest in services with a future.
17
3
Delivery of great services through great people
At Abbeyfield we are clear that staff are the key to our success and
we are always looking for opportunities to improve the offering to our
current and future staff whether through salary levels, development
opportunities or conditions of employment such as annual leave
allowances.
a. Employing great people
The Abbeyfield Society took the significant step of moving
to the Living Wage in April 2014. As the first care provider
to do this we have ensured that our reasons for doing so
have been in the public domain. We believe absolutely
in the moral and business cases for doing so and have
made sure that staff and residents have been fully
included in this change.
Making this change has had a real impact on our staff on
a day to day basis and we have seen improvements in
staff retention and general satisfaction through doing so.
This can only be of benefit to our residents and
service users.
One particular example of how paying the Living Wage to
our frontline staff has affected them is given below.
External coverage:
The charitable organisation and residential care provider,
Abbeyfield is a Living Wage employer. All their directly
employed staff receive the Living Wage. Louise Turner
is a Care Assistant who has worked at their Brown’s
Field House in Cambridge since October 2013. ‘I love
working at Abbeyfield. The atmosphere is good. We chat
and make our residents laugh. I treat the residents the
way I would expect to be treated myself and give them
the dignity they need.’ Since receiving the Living Wage,
Louise has been able to take her two three-year-old and
18
her five-year-old grandchildren out more often for the type
of treats that many grandparents take for granted. ‘It is
lovely to watch them have fun and to be able to buy them
the bits and pieces, like clothes, they need – and that helps
out my children.’
Nationwide Bank, AGM
In addition to the Living Wage our People Workstream
programme has progressed with a review of our pay levels
and introduction of a new grading structure. This continues
into 2015/16 with a view to the harmonisation of terms and
conditions of which we have numerous variations due to
the way The Abbeyfield Society developed.
HR Indicators
Turnover
5.4%
Absenteeism
2.3 days
Apprenticeships
4
% Appraisal completed
79%
b. Developing our people
Building on the Living Wage and the desire to give our staff
opportunities to grow and develop we have introduced a
standardised development programme for those who wish
to progress in the care or housing industry. It enables staff
members to plan what they wish to do and see how it can
be done. In addition we have focused on our appraisal
system and made huge changes which have then been
communicated to all managers through a widespread
training course. We have a 100% target for appraisal
completion which with our geographical spread is a
challenge.
c. Providing great services
The strategy for 2015-2020 is entitled ‘United in
Excellence’. In preparation for this 2014/15 saw the
launch of the new Abbeyfield Quality Programme
The Abbeyfield Quality Programme aims to guarantee
the quality of Abbeyfield’s service and ensure there is
consistency in its delivery. Progress and aspiration are
integral to quality, and Abbeyfield aspires to lead and
influence by providing concrete evidence of both our
ethos and effectiveness.
Central to the new quality programme is the Abbeyfield
Core Standard which is a mandatory quality assessment
for all services both housing and care. The Core Standard
covers 6 key areas of service and is completed in the
form of a self assessment followed by a validation visit
from a specially trained volunteer or manager.
The validation process was carefully piloted in the latter
months of 2014 and programme is being run through 2015
and into 2016 which will cover all services both Abbeyfield
Society and membership.
Once all Abbeyfield houses and homes have met the
Abbeyfield Core Standard it is planned to have a ‘Quality
Rating’. This will give houses and homes the opportunity to
gain recognition for the provision of services or aspects of
their service that operate at a level of excellence, over and
above the Core Standard.
A quality rating will enable societies and central services
to highlight their performance and benchmark themselves
with other Abbeyfields as well as with our competition.
The marketing team will also use the outcomes as part
of our marketing campaigns. The process will be resident
focussed and have measurements of ‘quality’ against
clearly defined criteria eg residents satisfaction of food
quality etc (measurements will come from standard
questionnaires and other formats that can be made
consistent for benchmarking purposes).
On a day to day basis Abbeyfield monitors the quality
of our services through quality monitoring, auditing and
external checks such as environmental health. We are
extremely proud that 98% of our services currently hold 4
and 5 star ratings for food hygiene but will not be satisfied
until this reaches 100%.
Leadership
Food hygiene ratings –
Volunteering
Resident
Core
Standards
Your home
Marketing
Staff
In every standard it is expected that
examples of VFM can be provided but
primarily that the Abbeyfield ethos is evident
in all aspects of service delivery.
86% 5 star – very good
12% 4 star - good
1% 2 star – some improvement necessary
1% 1 star – improvement necessary
The target for 2015/16 is to gain 100% 4 or 5 star ratings
Residents are consulted in all services at a local level
on the quality and value of their service. As highlighted
earlier a number were very keen to feedback in the
specific forums on VFM. The national external survey
that we sign up to, carried out by Ipsos Mori is currently
being undertaken and will form the basis of targets for the
coming year.
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4
Making time for older people
What is making time? The view of a member of staff.
“Making time is fundamentally important to all older
people’s well being. We are all restricted by time and we
all have deadlines to meet, but what matters most of all is
making our residents feel happy and fulfilled. We can only
do that by making time for them and being dedicated in all
that we do to support them.
“For me, it’s important to consult with residents and look
beyond the person in front of you to pinpoint how best to
identify with them and how to meet their needs. You have
to be able to look beyond any current difficulties
and take them from where they are, to making them
feel more fulfilled.
A case identified by an Abbeyfield House Manager that
exemplifies this is a lady in her eighties who was living
alone in a large, unheated farmhouse.
“She was referred to me by Social Services in a very
severe state of self neglect. She was not eating, she was
severely dehydrated and very confused and anxious.
This was a lady who was barely existing and had given
up on life.
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“We were able to offer her a home with Abbeyfield and
helped her with the necessary form filling for her to claim
housing benefit and source furniture and addressed
her care needs. We were also able to give her that TLC
Abbeyfield is famous for, along with the companionship of
people around her.
“Less than three weeks later, she had become a different
woman. Being able to transform someone’s life like this is
the reason why I love my job.”
a. Volunteers
Volunteers are the lifeblood of The Abbeyfield movement
and are a critical part of delivering VFM since all 4,000
volunteers across the Abbeyfield movement give up
their time for our residents to carry out a variety of roles
including residents support, activities co-ordination,
marketing, transport, and a host of other unpaid job
roles. Indeed, it is the time that our volunteers give to our
residents that sets us apart from many other providers in
the sector, who often have no volunteers.
Our volunteers enable us to make more time for residents,
while also growing human, social and cultural capital within
our homes and the local community. Our commitment to
working with volunteers ensures our homes are ‘more then
just bricks and mortar’, they are embedded in and play a
key part in the local communities in which they are located.
Using Volunteering England’s recommended economic
value calculation for volunteering (volunteer numbers,
multiplied by annual volunteer hours, multiplied by the
current Office of National Statistics average salary (£13.08,
ONS 2014), we are able to calculate the financial value
in kind of our volunteers to the Abbeyfield movement last
year was over £2.7 million.
Assessing the social value of volunteering
in Abbeyfield
We currently measure the impact of our volunteers
by using a methodology based on the Institute for
Volunteering Research’s Volunteering Impact Assessment
Toolkit (www.ivr.org.uk) as it is the only one focussed
purely on volunteering.
The assessment breaks the impact in to four groups of
people: our residents, Abbeyfield as an organisation, the
volunteer themselves; and the wider community.
In 2014, through a relationship with Barclays Bank
we were able to offer one on one opportunities for our
residents to trial technology. 161 residents took part
from 92 houses, of which 7 were international Abbeyfield
houses. 69 Barclays Digital Eagles are recorded as
attending the events and volunteering during International
Older People’s Day.
Abbeyfield also have an ongoing relationship with BT
which provides practical support in corporate painting and
gardening days as well as skilled support by providing
troubleshooting workshops. In the last year, Abbeyfield
houses have hosted 18 BT corporate volunteering events
involving 244 BT volunteers.
b. Services to member societies
The Abbeyfield Society provides support to 186
Member societies across the UK who themselves
provide accommodation through 368 care homes
and supported houses.
from marketing materials through to specialist support
around care and housing services. Member societies
are independently managed and governed by volunteer
trustees whilst the affiliation with The Abbeyfield Society
ties them into a quality programme which focuses on all
aspects of service delivery particularly making time for
residents and staff.
c. Fundraising
It is intended that Fundraising in line with the new strategy
will raise £15 million by 2020. To achieve this in 2014-15
the Director of Fundraising was employed to kick start
this process and had an immediate impact increasing the
fundraising income to over £1m for the year.
The development of new build homes presents us with
a unique opportunity to gain access to funds particularly
trusts and especially those services that demonstrate a
high level of innovation or where developments are in
areas of social deprivation.
As more member societies develop new homes, the
fundraising team will then help them to develop local
fundraising strategies whilst embedding the service into the
community.
In addition the Abbeyfield Research programme funds
research into the older person within a residential setting.
This presents a great opportunity for Abbeyfield to lead
the field in this research and funding partnerships will
be developed over the next 5 years. The organisation is
committed to highly innovative initiatives, such as these,
and fundraising will build on these areas.
Member societies pay an annual fee for the Abbeyfield
affiliation and this gives access to support which can vary
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5
Focussing on the whole person
Abbeyfield staff are focused on providing a service that addresses the whole person. Below is how one staff member
describes what this means to them:
“That means addressing their health, physical, emotional and spiritual wellbeing, social interaction and details like their
finances, too – we take the time to look at every aspect of their lives to see how we can make things even better for them,
whether that is setting up Skype for a resident to talk to and see a family member overseas or offering counselling and
support following a bereavement.
a. Spirituality
Abbeyfield identified the need as a care and support
provider to not only focus on the physical, mental and
social needs of older people but to consider spiritual well
being and faith as equally important. This aspect of a
persons life is often at its most intense towards the end of
life when they may be struggling with illness, change and
reflecting on their lives.
The organisation has taken steps over the year to
understand how we might further embed spirituality in
our everyday work, this will continue well into 2015/16.
The focus on the ‘whole person’ led to the chaplaincy role
being introduced initially as a pilot in the West division in
Support to staff and residents
throughout service closures
late 2014. This role focuses primarily on supporting staff
in a number of ways which in turn leads to a number of
benefits for residents and those connected to our services.
The chaplaincy role was given structured objectives and
aims for the initial 6 and 12 month periods. These focused
on getting to know the services and those running them
whilst preparing to train staff members on key areas not
previously tackled such as bereavement and end of life.
From the outset it was determined that the surest way
for the chaplain’s role to generate an impact would be
through enabling and training staff to be more resilient in
maintaining their own personal well being and those of
others around them.
Specific incidents and crises –
e.g. sudden death
Chaplain
referral requests –
bereavement, spiritual care
assessment, loneliness and
isolation
Staff retention through support
of a differing nature to day to
day management
During 2015/16 we are monitoring and developing these services potentially to the other two divisions
enabling the social value of this service to reach the whole organisation.
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b. Coping at Christmas
The Abbeyfield Society delivered a powerful PR campaign
generating awareness and take up of Abbeyfield’s
2014/15 Coping at Christmas campaign. The campaign,
which alleviates loneliness in older people, helped a
record number of older people this year.
Coping at Christmas aims to alleviate loneliness in people
aged 55+ who would otherwise be alone during the
Christmas period by offering free overnight stays, lunches
or meals and invitations to festive events and activities. A
target of 300 beneficiaries was set by Abbeyfield of older
people to enjoy the warmth and companionship provided
by Coping at Christmas events.
Securing a national platform to relay Abbeyfield’s key
messages and garner public awareness and take up of
the scheme was essential to the success of the campaign.
A number of high profile personalities were identified to
act as campaign ambassadors to highlight the importance
of the campaign and to boost media interest. Abbeyfield
successfully appointed musician, broadcaster and
presenter Aled Jones as Abbeyfield’s Coping at Christmas
ambassador. Aled participated in a photo shoot to launch
the campaign and spoke on our behalf in support of
Coping at Christmas and showed his support through his
social media channels.
Abbeyfield secured a winning bid to become one of three
charities selected for The Telegraph’s Christmas Charity
Appeal 2014, case studies and story ideas for eight, high
profile features about Abbeyfield with a call to action for
Telegraph readers to donate to Abbeyfield.
A series of planned press releases linked to YouGov
research commissioned by Abbeyfield that revealed the
plight of Britain’s lonely elderly nation and campaign
milestones was released to local, regional and national
media outlets, issuing a call to action for older people
to contact Abbeyfield’s designated Coping at Christmas
phone line.
Abbeyfield’s Great Christmas Knit was launched to
encourage house, staff and resident participation in the
campaign. Residents knitted Christmas items to send
to celebrities both as part of communal group activities
involving local people and to raise awareness
of Abbeyfield.
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Key Outcomes of Coping
at Christmas
Number of participants
increased from 159 in
2012 to 647 in 2014
159 houses participated
offering 423 activities or
events
90 new volunteers were
recruited as result of the
campaign
A touching example of how this low budget campaign achieved fantastic results can be seen in this email regarding an
elderly man who heard about the campaign on his local BBC radio station. He booked into one of the Abbeyfiield’s homes
for Christmas and is now interested in becoming a permanent resident.
Web site enquiry
Best day to return message:
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday,
Friday, Saturday, Sunday
Time of day to return message:
Morning
Enquiry message:
I heard you (Abbeyfields) on Radio
Newcastle. I would like information about
Abbeyfields. I’m 70, I live alone. But if it costs
too much, I won’t be able to apply. I have
the state pension & another small pension.
As I say this is just a preliminary enquiry for
information.
Yours sincerely, David Wright.
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In addition
Over £180,000 was raised for The Abbeyfield Society by
the Telegraph Christmas Charity Appeal 2014.
Sustained local regional and national media of Coping
at Christmas across all media outputs including print,
broadcast and online (excluding the Telegraph coverage)
generated 175 pieces of free PR coverage, making this
year’s Coping at Christmas campaign Abbeyfield’s most
successful yet. The advertising value equivalent for this
is in excess of £150,000, an increase of 500% on the
2013 figure.
c. Research
Why fund research?
Abbeyfield is committed to the concept that research
provides evidence to inform decisions, to direct policy
development and to uphold the sector’s credibility.
Research can identify and achieve measures of efficacy
and quality in the field, based on the best available
evidence. It reflects Abbeyfield’s ethos to provide care
for the whole person – physical, mental, emotional and
spiritual. Research can also identify and develop more
robust, innovative, and evidence-based measures of need
(as distinct from solely demand) for services such as
those provided by Abbeyfield.
The Abbeyfield Society’s founding principles focus
on enhancing the quality of life for people in later life.
Promoting and funding research is one of the many
ways that Abbeyfield contributes towards this strategic
objective. It not only has the potential to enhance
Abbeyfield’s own offering but is also transferable
throughout the sector.
of quality research funding awarded only to charities
who meet defined standards, including a published
research strategy, rigorous peer-review procedures for
grant selection (such as a code of conduct and conflicts
of interest policy) and a position statement supporting
research in universities. In turn, the AMRC is the strong
collective voice for medical research charities in the UK,
and its members are eligible for the Charity Research
Support Fund and the AcoRD agreement on direct
research costs for any work in NHS settings. There are
other substantial benefits in terms of practical support,
influence, networking, and potential collaboration with
other large and smaller research charities.
Four projects were funded in 2014, of varying study
design, methodology and therapy area, but all of direct
relevance to those whom Abbeyfield seeks to serve.
Presentations of two of the projects (from Aston &
Birmingham) were given by the grant holders at the
November Conference and enthusiastically received by
Abbeyfielders across the board.
During the course of 2014, Abbeyfield applied for, and
was awarded, membership of the Association of Medical
Research Charities (AMRC). Membership is a hallmark
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Looking back, moving forward
The Abbeyfield Society has consistently demonstrated the
commitment to delivering Value for Money in all aspects of
its business. The five business objectives were identified
to assist this process and focus the business.
The Abbeyfield Core standard will be completed for this
round and best practice and learning opportunities will be
shared across the movement.
4. Making time for older people
1. Enhancing our financial effectiveness
Property Services: The divisionalisation of the asset
management team took place in the last quarter of
2014/15 with the last staff joining the teams in April 2015.
The impact of the change is being monitored by the
Executive team and Board at each meeting. The clear
challenges being to improve quality and meet residents
desire for local contractors and manage cost.
2. Modernising and growing better places for
older people
We acknowledge that our residents and others in the
community need better care and support services at home
than they currently access from some other providers.
We therefore intend to put a real focus on this area of
the business with a Service Development Manager now
in place to support the progression from accommodation
based service to community based. Our ‘Care at Home’
service will not be a ‘5 minute check in’ service but one
that gives time, time for a chat, time for us to find out and
meet their ‘real’ needs.
5. Providing space for the whole person
New developments: whilst our latest developments do
not open until the summer of 2016 the planning and
management of them is well underway and the social
value to the local community is central to our agenda. The
steering groups and open days will enable us to start from
the right place as part of the community and we hope to
build on this throughout the year.
We will continue to manage our closure and disposal
programmes but to balance this we will also focus on the
improvement and extension of those services which are
suited for this purpose.
We will link more closely with our peers and develop more
appropriate benchmarks which are meaningful to our
residents as well as those in the profession.
3. Delivering great services through great people
The people workstream will continue to develop over
the year and the benefits will be measured to assess its
value for our staff and residents. The recent staff survey
will be reviewed in detail and improvements actioned
and reported upon as will the resident survey currently
underway.
The feedback from residents in the VFM specific forums will be
taken on board and responded to. The high level of satisfaction
displayed must be retained and we can not be complacent.
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As has been evidenced there are many elements to
meeting the needs of the whole person.
Based on current progress our chaplaincy service will be
assessed and expanded across the other two divisions
with a clear remit to add the value in this area.
The Abbeyfield core standard and internal assessment
will give us further detail on the value of volunteering
to the organisation. The improvements in infrastructure
particularly IT development will enable our staff to spend
more time with our residents.
Overall the organisational structure has enabled us to
make financial savings whilst the local focus has improved
services for our residents. The board continues to push the
executive committee to further our objectives and maintain
the high satisfaction levels and continue to improve our
delivery in all areas thus enhancing our performance
around VFM.
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The Abbeyfield Society
St Peter’s House
2 Bricket Road
St Albans
Hertfordshire
AL1 3JW
Tel: 01727 857536
www.abbeyfield.com
Registered in England and Wales, Company No. 574816, Charity No. 200719,
Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) No. H1046
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