Member Article

Liverpool Council commit £250k to housing maintenance scheme

Merseyside company Riverside Housing and Housing Maintenance Solutions (HMS) have secured a £250,000 grant from Liverpool City Council to provide DIY help to the vulnerable and elderly in their homes.

Riverside and HMS, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Liverpool Mutual Homes, will put a team of DIY professionals in place to attend to the maintenance needs of over 65s and those with disabilities.

The “Handy Persons” pilot scheme will be subsidised at a rate of £15 per hour with materials, and will give residents the option of calling a dedicated hotline to request a visit from a handyman who will carry out odd jobs.

Managing director at HMS, Paul Worthington, commented: “The scheme will allow residents to benefit from using regulated and highly trained tradespeople at a fraction of the cost.

“Furthermore, people can feel safe about letting our staff into their homes and have confidence the work will meet the highest standards with a minimum of disruption.

“The college partnership means more people in the community will benefit too and it will give them an insight into the work HMS carries out. And if they enjoy it, they can apply to our apprenticeship programme and develop their careers.”

Liverpool City Council hopes the project will improve the health, wellbeing and quality of life of vulnerable residents in the city, while helping to preserve their independence and cutting down hospital admissions.

Cabinet member for housing, Cllr Ann O’Byrne, said: “It’s so, so important that older residents and vulnerable people can live safely and independently in their homes for as long as possible – and we’re determined to do everything we can to support them.

“The new Handy Persons scheme will provide a real lifeline for residents who need it most. It will give them access to an affordable, speedy and trustworthy means of carrying out those often small but vital household tasks which can make such a difference to the quality of people’s lives.”

The “Handy Persons” scheme will partly include an apprenticeship scheme, with a pool of apprentices from Liverpool Community College who will support HMS and Riverside while developing their own skills.

Apprentices will also be supported in finding permanent work following on from their training period.

Liverpool’s mayoral lead for older people, Cllr Gerard Woodhouse, said: “I spend a lot of time talking to older people about the challenges they face in living independently, and I know that it’s often the small jobs that can cause them the biggest problems. That’s why I’m so pleased that this service is being made available for them.

“Having a reliable handy person on-call is going to be a real help to many, many older residents, as well as those with disabilities. I’m looking forward to the scheme getting underway.”

Riverside’s regeneration manager, Paul Booth, added: “We are looking forward to working with the City Council to deliver this vitally important service for older residents and those with disabilities in Liverpool.

“Our service will help people retain the greatest possible control of their lives by completing a range of tasks to the highest standards.

“Our highly skilled Handy Persons and dedicated team are ready to provide a tailored approach for each client – to remove the stress and worry of getting small jobs completed around the home.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Miranda Dobson .