Placement schemes failing to register

Some councils in Wales are failing to register their adult
placement schemes with regulators because the definition of a
scheme is too narrow.

Only 12 of 22 Welsh councils have registered schemes with the
Care Standards Inspectorate Wales. The National Association of
Adult Placement Schemes Cymru (Naaps) knows of at least one that
has chosen not to register because it thinks its carers fall
outside the remit of the Welsh assembly’s national minimum
standards which were introduced last summer.

Naaps is worried that the restricted definition means people in
adult placements in unregistered areas will get less support while
those in registered schemes could have their independence curtailed
because of over-regulation of their carer.

For example, outreach support for kinship carers is not classed
as an adult placement under the new standards, meaning carers have
to register as a domiciliary care agency with higher levels of
regulation. Also, registered schemes limit carers to looking after
two people rather than the previous three, which still applies to
unregistered schemes.

However, unregistered schemes cannot provide funding support to
carers who provide personal care as well as accommodation for
people in adult placements.

Naaps believes the current situation is confusing and putting
councils off registering their schemes with CSIW. It is calling on
the assembly to redraft the NMS to make a clearer, and less
restrictive, definition of what an adult placement is.