Dozens of councils and housing trusts are facing legal action after axing 24-hour wardens from sheltered housing and allegedly hastening the deaths of some pensioners and causing agony and distress for others.
Now, instead of a full-time guardian on the premises, many of the estimated half a million sheltered home residents receive no more than a daily check call over an intercom.
Dame Joan Bakewell, the broadcaster and campaigner for pensioners' rights, told the Observer that the practice was leaving many elderly people scared and vulnerable. "This is putting the elderly at risk and creates a continuing sense of unease in their lives. We want wardens restored," she said.
Residential wardens – live-in helps trained to work with vulnerable people – have traditionally lived alongside residents who are prone to falls and illness, but who still wish to maintain a degree of independence.
Until April, £1.6bn of government grants to local councils was ring-fenced for "supporting people" projects such as hostels, refuges and sheltered housing. Now, with that ring-fence removed, local councils can spend it on whatever they consider their priorities. This has meant removing wardens from sheltered accommodation and introducing "floating support" – wardens who visit daily or weekly.
A legal challenge against the right of landlords to take away a warden has been mounted by one resident, which could lead the way for tens of thousands of others. Joan Garbet, 72, from Eastbourne, East Sussex, a retired nurse, had her resident warden taken away from the sheltered housing complex where she lives in January. "When I signed my contract in 2001, it said that a resident warden would be provided. I just want my rights and those of other people protected," she said.
Her solicitor, Yvonne Hossack, plans to take another 40 councils and private companies to court. "I would argue that getting rid of wardens could breach tenants' 'legitimate expectation' when they moved in, that the service would continue to be provided," she said. "The contracts being used give all the powers to the housing provider – and we are arguing that this is unfair."
A spokeswoman for Circle 33 Housing Trust, which manages Joan Garbet's property, said that the company had consulted residents before introducing a "floating" support service. The arrangement will be reviewed next year.
Some private housing companies began reducing the number of wardens some years ago, with devastating consequences. Anona Thorpe died from hypothermia aged 70 in July last year after falling in her sitting room in her Derby residential home. Several days passed before she was spotted unconscious behind the sofa by neighbours.
The warden had been removed months earlier following a cost-cutting shake-up of housing support that saw visits cut from daily to monthly. The coroner criticised the housing provider, Derby Homes, for not telling her relatives about the reduction in care.
As a result of the policy, many frail elderly people are now having to rely almost solely on one another for help in a crisis. Wilf Roberts, 89, is recovering in hospital this weekend suffering from a fractured hip after falling over in his sheltered bungalow in Holcombe, Somerset.
Luckily, his neighbour, Coral Holton, was with him when he fell and called an ambulance. Four years ago, the home had a live-in, 24-hour warden. This was then changed to a manager who came in 9am-5pm on weekdays. But since the new year, residents receive only a phone call or visit each day.
MPs are starting to back an early day motion to halt the loss of wardens. Geoffrey Cox, the Conservative MP for Torridge and West Devon, said: "When parliament comes back from its summer recess, I shall request an urgent debate."
Andrew Dismore, the Labour MP for Hendon, said: "Many make the point that they would not be in sheltered accommodation if they had been able to remain in their own homes. They're there because they require that level of support. It is clear that the majority of tenants would be unsafe if left on their own. They have varying degrees of frailty.
"Many are bewildered and forgetful. It is clear that some really ought to have been moved into higher dependency support, but manage to cope with the help of a warden service."
