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The EHRC inquiry reveals disturbing evidence that the poor treatment of many older people receiving home care is breaching their human rights and too many are struggling to voice their concerns about their care or be listened to about what kind of support they want.  

The final report of the Commission's inquiry, 'Close to home: older people and human rights in home care', says hundreds of thousands of older people lack protection under the Human Rights Act and calls for this legal loophole to be closed. The report questions a number of commissioning practices that give more weight to cost than to an acceptable quality of care. 

Around half of the older people, friends and family members who gave evidence to the inquiry expressed real satisfaction with their home care. They most valued having a small number of familiar and reliable staff who took  the time to talk to them and complied with their requests to do specific tasks. Home care workers said their job satisfaction came from improving the quality of older people’s lives.
 

But the inquiry also revealed many examples of older people’s human rights being breached, including physical or financial abuse, disregarding their privacy and dignity, failing to support them with eating or drinking, treating them as if they were invisible, and paying little attention to what they want.
 

In response to the findings of the inquiry, the Commission is making a number of recommendations. The report recommends that legislation and regulation needs to be updated to reflect huge shifts in how care is provided. The recommendations fall under three broad categories: proper protection; effective monitoring; and clear guidance. The Commission has started working with partners across the care sector and in parliament to push forward these recommendations and will continue this process over the coming weeks and months.

You can find more information on the inquiry and recommendations on the EHRC website.