Council to improve prevention services through new ‘Behind Every Door’ initiative

Swindon Borough Council is looking to improve its preventative services through a new initiative called ‘Behind Every Door’.

It involves housing officers who are out and about every day to keep an eye on the communities and offer early support if they notice anything unusual.

Over the last three months, housing officers have visited more than 180 people living in Swindon’s council homes to ensure their living conditions suit their needs.

Council leader Jim Robbins said: “It might be that someone goes into a house and realises that someone is struggling a bit with mobility.

If we can get something like grab-rails into their baths, so they’re less likely to have a fall, they’re able to stay in their houses for longer, they won’t need to go into residential care and they won’t be someone who needs a new hip because they’ve had a fall”.

So far, housing officers have been able to help residents with sorting urgent repair work as well as referring those with health and financial issues to the right services.

The scheme can also help identify safeguarding concerns, such as domestic violence or children missing out on school.

Councillor Janine Howarth, Cabinet Member for Housing, said: “Everyone has a right to a safe and decent home. With around 10,000 council-owned properties across Swindon, we have a great responsibility to look after the welfare of all our tenants in line with our mission to build a fairer Swindon.

“The Behind Every Door project is helping us to have meaningful conversations with our tenants, enabling us to identify any issues within their properties or their everyday lives. By providing this direct communication, our teams are able to provide tenants with the support they need”.

By identifying problems early on, residents can receive help before the issues get out of hand.

According to Cllr Robbins, this is a win-win situation.

“If people allow problems to reach crisis-point before they engage with the council to try and get that support, it can be really expensive, really traumatic for the resident and much harder for us to have a positive outcome”, he explained.

Through engaging directly with residents, the council is also hoping to promote community integration by making tenants aware of services that are available to them in their local areas.

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• swindon borough council
• prevention
• council homes