Supporting independence
We are proud to be one of the largest providers of supported living accommodation in the country for people with a learning disability, autism, or mental health needs. We are also one of the UK’s leading Technology Enabled Care and Support providers. Key Unlocking Futures, our charitable company continues to grow providing more support to help people build better lives.
A leading provider of supported living accommodation
In September 2021, we welcomed Reside Housing Association to the Group. As a result, we have combined to create RWP (Reside With Progress). Our aim is to be the leading supported living provider in the country for people with a learning disability and/or autism.
The partnership means we now manage 4,351 supported living tenancies. We have made great progress in developing our specialist teams and tailoring our services to meet the needs of our tenants. For example, we have set up a specialist call handling team for RWP and revised our service model so that tenants get at least two visits yearly from their housing officer.
We have also reviewed our repairs service and appointed a new national repairs contractor to meet the needs of our tenants better.
We developed six new supported living properties during the year, adding 12 new supported living tenancies. We continued to offer our health and wellbeing service and arranged 281 adaptations such as wet rooms, access ramps and handrails to help our supported living tenants maintain their independence.
Help for the most vulnerable
Through our charitable company, Key Unlocking Futures (Key), we support disadvantaged people across Lancashire, helping them to build a brighter future for themselves and their families. We give support to help people find a home, a job, improve their health and wellbeing, connect with others in the community and stay safe.
My life in Progress - Meet Josh
My life in Progress - Meet Andrea
During the year, we gave support to 2,892 people across the county, offering services such as:
Tenancy support
We provide critical tenancy support to those at risk of losing their home. This now includes people living in our homelessness schemes. We have developed an asset-based approach, where we focus on an individual’s strengths and abilities. This has had positive feedback from tenants, colleagues and other stakeholders.
Health and wellbeing support for children
Much of our emotional health and wellbeing support takes place in school settings. We have been looking at developing a more formal offer to schools, which will see us supporting more children and young people while creating a new income stream for us.
Preventing homelessness
Our supported housing provides safe accommodation and support for young people and adults facing homelessness. This year, 37 people have been supported at our purpose-built schemes, Foundations and Inn2. At The Bridge and Parker House schemes in Chorley, we supported 38 young people aged 16-20. After receiving support, 10 people moved on to independent living and 13 either moved in with family or friends or re-located to other housing schemes.
Since the pandemic, we know there has been a 40% increase in mental health issues nationally among young people. During the year, we have been able to resume our in-person drop-in support service, which offers essential emotional support and advocacy to young people.
My life in Progress - Meet Tina
Providing refuge
This year, we have provided safe refuge to 38 women and 46 children. We have successfully moved on 14 families to permanent new tenancies. We also offer a community outreach service to people who have experienced domestic abuse in the South Ribble and Chorley areas. Support includes helping people to be safe in their own homes or help find somewhere safer to live. Our Freedom Programme helps victims recognise abusive behaviours and includes a recovery toolkit to help people develop a positive lifestyle.
The Base Community Centre
The centre, which was used to help tenants and residents through the pandemic, is now a thriving hub in Broadfield, Leyland. With 16 volunteers, the centre has built a strong relationship with local people. It includes a community shop with 400 members and a free community café with around 150 visitors each week.
Through the hard work of volunteers, the centre has once again achieved a Gold award in the 'Voluntary Group of the Year' category in the Progress Housing Group Community Champion Awards.
During the year, Key received £150,000 worth of funding from Santander to create a digital and financial inclusion project called ‘Tech & Talk'. The project will support tenants and residents with basic digital and money skills over the next three years.
Our lives in Progress - Meet Josephine & Antonio
Technology-enabled care
Progress Lifeline is our award-winning technology-enabled care service. We provide personal alarms, emergency home response and lifting services, and a range of other telecare services to people with different health conditions.
During the year, we handled 1,383,993 calls from people needing assistance and now support more than 60,000 customers.
Our Emergency Home Response service also continues to grow. Our team now supports more than 24,000 people. During the year, they attended 12,431 fall-related call-outs, of which 9,841 resulted in an assistive lift for those who were not injured – an increase of nearly 9% on last year.
This valuable service has helped reduce the demand for the North West Ambulance Service, enabling them to prioritise their emergencies. Our partnership with the service was acknowledged this year when we won the ITEC Partnership in TEC Award.
We now provide responder services throughout Lancashire, Yorkshire, Merseyside, Manchester, Herefordshire and Gloucester.
Progress Lifeline has been selected to work with the TEC Services Association and NHS to trial a brand new 999 call handling support tool and Urgent Community Responders (UCR) pathway. The pilot aims to connect UCRs with ambulance trusts and identify ways to reduce pressure on the ambulance service while providing more appropriate care, closer to home, without the need for hospital admission.
As part of our growth we made two new acquisitions during the year – Gloucester City Homes Lifelink service and the West Lancashire Home Care Link service. We are now also providing services on behalf of Herefordshire Council and Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council.
Looking to the future, we have been updating our technology and service offer, ready for the UK-wide telecommunication switch from analogue to digital in 2025. This is an important project that will affect everyone in the UK, especially those who rely on technology-enabled care services.
We are continually improving our services and technology solutions so that we can help more people live independently in their own homes.
Independent living
We have 30 independent living schemes across South Ribble and the Fylde Coast for people aged over 55. Each scheme offers self-contained apartments, communal facilities, support from an independent living co-ordinator, and 24-hour emergency assistance.
During the year, in consultation with tenants, we refurbished Charleston Court in Bamber Bridge by decorating, re-carpeting, and adding new furniture to the lounge area.
Our independent living co-ordinators received updated training to ensure new tenants move into their home smoothly and build a relationship with their co-ordinator at the start of their tenancy.
We also made further improvements to how we undertake risk assessments to ensure that urgent assistance is given to any tenant needing help to evacuate their home in the unlikely event of a fire.
Charleston Court lounge and dining area
Tenants at Charleston Court