Ineligible Charges
I have been tasked with finding out how much ineligible charge other extra care providers currently charge tenants. We are developing a new extra care scheme in Stockton which will have a bistro facility within the scheme and we are looking to include 1 meal per day as part of the tenancy but are worried that having an ineligible charge set at around £21 per week will lead to us having large numbers of tenants in rent arrears. I would be grateful if anyone, particularly where a meal is included in the charges, could let me know how much the charge is and if there have been any major issues with arrears.
I suppose that my comment would be that requiring people to pay for food which they may or may not need or want feels a bit uncomfortable; especially given that Extra Care services are about encouraging and enabling people to stay as independent as possible for as long as possible......what would you do if people didn't want to eat or pay ?????
As the provision of the meal is part of the tenancy agreement it is clear to tenants when they apply for the scheme what is offered. I know of two other providers who have meal provision tied in with the tenancy and as far as I know this has not presented problems. We have looked at various other ways of providing a meal service but without guaranteed income it is difficult to attract catering companies to become involved which is why we have went down the route of tying it in to the tenancy.