Proposal: Older Adults' Day Services
For the County Council’s HCC Care and Support Service to stop running the older adult day care services at Chesil Lodge (Winchester), and Newman Court (Basingstoke).
These day care services provide a range of individual and group activities (e.g. crafts, exercise, singing) together with personal care.
People currently attending day care services and their carers would continue to have their eligible needs met either through these services transferring to an independent provider or through alternative care provision.
What is the current situation?
Most care provision for older people in Hampshire is provided by the independent, voluntary and private sectors. However, Hampshire County Council has retained a high level of in-house service provision compared with other local authorities.
Our in-house service arm is called HCC Care and Support; it provides nursing, residential and day opportunities for eligible older and younger adults across Hampshire.
About HCC Care and Support day care services for older adults
Older adult day care services support the physical and emotional well-being of older individuals (aged 65 or over) with social care needs.
Day care services are building-based services offering social interaction, engaging group and individual activities (e.g. crafts, exercise, singing), and personal care, while also providing respite for family carers who may care for the individual at home.
HCC Care and Support currently run two older adult day care services. The day services are located within the residential Extra Care complexes at Chesil Lodge (Winchester), and Newman Court (Basingstoke).
The services operate 5 days per week (Monday to Friday). Around 70 older adults use these services at least once per week.
Day care services allow the County Council to meet its responsibilities under the Care Act, although there are other ways of meeting these legal duties.
The number of older adults using day care funded by the County Council has reduced by more than half over the past 7 years, particularly after the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2017 there were approximately 600 people accessing these services; today the number is around 250.
Other day care services provided by HCC Care and Support
HCC Care and Support also provides:
- four day care services for adults with a mixture of profiles (such as older or younger adults, and adults with disabilities)
- ten day opportunity services, which provide activities and training for adults with learning disabilities and physical disabilities
These other day services would not be affected by the proposed changes.
What is being proposed?
We are proposing that HCC Care and Support would no longer run the older adult day care services at Chesil Lodge (Winchester), and Newman Court (Basingstoke). Instead, we would look for other ways to continue to provide services that meet the eligible needs of those people using Chesil Lodge and Newman Court day services, as detailed in the ‘How the proposal would be implemented’ section below.
Please note: These proposals only relate to the provision of day care services at Chesil Lodge and Newman Court. We are not proposing changes to any of the other services delivered from these locations.
Reason for this proposal
Until a sustainable long-term national funding solution can be found to address the intense financial pressures facing not only Hampshire County Council, but also wider local government, the County Council has no choice but to consider changing or reducing services in some areas and propose options for savings.
Although providing day care services allows the County Council to meet its responsibilities under the Care Act, we do not need to provide these services in the way we currently do.
No longer running older adult day care services in-house (through HCC Care and Support) would eventually contribute around £250,000 per year towards addressing the County Council’s overall anticipated remaining £97.6 million budget deficit from April 2025.
Given the decline in service user numbers and the costs of running the older adult day care services in house, we believe that the proposed approach is a more efficient way to support older adults.
How would the proposal be implemented?
If this proposal is agreed, from April 2026 HCC Care and Support would no longer run the older adult day care services at Chesil Lodge (Winchester), and Newman Court (Basingstoke).
We would look for a suitable provider (or providers) who could run these services from April 2026. This could be from the existing day care centres or somewhere else nearby.
If no suitable provider can be found then these two day services would close, and we would put alternative arrangements in place to meet service users’ and carers’ eligible needs. Alternative provision might include:
- other day care services which could meet the individual’s needs
- personal care and support in the person’s own home (domiciliary care)
- attending a local residential care home for sessions each week
- Meals on Wheels
- respite and carer support services, such as providing a Take a Break Service for an unpaid carer
- use of Direct Payments, to enable individuals to arrange alternative day services or other activities of their choice for themselves
- placement into residential care settings
During the consultation, social care practitioners would work sensitively with the users of the service, and their families where appropriate, to find alternative services that meet their eligible care and support needs.
This would take into account their individual circumstances and needs as well as the needs of their family carers, the need to maintain friendship groups, as well as where they live and what is available locally to them.
We would try to get these changes to start from April 2026, to reduce disruption for the older adults and carers affected.
Potential impacts
If a decision is taken for HCC Care and Support to stop running older adult day care services as described in this proposal, service users may no longer be able to access day care at Chesil Lodge (Winchester) and Newman Court (Basingstoke), or there may be changes to the services available at these locations.
In the event of any service changes, we would work with affected service users, and family carers, to ensure that their needs continue to be met under the Care Act.
We recognise that carers may be impacted by changes to day care services. We would ensure that the needs of carers would be considered as part of any changes to services.
Staff working at these older adult day care services may be at risk of redundancy if there are changes to services. If alternative provider(s) for the services were identified it is possible that staff would transfer to the new provider.
This may include their existing employment conditions being protected under Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment), often known as TUPE. However, this would be subject to any agreement with the new provider(s).
What are the alternatives?
There are other approaches that we could take that are not proposed at this time. In developing this proposal, we have also considered the following:
Continuing to operate the two services in their current buildings with their current operating model and staffing
As service user numbers have reduced, the service has become less financially viable than other options, and therefore this would not be the most efficient use of resources.
Trying to make the current service more efficient
This may involve different operating times, staffing levels or operating the services from different Hampshire County Council premises.
There have been previous reviews and efficiencies in this area, so further opportunities are limited and unlikely to deliver significant savings by April 2026 in comparison to the recommended options put forward.