In November 2024, TACT analyzed over 300 records of learners who had been trained as Trusted Assessors in the previous 12-month period. The findings make interesting reading and provide a snapshot of the range of roles and backgrounds engaging with the role of Trusted Assessor.
For most learners, the role of Trusted Assessor is an additional role that they are adding to their core job role, fewer than 1% of the people we trained gave Trusted Assessor as their current job title – only three people in our sample of over 300.
More than two-thirds of learners are female at 68%, learners come from a wide age range:
| Age range | % of learners |
| Under 30 | 13% |
| 31 – 40 | 24% |
| 41 – 50 | 29% |
| 51 – 60 | 26% |
| 61+ | 8% |
Two percent of learners requested adjustments to the learning experience, these were requested at the time of booking and those adjustments were made for them.
A wide range of organizations are engaging with the role of Trusted Assessor, the split by organization type is set out below. Local authorities and their directly contracted providers are at the top of the list with a total of 44% of learners (40% directly employed by local authorities. This covers a wide variety of service delivery areas and levels – see the job role split for a sense of the variety of those. Second in importance are NHS trusts with 20% of learners.
In third place we see domiciliary care providers – these organizations have daily contact with service users and are ideally placed to notice needs and be able to act on them. At 13% of learners, we expect to see further growth in this part of the health and social care sector.
Home improvement agencies (HIAs) and housing associations are in equal next place with 6% for each of our learner base. Both types of housing-based specialist organizations are tasked with adapting homes to make them suitable for older and disabled people as part of their daily work. The housing association staff we have trained are keen to act quickly in providing suitable housing and they want to avoid potential delays caused by local authority waiting lists for assessments.
We have been delighted to train staff from construction and surveying organizations, charities/volunteer organizations, and independent OT practices, and we hope to engage with more this year. And the take-up of places from the retail sector – companies supplying independent living equipment and home adaptations is really pleasing to see – BHTA endorses the value of this qualification for staff involved in selling and recommending equipment to the public.
Here is the breakdown of the numbers by organization type:
| Organization type – Trusted Assessor learners | % of learners |
| Local authority | 40% |
| NHS Trust | 20% |
| Domiciliary care providers | 13% |
| Home improvement agencies | 6% |
| Housing associations | 6% |
| Retailers | 5% |
| Local authority – contracted provider | 4% |
| Construction and surveying companies | 2% |
| Care homes | 1% |
| Charity / voluntary organizations | 1% |
| Independent OTs | 1% |
The major finding from our analysis is the inspiring range of roles who are adding the role of Trusted Assessor to their current job role. The top ten most frequently mentioned roles are set out below:
| Job role – top 10 | % of learners |
| OT | 17% |
| OTA / Therapy assistant | 9% |
| Care director / Care manager / Care team leader / Care supervisor | 9% |
| Social worker / Social care officer / Social care practitioner / Social care assistant | 8% |
| Caseworker | 7% |
| Handyperson | 4% |
| Surveyor | 3% |
| Care worker / Healthcare assistant / Healthcare worker | 3% |
| Technical caseworker / Technical officer / Technical assistant | 3% |
| Independant living advisor / Independent living coordinator / Independent living officer | 2% |
The most surprising finding is the sheer range of roles emerging from this analysis, even after grouping similar roles together. We hope that the list provides inspiration to leaders and service managers considering how to speed up access to home adaptations. Do get in touch to talk to us about your transformation plans – we are happy to share insights from training and working with the roles we are describing here.
We train many Occupational Therapists (OTs) and at first sight this is surprising, given that the role is designed to free up OTs to deal with more complex cases. Most of the OT learners we see are newly qualified into the role or they are changing specialization – the most common switch is from specializing in mental health services to becoming more involved in equipment and home adaptations. Organizations employing OT assistants and apprentices often include the qualification as part of their role development, seeing the learning as a core component of their L&D programme.
And here is the long-tail of other job-titles:
| Job role – long tail | % of learners |
| Rehab assistant / Rehab practitioner / Rehab assistant / Rehab officer | 2% |
| Care coordinator / Health and social care coordinator | 2% |
| Sales director / Sales manager / Sales executive | 2% |
| Home improvement officer | 2% |
| Mobility advisor | 2% |
| Resident liaison officer / Customer support officer | 2% |
| Ceiling track hoist and stairlift engineer / Ceiling track hoist engineer / Ceiling track hoist technician / Rails technician / Service engineer – IL equipment | 2% |
| Adaptations officer / Aids and adaptations officer | 1% |
| Housing allocations officer / Housing asset management officer | 1% |
| Social care assessment officer / Social care assessor | 1% |
| Physiotherapist | 1% |
| Trusted Assessor | 1% |
| Care officer / Care support officer | 1% |
| Cost of living response officer | 1% |
| Enablement officer | 1% |
| Home safety officer | 1% |
| Reablement practitioner | 1% |
| Service coordinator – independent living | 1% |
| Adaptations manager / Team manager – adaptations | 1% |
| Care compliance officer / Care quality officer | 1% |
| Community falls nurse / Falls assessor | 1% |
| Community health engagement officer / Community officer | 1% |
| Customer service manager / Customer services representative | 1% |
| Home adaptations advisor / Home adaptions administrator | 1% |
| Accessibility manager | 0% |
| Clinical administrator | 0% |
| Community alarms officer | 0% |
| Community marshal | 0% |
| Contracts manager | 0% |
| DFG business support | 0% |
| Discharge to assess coordinator | 0% |
| Enablement manager | 0% |
| Extra care scheme manager | 0% |
| Handyperson coordinator | 0% |
| Home energy officer | 0% |
| Housing adaptation advisor | 0% |
| Housing manager | 0% |
| Housing neighbourhood officer | 0% |
| Information and advice officer | 0% |
| Logistics coordinator | 0% |
| Mobile response team leader | 0% |
| Operations manager | 0% |
| Product specialist | 0% |
| Reablement manager | 0% |
| Safeguarding adults officer | 0% |
| Sensory support administrator | 0% |
| Small repairs operative | 0% |
| Social liaison officer | 0% |
| Social prescriber | 0% |
| Specialist independence assistant | 0% |
| Technical support manager | 0% |
| Trainee property officer | 0% |
We are encouraged by the vision shown by employers in understanding how being qualified as a Trusted Assessor can optimize those visits and interventions with older and disabled people that form part of their daily work. We are excited to explore how the role can be expanded into areas including charity and voluntary roles that provide support, social prescribers, and a wide range of services around the person.
On the five-year anniversary of the ‘Adaptations without Delay’ report and almost twenty years since the publication of the ‘Competency Framework for Trusted Assessors’ there is much more that can be done to transform access to home adaptations.