Supporting People

What is Supporting People?

The Supporting People programme, launched in 2003, is committed to providing a better quality of life for vulnerable to live more independently and maintain their housing. The programme provides housing-related support to prevent problems that can often lead to hospitalisation, institutional care or homelessness and can help the smooth transition to independent living for those leaving an institutional environment.

The Supporting People programme in Hounslow provides housing related support services to over 2000 vulnerable people. The programme is delivered by the local authority by 28 different provider organisations through more than a hundred different services.

What are Supporting People Services?

Supporting People services can provide the type of support a vulnerable person might need to live somewhere that feels like home. This can involve helping someone to find somewhere to live or preventing someone from losing their home if there is a danger of that happening.

In order to have a home you not only need to find a property to live in, you also need to be able to pay for it, keep it warm, secure, clean and well maintained. For it to truly feel like home though, you need to feel like you belong there, that you like where you are living, that you can control what happens where you live and that you don’t feel stuck or isolated there – this is what Supporting People services are aiming to assist with.

What kind of support can Supporting People services provide?

Supporting People services provide housing-related support, aimed at developing or sustaining someone’s capacity to live independently. Housing-related support can include support with some or all of the following: Setting up a home, developing life and domestic skills, managing finances and benefit claims, gaining access to other services and community organisations, establishing social contacts and activities, establishing safety and security, monitoring health and well being and support with a range of other housing-related matters that can help someone live independently.

What kind of support can’t Supporting People services provide?

Supporting People services can’t provide every type of assistance that a vulnerable person might need in order to live independently. For example they can’t provide support with personal care such as washing, dressing or feeding, neither can they provide support with administering medication, or any kind of specialist treatment or formal counselling. Supporting People services also can’t provide support on an ad hoc or one-off basis. Supporting People services provide a package of support over a period of time; this can range from a couple of months to a lifetime.

Who are Supporting People Services for?

Supporting People services are intended for a wide range of vulnerable adults who may be in need of a housing-related support services e.g. someone who has had a previous history of tenancy loss or someone who has been previously homeless or sleeping rough. someone who has been in prison or is at risk of offending may benefit from a support service or people with mental health needs or a learning disability. Women with experience of domestic violence, teenage parents or young people and at risk may need support to develop independence. Older people, people with drug or alcohol problems, people with a sensory or physical disability or refugees, may all need support arising form their different circumstances or experiences.

What types of Supporting People services are there?

In Hounslow there are over 80 different Supporting People services, provided by more than 28 different organisations. Supporting People services can be categorised in to Accommodation-based and Non-accommodation-based. Accommodation-based services require their customers to move-in to the accommodation provided in order to access the support service. Examples of this type of service include women’s refuges, sheltered housing and supported housing projects. These services all provide accommodation along with the support to live there. If someone already has a home that suits their needs, accommodation-based services may not be the most appropriate way to get support. Non-accommodation-based services don’t provide access to housing, but provide support wherever the customer is already residing, this might be in temporary or permanent housing, in rented or owned accommodation. Examples of this type of service include Community Alarm services Home Improvement services and Floating Support Services.

How much do Supporting People services cost?

Most Supporting People services don’t cost the user anything at all. Supporting People services that are provided on short-term basis (say up to 2 years) are free to the user. These services aim to bring about greater independence for their users within 2 years of receiving support. Services that are provided on a long-term basis (say throughout someone’s lifetime) are not always free to the user. The charge for long-term services can vary from £3 per week to £250 per week depending on the services. How much the user pays also depends on their financial circumstances. People on Housing Benefit do not have to pay for the charge for a support service and others who are not on Housing Benefit, but have limited means, can also apply for help with paying support charges.

What should I expect from a Supporting People Service?

Providers of Supporting People services are under contract to the Local Authority. The Local Authority Supporting People Team is responsible for monitoring the performance and quality of Supporting People services under contract.

All Supporting People services are striving to improve quality standards and there is an expectation that they will operate to minimum standards in a number or core areas of a new Quality Assessment Framework. The core areas are:

(1) Needs and Risk Assessment and Support Planning, which is concerned with ensuring that service users’ have individual support plans based on up-to-date assessments of their needs and any risks and that users’ views are respected. This area is also concerned with ensuring that skilled staff manage the services and involve carers and/or other professionals if service users wish.

(2) Security, Health & Safety, Protection from Abuse, which is concerned with ensuring that services protect individual service users and staff.

(3) Protection from Abuse, which is concerned with ensuring that services safeguard the rights of service users to be protected from abuse.

(4) Fair Access, Diversity and Inclusion, which is concerned with ensuring that services are committed to the values of diversity and inclusion and to the practice of equal opportunity (including accessibility in its widest sense) and that the needs of black and minority ethnic service users are appropriately met.

(5) Complaints, which is concerned with ensuring that Users, carers and other stakeholders are made aware of complaints procedures and how to use them.

Providers of services and the Supporting People Team are working to ensure that Supporting People services are of a good quality. Any concerns regarding quality can be reported to the service provider directly or the Supporting People Team at London Borough of Hounslow, Lampton Road, Hounslow TW3 4DN.

Who can make an application to receive a Supporting People Service?

Subject to each service’s eligibility criteria, the following agencies may apply to a support service on behalf of someone with a support need:

Social Services Departments
Housing Departments
Hounslow Homes
Housing Associations
Probation
Health
Voluntary Organisations
Citizens Advice Bureaus
Welfare Benefits Money Advice Unit
Self referrals

Contact us

Supporting People Team
Housing and Community Services
Civic Centre
Lampton Road
Hounslow
TW3 4DN

Tel: 020 8583 3756/3923