Supporting People Accreditation

What is Supporting People?

Supporting People is a government programme that aims to improve the quality of services provided to vulnerable people. It does this in several ways:

• Focussing provision on local need
• Improving the range and quality of services
• Monitoring effectiveness
• Integrating housing-related support with wider local strategies
• Introducing effective decision making and administration

We pay service providers to provide vulnerablepeople with housing-related support to enable them to live independently in the community.

Who is a vulnerable person?

People who may be vulnerable include:

• Older people with support needs
• People with learning disabilities
• People with mental health problems
• Homeless people
• Young people at risk or leaving care
• People with drug or alcohol problems
• People with a sensory or physical disability
• People fleeing domestic violence
• Offenders
• Gypsies and travellers
• People with HIV/AIDS

What is housing-related support?

This is the service that a landlord, or somebody who works for them, such as a warden or support worker, provides for vulnerable people to help them to remain independent.

Types of services include those where accommodation and support are part of the overall service - such as a sheltered housing scheme, a hostel or a refuge. Alternatively people may remain in their own home and receive support from an outside agency.

Typical housing-related support services include:

• Help with budgeting and managing tenancy
• Help filling in claim forms or arranging for professionals to call
• Help with accessing education or work
• Help or training to help to move on to less supported accommodation
• Help maintaining the safety and security of the home
• An emergency alarm

All of the services above help people to do things themselves rather than have things done for them.

Supporting People does not pay for personal care services such as bathing, laundry or having meals prepared.

Who pays for the Supporting People service?

If a person receives Housing Benefit, either full or partial, their Supporting People charge will be paid in full by the Supporting People team. In most cases this will be paid directly to the service provider.

If a person is not inreceipt ofHousing Benefit they will need to pay for the cost of the support themselves.

If a person does not qualify for Housing Benefit but feels they may be entitled to some help with the cost of the Supporting People charge, they can ask for a financial assessment under the Fairer Charging scheme. Please contact the team for more information on how to do this.

Do Supporting People Services have to meet certain standards?

Under the Supporting People programme, service providers need to make sure that their service meets standards laid down by central government. In order to check these standards are being met, the Supporting People Team reviews services regularly and encourages input from service users and stakeholders during the review.

If a service user is unhappy with the service being provided to them, they have a right to complain. In many cases the best person to complain to will be the service provider and they should give information on how to do this.

If service users would rather not complain directly to them, they can contact the Supporting People Team.

For a leaflet giving full guidance on how to make a complaint, please click here or contact the team using the details below.

The Bournemouth Supporting People Team
Room 106/107
Third Floor
Town Hall
Bourne Avenue
Bournemouth
BH26DY

Tel : 01202 458929

or email supportingpeople@bournemouth.gov.uk