Supporting People in Herefordshire
What is Supporting People?
‘Supporting People’ was launched nationally on 1st April 2003
The Supporting People Programme aims to help vulnerable and disabled people to have a better quality of life, by planning and funding housing-related support services.
The Herefordshire Supporting People Partnership is committed to ensuring that the Supporting People Programme provides the most appropriate housing-related support services. The vision of the programme in Herefordshire is to fund services that:
- Contribute to the strategic objectives of the Council and its partners
- Are accessible, high quality, effective and culturally sensitive
- Enable vulnerable people to develop and sustain independent living
- Prevent or delay the need for more intensive, higher cost health and social care interventions
- Contribute to successful outcomes of wider housing, health and social care interventions
These services are funded by central government. The government passes the money to local councils (Administering Authorities) who then pay for the services.
In Herefordshire, the Supporting People Partnership is made up of the County of Herefordshire District Council, Herefordshire Primary Care Trust and West Mercia Probation Service. There are a number of organisations who have an interest in the programme; including the providers who deliver housing-related Supporting People services to vulnerable and disabled people.
Who can Supporting People Help?
The programme helps a wide range of vulnerable and disabled people including:
- People who have been homeless, or are at risk of becoming homeless
- People who have mental health issues
- People with drug or alcohol problems
- People who have a learning disability
- Ex-offenders or people at risk of offending
- People with a physical or sensory disability
- People that have experienced or are at risk of domestic violence
- Teenage parents
- Older People who have support needs
- Young People at risk
- People with HIV or AIDS
- Gypsies and Travellers
What is Housing Related Support?
Housing-related support aims to help people to live as independently as possible in their home and to maintain their independence. Here are some examples of the types of services that Supporting People funds:
- Sheltered housing for older people
- Refuges for women fleeing domestic violence
- Supported housing for young people at risk
Housing-related support is all about enabling people to do things for themselves and not doing things for them. It is about activities that enable people so that they do not have to go into hospital or residential care. It is about supporting people to maintain their independence.
The types of support that these services might give include:
- Advice to enable people to claim welfare benefits
- Support with budgeting
- Enable people to access community services; e.g. doctors, dentists, library etc
- Support to enable people to develop life skills such as cooking and cleaning
- Advice to enable people to be involved in their community and take part in social activities
Housing-related support services are also provided to people in their own homes, these services are called ‘Floating Support’.
However, there are some services that Supporting People cannot pay for. These include:
- Personal Care e.g. help with washing and dressing, administering medication
- Service provided in Registered Care Homes
- Meals on wheels
- Specialist Counselling Services
Information about Supporting People Services in Herefordshire?
There is a directory of the Supporting People services available in Herefordshire on this website.
The directory can be located by clicking on the Menu item on the left of this screen. Click on the Supporting People Directory item to access the full directory for Herefordshire.
Please be aware that for some services a referral from a social worker, health professional, or probation officer will be required. More information will be available from the service provider, when you contact them to find out more.
Paying for Supporting People Services
There are Supporting People Services, which are ‘short-term’. This means that people will only receive them for up to 2 years and then they will move on to other accommodation or will not require the service any more. All of these short-term services are subsidised.
There are also ‘long-term’ Supporting People Services. This means that will be provided support for more than 2 years; there may be a charge for these services.
The local charging policy is “to transitionally protect the financial circumstances of those service users who were in receipt of services on 31st March 2003 and who continue to receive those services; and to ensure that new service users have the means to pay for support, assessed in a transparent and equitable way”.
The Local Authority has decided that in view of the analysis of potential revenue income, it is not currently cost effective to charge for Supporting People Services, this position will be kept under constant review.
Help to pay for long-term services?
People in receipt of Housing Benefit do not have to pay for the cost of their support. When the service commences, the support provider will (with your permission) tell the Supporting Team. The Supporting People Team will then pay for the cost of the housing-related support directly to your support provider.
Are there more services than the ones listed on the website?
There are many other organisations in Herefordshire that may be able to provide care and support services.
However, if they are not listed in our Directory of Services, this means that they do not receive Supporting People funding. It also means that Supporting People do not make checks on the service.
Does anybody carry out any checks on Supporting People Services?
The Supporting People Team will have ‘reviewed’ all of the services in Herefordshire by March 2006.
This means that checks will be made to ensure that the services meet a certain level. This includes talking to staff and to people who use the service. If the service does not meet this level, the Supporting People Team tell the service how they should improve and agree how and when the improvements will be checked.
The review programme will inform the planning of future services. Research is carried out to see what services are needed and what services are now less popular. In this way we can make sure that we are putting money into services that people want to use.
