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What is Supporting People?

"Supporting People" is a new integrated policy and funding framework for housing support services, which will be introduced from April 2003. The aim is to provide good quality services, focused on the needs of users, to enable vulnerable people to live independently in the community, in all types of accommodation and tenure.

Housing support services have grown up over a number of years, often in a fairly ad-hoc way in response to the needs of individuals or of the tenants of a particular landlord. The Supporting People programme will put these services on a secure legal footing, with a systematic and strategic process to assess needs and supply of support services in local areas and make provision accordingly.

At present, housing support services are funded from a number of sources, including Housing Benefit (the Transitional Housing Benefit Scheme), Special Needs Allowance Package (SNAP) and Resettlement Grant. From 1 April 2003, these resources will be transferred to local authorities, who will be responsible for the new arrangements. Services will no longer be funded by individual payments out of Housing Benefit from each person receiving the service. Instead, local authorities and their partners, including health agencies, service providers and service user groups, will assess the overall levels of need in their area and commission appropriate services to meet those needs, funding them on a contract basis. Strategic planning for Supporting People will be linked to the Local Housing Strategy and other local plans for community care, health improvement, social inclusion etc. Services will also, for the first time, be subject to quality monitoring, through registration by the Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care, and contract compliance procedures.

How is the programme being implemented?

The overall policy of Supporting People was the subject of a wide-ranging joint consultation exercise from all the government departments involved, in 1999. Most respondents from Scotland were in favour of the proposals. The policy is being implemented across England, Scotland and Wales, with national variations due to different local authority structures and other differences resulting from devolution.

The Scottish Executive is responsible for implementing the programme in Scotland. Legislation has been put in place, through the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001, to enable grants to be made to local authorities for housing support services. The Act also allows for secondary legislation and guidance to specify how that grant is to be used. The Scottish Executive has set up a Stakeholders' Group, representing local authorities, housing support providers and service users' groups, to guide the development and overall direction of the programme. A Project Board oversees the implementation of the programme to ensure that targets and timescales are met. Detailed guidance for local authorities and service providers is first scrutinised by the Stakeholders' Group and then issued for public consultation before being finalised.

All guidance and consultation papers are available on this website. There is also an extensive range of Frequently Asked Questions