Supporting People - Information For Providers
Providers of Supporting People services are individuals or organisations who provide housing related support services. They include registered social landlords, voluntary sector organisations, local authorities and the private sector.
Support can either be provided on a short term (up to 2 years) or long term (over 2 years) basis. Although many services are linked to accommodation the flexibility of 'floating' support is also possible.
The types of supported accommodation which can be funded are:
- Sheltered Housing
- Hostels for the Homeless
- Independent Living Flats
- Shared Housing
The Supporting People programme has seen a great deal of change in the last three years both at a national level and locally here in Poole. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) who has, over the last three years, guided the programme on behalf of Central Government has changed its name and is now known as the Department of Communities & local Government (DCLG). Confusing?.....well the change doesn't stop there!
Here in Poole we have also changed our name to The Service Improvement Team. The change has been made in order for the team to be more integrated into the Contracts Monitoring section with Adult Social Services. The new integrated team is responsible for monitoring all contracts including Supporting People, Care & Residential Home contracts. The day to day management of the team sits within the responsibility of the Adult Social Services Strategic Contracts Manager however any issues relating to Supporting People matters are the responsibility of the Strategic Commissioning Manager formally the Supporting People Manager.
Payment Dates 07/08
Supporting People payments for 2007/08 will be made as follows:
Payment 1 w/c 02/04/07
Payment 2 w/c 30/04/07
Payment 3 w/c 28/05/07
Payment 4 w/c 25/06/07
Payment 5 w/c 23/07/07
Payment 6 w/c 20/08/07
Payment 7 w/c 17/09/07
Payment 8 w/c 15/10/07
Payment 9 w/c 12/11/07
Payment 10 w/c 10/12/07
Payment 11 w/c 07/01/08
Payment 12 w/c 04/02/08
Payment 13 w/c 03/03/08
How We Will Review Your Service
Notice of review
You will receive a formal letter from the Supporting People Team to let you know when your Review will be taking place. This letter will be copied to your partner commissioning agencies where applicable.
You will receive an information pack which explains the Review process and details of what data you will be expected to provide.
Performance Workbook
The Department for Communities & Local Government (DCLG 
) have provided a workbook to record your performance information - on occupancy or utilisation, voids or available capacity, and staffing levels.
Outcomes Framework
The DCLG have developed an Outcomes Framework for all Supporting People funded services. We will look at your Outcomes Monitoring whilst reviewing the quality of your service.
Information Request
We will formally request your Quality Assessment Framework (QAF) self-assessment and any other agreed information. We need this information in time for the Service Improvement Officers (SIO's) to carry out their Desktop Reviews of the individual contracted services.
These Desktop Reviews will take place prior to the SIO's visits to individual projects. They will enable this SIO's to come much better prepared for these visits.
The Strategic Review
The DCLG requires each Supporting People Team to undertake a sector-wide strategic review as a backdrop to the review of individual contracted services.
The Supporting People Team must be able to certify that contracted services are strategically relevant and meet a clearly identified need, even if they are of good quality, cost effective and performing well.
The strategic review will be undertaken in two stages, using information provided by partner commissioners and, wherever possible, service users.
Quality Review Visits
Individual contract quality review visits will occur early in the review process. It will be very important for us to interview a sample of your services users. We will have discussed this requirement with you at the initial briefing meeting and in subsequent discussion if nessary.
The validation of the QAF will take place during the quality review visit and will be undertaken in accordance with DCLG guidelines.
Action Following a Quality Review Visit
At the end of the visit the Service Improvement Officer will briefly discuss their findings. Discussions may also take place regarding an Action Plan to enable to provider to attain the minimum Level C requirement of the QAF.
Should any risk, abuse or other serious issues come tolight, immediate contact with the relevant agencies will be made. This will be done in accordance with our confidentiality and risk assessment policies.
Review Outcomes
We have set ourselves a target of communicating the outcome of the quality reviews with four weeks.
Further Evidence Reviews
If the outcome of the quality review visit is the need to seek further evidence, then the SIO's will agreed with you what additional information will be sought and a timetable and process to seek it. This may include using other agencies who could contribute expert assessment.
Beyond Further Evidence
The Supporting People Team will seek to report the outcome of the Further Evidence Review within two weeks of completing the visit. This will include any recommendations that should form the basis of an Action Plan.
SIO's will revisit the scheme if necessary to evidence the implementation of the Action Plan within an agreed timescale.
Accreditation
As part of the process of Managing Support services, local authorities need to assure themselves that providers or potential providers of Supporting People services are viable organisations. Accreditation is concerned with the organisations that provide or wish to provide services and is not directly concerned with the quality of service delivery.
The accreditation system ensure potential service providers are effective and robust orgnisations whilst not imposing overly bureaucratic and burdensome procedures.
Further information can be obtained by contacting supportingpeople@poole.gov.uk
Value for Money
Assessing providers of Supporting People services for Value for Money (VFM) is a requirement of the Supporting People (SP) Directions and Grant Conditions. The Poole SP Team has therefore formulated a methodology that runs in conjunction with the service review process.
When assessing the Value for Money of a service the following will be looked at:
- Cost
- Performance and Outcomes
- Strategic Relevance and Demand
- Quality
Quality Assessment Framework (QAF)
Support Providers self assess their service(s) against national objectives, which include:
- Needs and Risk Assessment
- Support Planning
- Security, Health and Safety
- Protection from Abuse
- Fair Access, Diversity and Inclusion
- Complaints
The Supporting People team use the results as part of the benchmarking process, with the aim of continually improving the quality of services in Poole
Directgov