Supporting People
The Supporting People programme offers vulnerable people the opportunity to improve their quality of life by providing a stable environment which enables greater independence.
Supporting People is a government programme which came into effect in 2003. Supporting People is a working partnership of local government, service users, support agencies and housing providers.
Supporting People is primarily concerned with funding, planning and monitoring housing related support services. Its aim is to improve the quality and effectiveness of the support services at a local level.
Supporting People provides housing related support to help vulnerable people to live as independently as possible in the community, whether in their own homes through floating support or in direct access hostels, sheltered accommodation or other specialised supported housing.
It can help older people remain independent. It provides complementary support for people who may also need personal or medical care.
Supporting People only funds housing related support but this can be part of a package of differently funded but co-ordinated support which meets the needs of individuals.
How do I know if I can get help from Supporting People?
If you need housing related support and you are a member of one of the groups that we help in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough you may be eligible for help from Supporting People.
How do I get help from Supporting People?
The Supporting People team keeps a record of every applicants details on a system we call MAASH.
The only way to get on one of the supporting people schemes is to be referred by an accredited agency. You can find a list of these on this website under the MAASH heading on the side bar.
The referral agent will fill in a MAASH 1 form and your details will be referred to the Supporting People team who will put your name on a waiting list. You will then get a place on the service as soon as is possible*
*based on your priority points.
FAQ's
What is housing related support?
What is floating support?
What is Direct Access?
What is Sheltered Accomodation?
What is Supported Housing?
Needs that we can support (E Numbers)
Planning for Supporting People Services
Funding
Who to contact for further information
• Help to make sure your home is safe and secure.
• Help to control access to your home
• Help to arrange for someone to fix or service your appliances (washing machine etc).
• Help to arrange changes to your home to cope with disability
• Help to organise and make arrangements for maintenance and minor repairs to the property.
• Help to use household appliances safely.
• Help to deal with disagreements with neighbours and to communicate with others appropriately.
• Help to budget, make the most of your money and manage your debt and bills.
• Help to organise access to professional help for example your doctor or Social Services.
• Help to develop and to learn daily living skills (ironing, cooking etc).
• Help with cleaning your own room and windows
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Floating support is provided by a floating support worker who visits you in your own home.
If you are living in your own home, whether rented or owned, you’re not receiving support and you’re worried that you’re not managing then a floating support worker can visit you to help.
The support worker can help you with different housing related support including managing your money, problems with your landlord and gaining access to other services.
Floating support is low level support that can be useful for people coming out of supported housing to help them to manage their tenancy before living completely independently.
You don’t have to have been in supported housing to get floating support.
You also don’t have to have floating support if you’re coming out of supported housing
Floating support usually lasts for up to two years but you can stop the support whenever you feel like you don’t need it anymore.
What floating support is there in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough?
There are currently 11 floating support schemes in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough.
These schemes help a number of different groups including
1) Women Fleeing Domestic Abuse,
2) Homeless People,
3) Young Homeless People,
4) People with Mental Health Problems,
5) Older People
6) People leaving prison.
How can I access floating support?
To get on one of the floating support schemes you must be referred to MAASH by an accredited agency. You can find a list of these agencies on the MAASH website or by calling the Supporting People Team on 01685.724690. The referral agent will fill in a MAASH 1 form on your behalf and send it to the Supporting People Team who will put your name on a waiting list. You will be contacted when a place in a suitable service becomes available*
*based on your priority points.
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Direct Access is exactly what it says on the tin. It means you can go to the shelter or refuge and access the services directly.
You don’t need to be referred by one of the accredited agencies but you usually fill in a MAASH 1 form later on.
In Merthyr Tydfil County Borough we have two Direct Access shelters: The Women’s Refuge and the Homelessness Shelter.
If there are spaces and you are suitable (Men are not accepted in the women’s refuge), then you can usually access that service straight away.
It is important to have Direct Access services in Merthyr as homeless people and women fleeing domestic abuse are often not able to wait to get support.
How do I know where to go to access these services?
Information is available on the following websites or through calling the following numbers.
Homelessness Support
Adref Ltd http://www.adref.org.uk
Civic Centre 01685 725000
Galon Uchaf Neighbourhood Housing Office 01685 389681
Johnny Owen Centre 01685 387390
Women’s Refuge
Domestic Abuse Resource Team 01685 388444 or 388449
Tarian http://www.welshwomensaid.org
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Sheltered accommodation can provide a range of different services to help you to live as independently as possible but still receiving support should you need it.
A scheme manager or a warden usually lives in the sheltered accommodation scheme or nearby to help you to feel more safe and secure.
The warden or scheme manager can usually be contacted through an alarm if its an emergency.
Some schemes have disabled access and staff who are trained to provide support to disabled service users.
There is sometimes a waiting list for sheltered housing.
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Supported housing is for people who have care or support needs.
In Merthyr Tydfil County Borough we support a number of different groups that we categorise according to their needs , sometimes using a code or E number.
Supported housing is a mix of housing and support to help you to live as independently as possible and to get and keep a tenancy.
If you live in a supported house you will receive help with a number of housing related support issues
We would help you find the right kind of support to meet your needs
For example, you may have regular visits from your support worker or in some supported housing there is 24 hour support
You might also get help from other workers such as care workers or domiciliary care workers with other things that aren’t housing related support.
What is a supported house like?
Supported housing can be a block of individual flats, individual bungalows or a shared house.
If you are looking for a shared supported house, you will usually be offered housing with people who have similar support needs
Remember, you can also receive support in your own home. This is called floating support.
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People often have different kinds of need and need different types of support.
We categorise what support people need when they fill in our MAASH 1 form. We often use a code to help with this, which we call E numbers
The Categories and E numbers we use are:
• E1 People fleeing domestic violence
• E2 People with learning difficulties
• E3 People with mental health problems
• E4 People suffering from alcohol dependency
• E5 People Suffering from drug dependency
• E6 Refugees
• E7 People with a physical disability who require support
• E8 Young single homeless people who require support and young people leaving care (aged up to 25 years)
• E9 Ex-offenders
• E10 Homeless or potentially homeless people who require support
• E11 People with chronic illness including AIDS, AIDS- related conditions, or who are HIV positive
• E12 Vulnerable single parents who require support
• E13 People with Brain injury
• E14 Older People
• E15 People with Sensory Impairment
It is really important to be as honest as possible with the person who is helping you to fill in your form. We can’t always get you the best help if we don’t know all of your support needs.
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Planning needs to take into account the views of service users and independent bodies such as voluntary organisations, as well as professional staff.
New service development can be achieved through the Annual Supporting People Operational Plan (SPOP), submitted each September as a bid for funding from the following April. Planning groups therefore must decide their priorities in the course of each year. Overall priorities across all client groups are then decided by the Supporting People Planning Group, and included in the SPOP, which requires approval by Council before submission to the Welsh Assembly. Please note that bids will not necessarily be successful.
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Since April 2003 there have been two separate funding channels within the Supporting People Programme in Wales:
• Supporting People Grant (SPG). Applies to Community Care and Older Persons’ services. Based on Transitional Housing Benefit (General Counselling and Support) levels at 31/3/03, these sums were transferred to local authorities from April 2003.
• Supporting People Revenue Grant (SPRG). Applies to all other eligible supported housing projects. This fund is administered by Welsh Assembly and based on a tariff system.
Common requirements for both SPRG and SPG:
• Evidence of need for accommodation-related support and, in particular, need not met by current services.
• The requirement to develop a Supporting People Operational Plan (SPOP).
• The requirement to conduct annual reviews of existing services.
• Supporting People funding cannot be used to pay for Personal Care services.
• Registered Care Homes are not eligible.
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For further information about Supporting People, please contact:
Supporting People Team
Integrated Adult Services Directorate
Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council
Ty Keir Hardie
Avenue de Clichy
Merthyr Tydfil
CF47 8XE
Tel: 01685 724630/724981/724690
Fax: 01685 384868
E-mail: SupportingPeople@merthyr.gov.uk
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