Information about Plymouth Partnership Supporting People

• Information for service users - how to get involved
• How agencies can refer potential service users to services
• How people can access services directly
• Key information for Supporting People service providers
• Objectives and priorities over the next 5 years - The Supporting People Strategy
• Charges for Supporting People services

Information for service users - how to get involved

The Supporting People Team use a variety of different ways to consult with service users, and potential service users about what they feel is needed, and what services should be prioritised, eg questionnaire surveys within Plymouth Points of View Survey and ‘What’s Up Magazine’, the Council tenants magazine; attending a variety of roadshows and events including the Sanity Fair for those with mental health issues, Domestic Violence Week, Learning Disability Consultation Event, Tenant Participation Roadshows etc.  We also encourage service users to become part of the future planning for their services, getting their feedback whilst reviewing services - and holding focus groups so that service users can have a meaningful contribution to how their services are shaped for the future.

Please contact the team on if you would like to hear more, or if you would like to take part in future consultations.

A copy of the service user newsletter can be downloaded from our newsletters page.

How agencies can refer potential service users to services

People can be referred to services by social workers, probation officers, mental health workers, or other agencies within the community. The referral process is straightforward:

• use the Directory of Services to decide which of the services best describes the needs of the person requiring support
• look at our eligibility criteria, which can be downloaded from our documents page - certain things cannot be funded by Supporting People, is the service you’re asking for an eligible one?
• consider whether the applicant requires more than 7 hours of support per week with no social worker/community psychiatric nurse/care manager currently involved. If this is the case, then a referral should be made by telephone to the Council's Contact Centre on 01752 668000. Please note: All clients requiring more than 7 hours support per week should be assessed by Adult Services prior to an agreement to provide support being entered into
• decide if the person requiring support needs an accommodation based or floating support service
• select the most appropriate service and contact the provider to make a referral

How people can access services directly

Carers and advocates may also contact Supporting People providers directly to see if vacant support hours are available. See the Directory of Services for further information.

Demand for Supporting People services is often very high. We cannot guarantee that our services will have vacancies.

What can you expect when you access Supporting People Services

Service providers are contracted to provide specific services. Needs are assessed, and an individual support plan developed, with the support package regularly reviewed to ensure that it continues to meet needs.

Services could be either short term or long term, depending on whether the individual needs to develop the skills to live independently, or whether support needs to carry on in the long term, for people who require low level, but regular support to help them to sustain their ability to live in their own home.

Not all services can be funded by Supporting People, and services are targeted at those who need it most. Service Providers will be able to discuss whether support can be given on contact.

Services can be provided whether or not the individual is currently in accommodation, or whether current accommodation is rented or owned.

Will there be a charge for services?

Plymouth Supporting People Team have followed the principles of the Department of Health ‘Fairer Charging’ guidance in order to agree that:

• fairer charging is available to service users who are charged for their support. This applies to all long-term services (over 2 years in duration)..
• no charges apply to short-term services so Fairer Charging is not necessary..
• if a service user receives Housing Benefit (all or part) they automatically qualify for the full support subsidy from Supporting People and will not pay for services..
• if a service user does not receive Housing Benefit they can apply for a Fairer Charging assessment, which will assess their ability to contribute to their support charge..
• service users with savings of £20,000 or more will be charged the full support cost. In exceptional circumstances this can be reconsidered..
• the financial assessment can lead to the service user receiving full support subsidy or paying a proportion of their support charge. It may also be determined that the service user will have to pay the full support charge themselves..

To request a financial assessment, please call the Council's Contact Centre on 01752 668000. Further information about fairer charging for service users and providers is available by telephoning Supporting People, using the contact details provided at the top of this page.

Services which cannot be provided

The following are examples of services that cannot be provided by Supporting People:

• personal care
• domiciliary and home care
• health care
• therapeutic/intensive behaviour management
• rehabilitation after illness/acquired disability
• rehabilitation and specialist counselling
• specialist treatment or counselling
• help with transport/mobility
• home adaptations to improve accessibility
• regular maintenance services
• training courses
• crèche facilities
• decorating services
• gardening schemes

Services must be focussed on helping people to maintain their own home, or to settle in their own home, and cannot be something that would usually be provided by a Statutory agency, like health or social care.

General payment processes

The Provider Information Pack contains Financial Guidance, which includes details regarding contract specific payment processes, and payment dates for the current financial year. A copy of this information pack is available by telephoning 01752 307575.

Payments can only be made direct to service users as part of a direct payments scheme - currently run in partnership with Social Services - or in certain circumstances when the service user is an owner-occupier of a leasehold property, paying a housing management service for support provided.

The Plymouth Supporting People Procurement Strategy for 2006 to 2009

The Plymouth Supporting People Procurement Strategy for 2006 to 2009 can be downloaded from our documents page.

How services are accredited

New providers - please refer to Plymouth Supporting People’s Procurement Strategy that will provide the framework for ensuring best value, quality service provision in the future. This can be downloaded from our documents page.

Existing providers - 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 suitable 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 criteria for accreditation requires that providers:

• are financially viable
• have competent administrative procedures that are able to properly handle and account for the Supporting People grant
• have effective employment policies to cover staff development, staff supervision and the health and safety of both staff and service users
• have sufficiently robust management procedures to provide Supporting People services
• are able to demonstrate a track record or competence to deliver services

Frequency

Accreditation lasts for a three year period or until the next service review, whichever is the longer. At the end of this period and before the issuing of a further contract a provider must be re-accredited.

Passporting of services accredited by other authorities or frameworks

In order to ensure that providers do not need to undergo multiple accreditations, certain other accreditation arrangements are considered suitable to “passport” providers through some or all of the accreditation requirements.

These arrangements fall into two categories:

• accreditation by other local authorities
• accreditation by other frameworks

Accreditation by other local authorities

This is not mandatory and individual authorities are able to set their own criteria for accreditation. Thus a certificate of accreditation from an authority with less rigorous criteria is unlikely to satisfy the requirements of an authority with stricter accreditation criteria.

Sole traders

In May 2004 the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister issued new guidance stating that not all the criteria used in the general accreditation guidance for larger organisations will apply to sole traders. The definition of a sole trader is 'an individual support provider who is not working for a charity, housing association, limited company or other type of organisation but working for themselves, often in their own homes, and not employing any housing related support staff'.

Existing providers

For existing providers in receipt of Supporting People funding at 31 March 2003 there is no requirement to be accredited until the first service review. If you are a sole trader you will need to complete the Plymouth Supporting People Accreditation Questionnaire (Sole Trader). For any other type of provider you will need to complete the Plymouth Supporting People Accreditation Questionnaire. For further information contact the team.

The Supporting People Strategy 2005 to 2010

The Supporting People Strategy 2005 to 2010 can be downloaded from our documents page.

The Performance Framework

Communities and Local Government has key minimum information requirements that it would expect to be collected by administering authorities, and as such has developed mandatory performance indicators which all service providers must supply.

Underpinning the Performance Framework is the concept of common management information. The intention is that providers should supply administering authorities with a common data set from which performance indicators can be derived. This will considerably reduce the workload for providers operating across a number of authority areas. To make this possible an electronic performance workbook has been developed to collect performance data from providers.

For Community Alarm Services and Home Improvement Agencies (HIAs) Communities and Local Government have developed separate performance frameworks and electronic workbooks.

Quality Assessment Framework (QAF)

The Quality Assessment Framework can be downloaded from our documents page. It sets the standards expected in the delivery of Supporting People services. As well as setting these standards, the Quality Assessment Framework also identifies methods of proving their achievement and is a practical tool for ensuring continuous improvement. It is an essential part of the administering authorities’ means of ensuring that providers deliver services to high standards and in accordance with contractual expectations.

The Quality Assessment Framework is a clear and consistent framework for assessing the quality of Supporting People services. It is for use by administering authorities and providers as part of service review or contract monitoring and is also a tool for continuous improvement.

The Quality Assessment Framework has been divided into 6 core objectives and eleven supplementary objectives and has two principal purposes:

• To provide a standardised means for administering authorities to assess the quality of services
• To encourage and assist the raising of standards in the provision of housing related support

Lite Quality Assessment Framework

For small providers, sole traders and community alarm services which are simply a telephone-based alarm service and do not include the provision of visiting support staff as part of the service Communities and Local Government have developed the QAF Lite, which can be downloaded from our documents page.

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