Books and reports
Getting personal: How will the personalisation agenda affect clients and providers of housing related support?
Report of Sitra’s personalisation project
Sitra was funded by CLG in 2009/10 to look at the actual and likely impact of personalisation on Supporting People funded services.
This report looks at a number of personalisation themes that are likely to impact on the sector.
It starts with the Putting People First concordat that kick started the recent drive to offer more personalised services in the adult social care sector. This is followed by looking at various deployment mechanisms such as Individual and Personal Budgets; Individual Service Funds; the Right to Control; and a personalised support hour price. There follows an exploration of pilots that have impacted on the housing related support sector.
The report then looks at the Quality Assessment Framework as a personalising tool and considers some quality issues relevant to the introduction of individual and personal budgets. There follows a consideration of how to commission for personalised services.
The report ends with a section suggesting that providers and commissioners need clear leadership and cultural change if they are to be fit for purpose in a more personalised world.
Are you ready for personalisation?
In this brochure we outline some of the ways that we can work with our members and customers to support their development of personalisation through our training and consultancy services.
Prevention and personalisation: The case for Housing Related Support
Sitra has produced a major piece of work on behalf of the Yorkshire and Humber Housing Related Support Group. The aim was to highlight the contribution of Housing Related Support to the achievement of positive outcomes for vulnerable people across the area.
The study focused on how housing related support:
- Enables individuals facing multiple disadvantage to improve their wellbeing
- Complements the strategic objectives of a wide range of stakeholders involved with supporting vulnerable individuals
- Offers good value for money, by preventing the need for expensive crisis interventions and long term institutional solutions
- Promotes independence, by enabling service users to take control of their own lives
- Provides a platform for the development of wider service choice.
Using a combination of case studies, stakeholder interviews and cost/benefit analysis, we found that housing related support provides a cost effective way of delivering services to a wide range of vulnerable people. It achieves positive outcomes in line with people’s personal circumstances and prevents demand for more expensive options.
We have also produced a schedule providing specific references for those figures used in the case studies that are drawn from 2009 report by Cap Gemini for the CLG on the financial benefits of the Supporting People Programme.
Download schedule (Excel)
Navigating the maze
Housing related support: A guide on engaging with and influencing local governance and commissioning structures
Launched at Sitra's Localism conference on 13 July, this guide is primarily for providers to support them in understanding local decision making structures and navigate where best to engage with these structures. Such engagement should then enable effective influencing of decision making on the commissioning and governance of housing related support services. It can also usefully support local authority personnel and other stakeholders including health (Primary Care Trust, Strategic Health Authority) personnel in providing examples of governance and commissioning structures, effective engagement and demonstrating the value of housing related support services.
Members of Local Strategic Partnerships should also find this helpful in understanding their responsibilities in making strategic decisions regarding the provision of services to meet the needs of the people with multiple disadvantages in their locality.
Download summary and resources (pdf)
You can find Action checklists and a supporting report on our Local Strategic Engagement pages
Updated - A provider's guide to procurement
This guide, published with the support of Communities and Local Government, aims to help managers of organisations that provide welfare services to respond to the procurement practices of the public sector bodies that commission services and offers guidance to help in preparation of bids. The information and guidance it contains will be of value to all service managers, finance and human resources staff involved in preparing to bid for or negotiate contracts for new or existing services.
It focuses on the commissioning of housing related support by local authorities, although it has wider application. The regulations it describes apply to other public sector bodies such as central government departments, NHS Trusts and others, and while the welfare services which local authorities commission include residential and domiciliary care, day care and advice services as well as housing related support, it is in the commissioning of housing related support where there has been most recent change and which provides most of the examples of current practice in this guide.
This guide was first published in June 2008. It was updated in March 2010 to take account of changes in the sector since its first edition. It recognises that competitive procurement is a fact of life, while clearly setting out the challenges it poses. It also includes positive examples of how the sector has adapted to new ways of doing business. We received very positive feedback for the first edition and hope that it continues to be a useful resource for our members and partners.
Download Provider's guide to procurement (pdf)
Update January 2012
The UK Public Contracts Regulations contract value threshold for services was increased from £156,442 to £173,934 with effect from 1 January 2012. This is referred to in pages 9, 19 and 22 of the guide.
Understanding the QAF refresh: a Sitra guide
Sitra were fundamental in the drafting, piloting and reviewing of the refreshed QAF and as a result we have acquired a detailed knowledge of the QAF and how it can be implemented.
This publication is a collection of articles explaining the new QAF in detail which have appeared in our membership magazine, the Sitra bulletin over the past year. It also sets out how providers in the housing with support and care sector can benefit from our expertise through the conferences, training and consultancy we offer.
"Supported Housing and the Law"
Author: Sue Baxter and Helen Carr
Supported Housing and the Law is the first book designed to equip the providers of supported housing, their advisers, and service users with an accessible and user-friendly introduction to the complex legal and regulatory framework which governs supported housing. Complex issues are helpfully illustrated with case studies, frequently asked questions and summaries of key points.
This is exactly what the authors of Supported Housing and the Law have done. The book costs about the same as 15 to 20 minutes of a private solicitor's time? is a bargain and every supported housing project in England and Wales should have a copy.? Ed Mitchell, Community Care's legal expert and editor of Social Care Law Today
Read the full review on Community Care?s website.
Click here to read the first chapter.
To order copies please click to be redirected to the LAG website.
Chris Smith's 2008/9 Edition of Housing Benefit for Housing Managers in the social sector is out
Chris Smith continues to provide an understandable guide to Housing Benefit that can be used by staff in a supported housing setting. His clear descriptions of legislation and regulations can support providers in navigating the often complex area of housing benefit. A real value of this publication is his common sense advice and opinions or interpretations of the legislation/regulations that will assist the reader in supporting service users in accessing this benefit. This edition of the book also covers the rent restrictions being experienced in the sector as a result of supporting people contracting arrangements, pilots for deduction of benefit for those perpetrating ASB and the new housing allowance. Sue Baxter 8th February 2008
You can order the book from the HB Help website.
