Independent Living Support (ILS) Supported Housing Service
Feedback updated 23 Apr 2019
We asked
We consulted on a proposal to end the funding that Adult Social Care (ASC) provides to two supported housing providers and develop a new Community Living Network (CLN) provided by the council’s Enablement Team in its place.
The funding is used to provide support services to 82 people living in 13 non-council supported housing schemes. These services support service users who have a learning difficulty and/or a mental health difficulty, who, in most cases, do not meet the council’s threshold for care and support.
As part of the consultation the council wanted to gauge the support for the proposal to end the funding to the support providers and the impact on service users and stakeholders on developing a new CLN in its place.
You said
Council officers ensured that the service users had every opportunity to present their views via seven meetings with support workers or an advocate, completing an online survey on their own or with support and welcoming comments from their carers and anyone connected with their support.
The support providers had four meetings with the council and the five Landlords each had an individual meeting, so their views could be gauged. The meetings were well attended, and we believe that the vast majority of affected service users put forward their views.
We received 72 responses to the survey:
- 63% were from service users living in the schemes or were completed on their behalf
- 23% were from the support provider staff
- 11% were from members of the public
Over half of the respondents were people with disabilities, with 58% identifying as having a mental health difficulty.
86% of respondents disagreed with the proposals. Most people were worried about the detrimental impact that the proposals might have on the service users’ mental health. There was some support for reducing the support hours and looking at other ways of funding the service. A petition was set up on change.org to stop the changes and representations were received from an Elected Member, the local MP and NHS professionals.
Towards the end of the consultation the two support providers offered an alternative proposal to the council. They suggested reducing the number of properties within the schemes and a reduction in the hours of support they provided. They agreed to reduce the communal charges levied on service users in some schemes and to consider the introduction of assured shorthold tenancies for all service users.
We did
The council met with the support providers and considered their new proposals. It was agreed that they were viable. A decision to implement the alternative model of support proposed by the support providers was agreed by the Assistant City Mayor – Adult Social Care and Wellbeing on 8 March 2019, effective from 1 of April 2019
The council will monitor the efficacy of the new proposals through the contract monitoring process.
Overview
Leicester City Council funds a support service for non-local authority tenants who live in supported housing. These services are for people who fall below the threshold for statutory support.
However, these days the council has to spend a lot more money on people who do meet the threshold for care and support. They need help with things like washing, dressing and eating, and staying safe. This is costing more now because there are more older people in the city, more people who need a lot of social care help, and the costs of helping them are going up as well.
This is at a time when the government is cutting the amount of money it gives to councils. We therefore have to reduce the amount we spend on other services.
Why your views matter
The ILS supported housing support service is not something that we are required to fund by law. We propose to end the funding and replace it with a new service that will offer people a greater opportunity to live independently. The new service will help people participate in their local community, access local services and connect with each other for support. We would like your views on that.
What happens next
We will tell you what people said and what has been decided on these web pages in February 2019.
Areas
- All Areas
Audiences
- Children and young people
- Working-age people
- Older people
- All residents
- Carers
- Full-time and part-time workers
- Disabled people
- Gypsy and Traveller community
- Local businesses
- Local schools
- Local charitable organisations, including faith communities
- Households within the scheme boundary
- School governors
- Apprenticeship Hub Graduation attendees
- Parents
- Volunteers
- Older households (65+)
- Single people
- Families with children
- Couples
- All households
- Faith groups
- Sports clubs
- Youth clubs
- Carers' network
- Trade unions
- Voluntary organisations
- Community organisations
- Self-help groups
- User groups
- Third sector infrastructure groups
- All Voluntary and Community Organisations
- Advocacy organisation
- Drug and Alcohol services
- Health services
- Early years providers (child minders, nurseries, etc)
- Police
- NHS
- FE colleges
- Universities
- Schools
- Businesses
- All Public and Private Organisations
- Service providers
- Partner agencies
- Directors
- Heads of service
- Managers, team leaders and supervisors
- Professionals
- All staff
- SCE staff
- Early Help staff
- Children's services
- Arts and museums staff
- Children's, Young People and Families staff
- Education welfare service staff
- Youth offending service staff
- Connexions staff
- Local Authority staff within Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland
- Procurement staff
- Estates and building services staff
- Neighbourhood services staff
- Youth service staff
- Highways staff
- Service users
- Care home residents and their next of kin
- Support providers
- Floating support providers
- Landlords
Interests
- Adult social care and safeguarding
- Housing
- Adult social care
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