Neighbourhood Services

HOUSING

THE SUPPORTING PEOPLE PROGRAMME

The Supporting People Programme is a U.K wide initiative.

Since April 2003, local authorities have had the responsibility for planning, co-ordinating and funding all forms of supported accommodation and support services in their areas. The aim is to improve the range and quality of support available to people who need support to enable them to live independently.

The Scottish Executive is determined to deploy public resources more effectively to meet the increasing needs of an ageing population and the requirements of Community Planning. Having reviewed the original amounts of funding being made available to local authorities under the Supporting People Programme, the Scottish Executive is now redistributing funds between local authorities on a more planned and rational basis. The Scottish Executive also requires all Supporting People funded services to be reviewed before March 2007 to ensure that services are fit for purpose and provide value for money.

In East Ayrshire the Head of Housing, Chris McAleavey, is the Lead Officer for the Supporting People Programme. The Supporting People Team is part of Neighbourhood Services with developing links to Social Work, Health and support service providers.

The planning and co-ordination of housing support services will mean changes to existing services. Any required changes in services will only happen after a thorough review process and consultation with service users and providers. There has been a wide range of outcomes from the service reviews that have been carried out as part of the overall process of implementing Supporting People. There has been minimal change for some services, but some other services have been completely redesigned. One example of a major redesign has been the Council's supported accommodation for older people which saw the replacement of resident wardens in April 2007 by a combination of visiting homecare staff and an enhanced overnight mobile response service from the Council's Community Alarm Service.

The future development of housing support services is closely linked to the Council's Local Housing Strategy under the Council's Community Plan.

Minutes of Core Co-ordination Group Meetings:

	15th February 2002		24th June 2003
	17th September 2002		25th August 2003
	26th November 2002		21st October 2003
	21st January 2003		26th February 2004
	24th February 2003		17th June 2004
	24th March 2003		11th November 2004
	29th April 2003