News

Housing providers have a vital role in informing social services about the importance of the government's Supporting People policy, delegates were told at a conference last week.

Speaking at the Chartered Institute of Housing's annual conference, Paul Johnson, director of tenant services at housing group Anchor Trust, said: "There are wide views in social services departments about Supporting People and that is where housing can step in. We can help educate them and our health colleagues."

He added that Supporting People, which is a new funding regime for housing-related support services, offered great potential for the development of more joined-up thinking between service providers. "Supporting People is an opportunity for new types of integrated services to come forward," he said.

At the conference in Harrogate in North Yorkshire, Anchor Trust launched its guide for providers on how to implement the Supporting People programme.

Developed in partnership with social housing regulator the Housing Corporation, the report draws upon two years of work by three of the six Supporting People preparatory projects in councils across the country: Brighton and Hove, Cheshire, and Hartlepool.

Johnson added: "Providers need to be preparing for this now by understanding how to involve service users and engage constructively with commissioners in the way services to vulnerable people are planned and delivered."

- Implementing Supporting People: A Guide for Support Providers from www.anchor.org.uk/supp_people