Providers ‘fighting’ over funding shares

Uncertainties surrounding the Supporting People funding pot and
delays in making up-to-date payments are leaving service providers
with a financial shortfall, the chief executive of a housing
association has warned.

Speaking at a conference organised by Community Care, Nick
Abbey from Hereward Housing said last week there was not enough
Supporting People money to cover services and providers were
“fighting” over who received funding.

In October, the government announced that it would be undertaking a
review of the growing cost of the Supporting People programme after
the budget rose to £1.8bn for England for this year.

The independent review, which is expected to report back before
Christmas, will look at the cost of the transitional housing
benefit element of Supporting People, which increased by £400m
from original local authority estimates in February.

Abbey said: “We are still receiving payments based on who was
living in a property in the first week of April. Anyone who has
moved into sheltered accommodation since April isn’t getting
payments.”

But Claire Cooper, head of policy for housing care and support at
the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, told delegates that there
was no need to panic about the review or funding, but that it was
important to ensure money was being “targeted properly”.

“We don’t need to panic yet about undoing everything that the
programme was intended to do in the first place. In some cases we
need more clarity about what housing-related support is.”