Consultants running Birmingham scheme

Consultancy Robson Rhodes has taken over managing Birmingham’s
£52m Supporting People programme – the biggest in
Britain.

The firm has been providing interim cover for the city’s Supporting
People manager post since July.

It is already involved in Liverpool’s £45m programme, the
country’s second largest. It helped to develop a model with a
web-based gateway to services for users and neighbourhood-based
“special purpose vehicles” to manage local contracts.

Robson Rhodes has had a high profile in Supporting People since its
report on the programme for the deputy prime minister’s office in
January 2004, which found scope for significant savings.

Birmingham is expected to have a Supporting People audit this
month.