The Supporting People Programme And Housing Problems Social Work Essay

The keep People Programme And Housing Problems Social Work try onThis essay examines the Supporting People programme, a scheme introduced on 1st April 2003 with the aim of addressing the housing subscribe tos of societys just about vulnerable individuals (Supporting People, 2009). Firstly, the programme will be described, followed by a concentrate on how it actively seeks to involve individuals with disabilities and complex wellness and keep up needs to be involved in their support and supervise arrangements.The Supporting People programme is a decentralised programme delivered through 152 authorities and by voluntary, community, and housing associations. At any one time, the programme tolerate be supporting as many as one million people from a range of disadvantaged groups. Service exploiters include older people, the homeless, those with cordial health issues, and women at risk of domestic violence. The Supporting People Quality legal opinion Frame belong (QAF) agreed a new core objective that would focus on assistance user mesh and empowerment. This objective is aimed at cutting across all core objectives and involves a commitment to supporting independence, informed choice, consulting with helping users, and offering opportunities to be involved in the running of the Supporting People serve wells. Some of the service user enfolding initiatives currently underway are discussed throughout this essay.Sitra, a registered charity offering policy, training and consultancy for housing with care and support, are a charity who are working closely with central government and bailiwick bodies to ensure that the views and perspectives of the sector, and the vulnerable people that it supports are represented and understood (Sitra, 2011a, p.1). In their efforts to achieve this, they have introduced the concept of partnership working between organisations and service users. coalition working is aimed at involving and empowering people in improving servic es and the experience of using them. This actively supports the governments Personalisation Agenda, which places a huge emphasis on the inclusion of service users in the design and delivery of services (Dickinson and Glasby, 2010).Sitra overly run two training courses in client involvement, which are co-produced and co-delivered by rung and service users. sensation of the training programmes is entitled Client Engagement Getting the Thinking Right (Sitra 2011b). This course is designed to challenge organisations to find new ways of working that get along and actively seek to involve service users. A second training program, entitled Client Engagement Making it a Reality, emphasises how the way staff communicate, listen, heap up feedback and involve service users has an impact on service user involvement (Sitra, 2011c). Through such training programmes, organisations are provided with ideas and models for service user involvement.At a local level, Westminster have been involving service users in their support and care arrangements via the Mental Health Service Users Panel (Supporting People, 2007). The panel comprises a group of service users who work with the council in the planning and development of present and future housing projects to meet the needs of local people. Initiatives such as this one directly support the Tenants operate Authority (TSA), which has highlighted service user companionship as a key component for Registered Social Landlords (TSA, 2008). Indeed, under the Supporting People Quality Assessment material (QAF) housing related support and care providers are now required to place service users at the centre of their strategic plans in efforts to demonstrate feel service provision and achieve level A standard (i.e. evidenced examples where no standards score C). Even to achieve level C (minimum required standard), providers need to demonstrate that they have fully engaged with service users (TSA, 2010).Another local initiative demon strating how the Supporting People programme has been working towards service user involvement is NOAH Enterprise (Gill, 2010). NOAH Enterprise is a charity based in Luton (Bedfordshire) designed to help people who are homeless or contending with issues around exclusion. Service user involvement is claimed to be an integral part of the way of life at NOAH Enterprise, with examples being that service users are involved in helping in their offbeat Centre or at retail outlets. There is also the opportunity to learn transferable skills in workshops, thus empowering service users towards independence. Every volunteer and service user who helps NOAH Enterprise over a 3-month period receives a certificate of achievement, thus demonstrating the active encouragement of service user involvement.There are also a number of events that have been organised around client involvement, including a client involvement conference to be held in mid-2011 (Sitra, 2011c). This conference has been co-organ ised by staff and service users, demonstrating new ways of working together in partnership being put into practice. A similar conference was held in January 2010, which included participation and presentations from both staff and service users.One problem confronted by the Supporting People programme in their service user involvement efforts has been lack of support from some tenants, especially in sheltered accommodation (Audit Commission, 2009). However, regular audits conducted since the inception of the Supporting People programme have primarily highlights the benefits of these service user involvement initiatives. Such benefits include improvements in tailored support through active service user involvement (Audit commission 2005). The Audit Commission report that the Supporting People advancement to service user inclusion and staff and service user partnership has helped move many providers from a more paternalistic approach to one where service users are able to influence se rvices. Furthermore, increased service user involvement was a key feature of those authorities who received high inspection scores. Such findings are supported by an evaluation conducted by Cameron et al. (2007) that found that integrating services to support people with complex needs is most effective when the service is determined by the characteristics of the service user.ReferencesAudit Commission., 2009. Supporting People Programme 2005-2009. online. Available from http//www.audit-commission.gov.uk/SiteCollectionDocuments/Downloads/spprogramme200509acfinalreportclg.pdf cited 03 April 2011.Cameron, A., et al., 2007. The challenges of joint working lessons from the Supporting People health pilot evaluation. International Journal of Integrated Care, 7, 1-9.Dickinson, H. and Glasby, J., 2010. Third Sector Research Centre Working Paper 30 The personalisation agenda implications for the third sector. online. Available from http//www.tsrc.ac.uk/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=U8tazrnMZ%2Bs %3Dtabid= vitamin D cited 03 April 2011.Gill, S., 2010. Positive outcomes and service user involvement. Bulletin. NOAH Enterprise.Sitra., 2011a. online. Policy and public affairs. online. Available from http//www.sitra.org.uk/policy_and_public_affairs/ cited 03 April 2011.Sitra., 2011b. Client engagement getting the thinking right online. Available from http//www.sitra.org/1230/ cited 03 April 2011.Sitra., 2011c. Client involvement in housing support and care Sharing and learning good practice. online. Available from http//www.sitra.org/client_involvement_conference/ cited 03 April 2011.Supporting People, 2007. Supporting people newsletter. online. http//www3.westminster.gov.uk/docstores/publications_store/Supporting%20People_V6.pdf cited 03 April 2011.Supporting People, 2009. The Supporting People Programme. 13th Report of Session 2008-09 Volume I, House of Commons Communities and Local Government Committee. London The Stationery Office Limited.Tenant Services Authority (TSA), 201 0. Quality Assessment Framework (QAF) Regulatory framework for cordial housing in England from April 2010. online. Available from http//www.tenantservicesauthority.org/server/show/ConWebDoc.20175 cited 03 April 2011.Tenant Services Authority (TSA), 2008. Regulatory guidance for registered social landlords. online. Available from http//www.tenantservicesauthority.org/server/show/ConWebDoc.15355 cited 03 April 2011.