Invest In Prevention

Support Solutions

September 2014

Key Questions

Exempt & Specified Accommodation

Housing Benefit & Intensive Housing Management

Tenancy SustainmentWelfare Reform & VulnerabilitySocial & Financial Return on

Investment

Investing In Prevention: Context

The purpose of this series of events is to update you with a number of developments relevant to providing preventative services for people with additional needs and to discuss them as examples of investment in prevention.

We will be using social media throughout today & the series of events to promote investment in prevention. We’re using the hashtags #prevention & #SROI and we’re using Twitter, we’re Live Blogging and using Ustream (http://ustre.am/1hbYm)

Exempt Accommodation

Introduced in 1995 to exempt certain social landlords from private sector rent level restrictions

Definition: Landlord must be a non-metropolitan county council; voluntary

organisation, charity or Registered Provider (housing association)

Landlord must have legal interest in the properties concerned (ownership or lease)

Tenants concerned must need “care, support & supervision”Additional services to meet those needs must be provided by the

landlord or an agent on its behalf

Advantages of Exempt AccommodationAttracts enhanced levels of Housing Benefit to meet the

additional needs of people who need “care, support & supervision” (more than “normal property management functions”), for example, supported & sheltered housing

Has advantages under the Welfare Reform Act. Exempt Accommodation tenants are excluded from: Spare Room Subsidy (“Bedroom Tax”) Benefit Cap Direct Payment of Rent

Local Authorities can reclaim the enhanced HB they pay to Exempt Accommodation providers in full where a Registered Provider has a legal interest in the property

Exempt Accommodation

Some schemes, often wrongly, deemed not to “meet the precise definition of Exempt Accommodation”Agency-managed schemesSchemes that provide insufficient “care, support &

supervision”

Means they can fall outside of Welfare Reform Act protections & not be entitled to enhanced levels of Housing Benefit

DWP devised an additional definition: “Specified Accommodation” to cover such schemes

Exempt Accommodation & Investment in PreventionExempt Accommodation is an excellent example of

investing in preventionEnables people with additional needs to be provided

with services to help them remain independent in relation to their accommodation

Takes pressure off statutory servicesSaves a lot of money

Specified Accommodation

There are 4 categories of “Specified Accommodation”Exempt Accommodation (as described above)Supported housing where the landlord does not

provide the care, support or supervisionRefuges (Domestic Violence & Abuse)Local authority non-self-contained supported

housing (hostels)

Specified Accommodation

Tenants entitled to enhanced levels of HB due to having additional needs

Tenants excluded from:Benefit CapDirect payment of rentBut NOT from Spare Room Subsidy (“Bedroom

Tax”)

Specified Accommodation 2nd Category

Supported housing deemed not to be Exempt Accommodation because the landlord (or an agency on its behalf) doesn’t provide the “care support & supervision”.

But actually it often IS Exempt Accommodation because: the Landlord provides “more than normal property functions”

(Intensive Housing Management) Or an agency does this on behalf of the Landlord (usually in

addition to support funded by a 3rd party such as a local authority)

And where the Intensive Housing Management is funded by HB

Specified Accommodation 2nd Category

The person has to be “admitted” to the accommodation to receive the “care support & supervision” Assessment

The accommodation should be commissioned, designed or designated as supported housing by a statutory authority to qualify as Specified Accommodation But we think ALL Specified Accommodation is, or could be

made to be, Exempt Accommodation

Specified Accommodation: Refuges

Intended to protect Refuges that are allegedly not Exempt Accommodation.

Includes Local Authority refuges (Specified Accommodation of other types excludes LA accommodation except refuges and hostels)

Includes “non-familial” domestic violence, e.g., landlord or neighbour

We believe that most, if not all, refuges are or easily could be Exempt Accommodation

Specified Accommodation: LA Hostels

Local Authority hostels providing “care, support & supervision” are deemed to be Specified Accommodation

They could be deemed Exempt Accommodation if: the LA is a County Council or the LA is registered with the Homes &

Communities Agency as a Registered Provider

Specified AccommodationSpecified Accommodation, aside from Exempt

Accommodation, isn’t necessarily entitled to enhanced HB if the LA deems the rents to be unreasonably high

Where no Registered Provider is involved it will be restricted to Local Housing Allowance levels – not exactly an investment in prevention!

Only Exempt Accommodation provides: A guarantee of enhanced HB Full exclusions from Welfare Reform Act provisions

All too often schemes that are actually Exempt Accommodation are mistakenly seen as not Exempt

Intensive Housing Management

General needs housing management more intensively applied

Additional housing management tasks that reflect the additional needs of tenants with the objective of maintaining & developing independence in relation to accommodation

http://supportsolutions.co.uk/docs/intensive_housing_management_tasks.pdf

Intensive Housing ManagementProviders of Exempt & Specified Accommodation can

include IHM tasks in HB claimsLocal Authorities can pay enhanced HB claims to meet

additional needs of tenants requiring “more than normal property management functions”

Local Authorities can reclaim the enhanced HB they pay via their annual subsidy claim

Intensive Housing Management qualifies as “care, support & supervision” for the purposes of qualifying for Exempt or Specified Accommodation

It is another form of investment in prevention

Intensive Housing ManagementWe believe that the total amount of the annual HB UK

budget of £17bn (2011-12) paid to Exempt/Specified Accommodation is 6-7%

The DWP is currently quantifying it at local level It funds Intensive Housing Management as well as rent

and it’s the only part of the HB budget on which we get both a social and financial return as an investment in prevention

It is likely to be “localised”Probably means a fixed pot & maybe a finite list of

eligible tasks

Intensive Housing ManagementAnother “Platinum Cut” as per Supporting People?

Probably.Whether or not that happens, but especially if it does, it

is important to ensure that you have access to that revenue now. Trying to get it after the “cut” may not be possible

That’s what we’ve been helping people to do since 2005 If it is localised it may be restricted/cash-limited, which

means the service charge may not be sufficient to meet all additional needs

In which case it can be allocated to rent. Plan B!

Click here to expand this graphic

Intensive Housing Management

Ensuring tenant’s rent is paid regularly and on time. Explaining the tenancy agreement and assisting tenants

abide by it.Organising inspections of tenant’s property and

arranging for any repairs or improvements to be carried out, including the replacement of furniture.

Ensuring that tenants are aware of their rights under their tenancy agreement.

Offering tenants advice and guidance on keeping their property to a reasonable standard of hygiene

Intensive Housing Management

Assisting tenants to access other support providers as required.

Liaising with all relevant agencies, both statutory and voluntary, on tenant’s behalf.

Assisting tenants to reduce rent arrears.Dealing with nuisance issues.Ensuring that tenants know how to use equipment

safely.Providing tenants with advice and facilitating a move to

alternative accommodation as required.

Intensive Housing Management

Assisting tenants to claim Housing Benefit and other welfare benefits.

Helping to keep tenants safe by monitoring visitors, including contractors and professionals, and by carrying out health and safety and risk assessments of property.

Providing communication, CCTV, door entry, fire and other safety systems as a consequence of tenants’ additional needs.

Depreciating furniture, fixtures, fittings & white goods over a shorter period of time than would otherwise be the case.

Exempt & Specified Accommodationhttps://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s

ystem/uploads/attachment_data/file/299267/a8-2014.pdf

Housing Benefit and Universal Credit (Supported Housing) (Amendment) Regulations 2014 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/id/uksi/2014/771

Exempt Accommodation Resources

Please talk to us!www.supportsolutions.co.uk/briefing/issue_12/e

xempt_accommodation.htmlwww.supportsolutions.co.uk/briefing/issue_12/u

cihm.htmlwww.supportsolutions.co.uk/briefing/issue_11/i

ntensive_housing_management_.html

Tenancy SustainmentOften people think that Exempt Accommodation involves

only multiply-occupied buildings: but see the qualifying criteria on slide 4.

It doesn’t mention the type of property and anyway, it should be about the needs of the person

A large number of “general needs” tenants in social housing have additional needs: elders, mental health, learning disability, chaotic lifestyles, substance misuse…

Without short-term and long-term interventions many of these tenants would be unable to stay put and would require more expensive & less independent accommodation

Tenancy SustainmentTenancy sustainment is an investment in prevention. It

prevents: Evictions/homelessness Arrears The need for more expensive supported/sheltered housing

It maximises independence It’s Exempt Accommodation: LAs can reclaim the

enhanced HB they pay to fund it & take pressure off themselves & statutory sector colleagues

We have already worked with providers to develop tenancy sustainment services funded by HB.

Social (& Financial) Return on Investment

Social (& Financial) Return on Investment

We are in a process of paradigm shift in the way that services for people with additional needs are funded

There is an emphasis of prevention….and on Social Return on Investment

(SROI)This helps to move us towards a focus on

value before cost

Social (& Financial) Return on Investment

SROI is a methodology pioneered by the SROI Network

It is interested in changing the way that society accounts for value

In methodological terms it puts value before cost, rather like investment in prevention

It’s the theoretical side of the infographic we saw on slide 26

There is a debate about whether SROI should measure monetary as well as social value

Social (& Financial) Return on Investment

We think it’s important for SROI to calculate a monetary value (cost-benefit) – for now

Because Commissioners work from cash-limited pots and want to know how much money a preventative intervention will save their budget

We have therefore developed our SFROI methodology accordingly so that providers can assess social outcomes and cost-benefit when providing preventative services

This is a hugely important approach to funding services for people with additional needs.

Our Contact Details

Media House

3 Drayton Road

Birmingham B14 7LP

0121 441 2955

www.supportsolutions.co.uk www.investinprevention.uk

info@supportsolutions.co.uk info@investinprevention.uk Twitter @suppsolutions @PreventionTweethttps://www.facebook.com/pages/Support-Solutions-Ltd/176634252380383?ref=hl

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