We provide funding to a number of support providers to deliver housing-related floating support across the county. These support providers are known collectively as the Sustain Consortium, or ‘Sustain’. We're reviewing these contracts and will be putting new contracts in place from October 2023. It's important to the council that we hear from service users to help set out requirements for floating support from October.

Floating support can be delivered in a number of ways (face to face, by telephone, by attending ‘drop-ins’) and to people with high-level support needs and low-level support needs. This means that Sustain providers are able to be flexible and to support as many people as possible, with a focus on those most in need.

We'd like to continue this flexibility whilst at the same time ensuring that floating support is prioritised for those people whose housing situation is most at risk of failing, and therefore puts them at risk of homelessness.

We propose to change the way that potential service users are referred to floating support and how floating support is allocated. From October 2023 it's proposed that referrals are dealt with by our Housing Team, which will do an initial assessment of need and pass the referral on to the provider best placed to help. Allocation of support will be based on those people with the highest housing-related support needs, whilst also aiming to provide support to those with lower-level needs through access to ‘drop-ins’, advice and other resources as appropriate.

We currently contract with a number of support providers to deliver housing-related floating support across the county. These support providers are known collectively as the Sustain Consortium, or ‘Sustain’. We're reviewing these contracts and will be putting new contracts in place from October 2023. It's important to the council that we hear from service users and stakeholders to help set out requirements for floating support from October.

Floating support can be delivered in a number of ways (face to face, by telephone, by attending ‘drop-ins’) and to people with high-level support needs and low-level support needs. This means that Sustain providers are able to be flexible and to support as many people as possible, with a focus on those most in need.

We'd like to continue this flexibility whilst at the same time ensuring that floating support is prioritised for those people whose housing situation is most at risk of failing, and therefore puts them at risk of homelessness.

We propose to change the way that potential service users are referred to floating support and how floating support is allocated. From October 2023 it's proposed that referrals are dealt with by our Housing Team, which will do an initial assessment of need and pass the referral on to the most appropriate provider. Allocation of support will be based on those people with the highest housing-related support needs, whilst also aiming to provide support to those with lower-level needs through access to ‘drop-ins’, advice and other resources as appropriate.