Helen Hayes – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Hayes on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what his policy is on maintaining the ring-fence on devolved funding for supported housing; and what steps he plans to take to ensure such funding changes in line with future demand for such services.

Gavin Barwell

We announced on 15 September that from 2019/20 there will be a new funding model for supported housing where core rent and services charges will be funded through Housing Benefit or Universal Credit up to the level of the applicable Local Housing Allowance rate.

In acknowledgement of the higher than average costs of offering supported housing accommodation we will devolve an amount of funding for disbursement locally. As we also recognise the need to manage the transition to a new funding regime carefully, this top-up funding will be ring fenced to ensure it continues to support vulnerable people and the amount of top-up funding will be set on the basis of current projections of future need.

We will continue to work with the sector to develop the detail that underpins the new funding model.

Budgets for future years will be determined in the usual way at future Spending Reviews.