Supported Living FPS

The Council is seeking applications from providers who may wish to join the Supported Living: Flexible Purchasing System (FPS).

The intention is to appoint a range of providers with the capability and capacity to deliver Care and Support in a supported living setting.

Once the FPS is established, contracts will be awarded either by running mini competitions or via direct awards.

The main principles of supported living are that people with learning disabilities own or rent their home and have control over the support they get, who they live with (if anyone) and how they live their lives.

Supported living assumes that all people with learning disabilities, regardless of the level or type of disability, can make choices about how to live their lives.

Rotherham's population for people with a learning disability and autistic people is changing both in complexity and with an ageing population.

Often people remain in provisions with limited move-on opportunities to their own tenancy.

There is a lack of specialist autism provision too.

In drafting Rotherham's Autism Strategy, autistic people indicated that they needed housing which could accommodate sensory needs with acoustic/noise reduction.

As one autistic person said: Home needs to be the place "where we can relax, unwind, and work off that stress".

Supported living is a service designed to help people with a wide range of support needs retain their independence by being supported in their own home.

People in supported living have their own tenancy and are responsible for their own bills and cost of living.

To afford these, the person may be entitled to a wide range of benefits and grants.

In single-person-supported living, they will also have their own front door.

In Supported Living, the support provided is not dependent on the provision of housing (and vice versa) so if the support provider changes, this doesn't affect the tenancy.

The person has the security of tenure in line with their tenancy agreement.

The Council has a need to work with high quality supported living provision across the borough and establish a model which will enable the following: - • A flexible approach to engage with multiple suppliers in the market • Cost Savings through increased competition • Opportunity to stimulate development in the Supported Living Market • Potential to increase access for Rotherham's small-medium enterprises • Support the delivery of Rotherham Council's social value ambition