On 20 February, the Government launched the consultation on the Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act, open until Thursday 15 May. We know that the implementation of this legislation will be hugely significant for many homelessness services.
We have organised engagement sessions for members to inform our response to the consultation. You can read all the details and book on here.
This blog highlights the different parts of the consultation and what each aspect could mean for members.
Overview
The consultation seeks views on how the Government will implement the Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act, which passed on 29 June 2023. It will inform the drafting of regulations and accompanying guidance. You can read about the history of the Act and why it came about here.
The consultation will also inform DWP work on linking licensing to entitlement to claim Housing Benefit in England, and work to define care, support and supervision in Housing Benefit regulations for Great Britain.
For our purposes, we are thinking of the consultation as being in 3 sections:
- National Supported Housing Standards and Principles – what the standards are and how services will have to evidence that they are meeting them
- The licensing scheme – its conditions; exemptions; how it will be administered by local authorities; how it should interact with other licensing schemes (e.g. HMO) and regulations (e.g. Ofsted and CQC); how it will be enforced and what will happen if a service fails to gain a licence; what support providers will need to become licensed.
- Proposed Housing Benefit changes – implications of HB payment being linked to being licensed; how to define care; how to define support and supervision.
National Supported Housing Standards and Principles
This section covers questions 5 – 33 of the consultation.
The consultation asks if the licensing regime should apply to all supported housing – supported exempt accommodation as defined in the Act. This definition is the same as ‘specified accommodation’ in Housing Benefit regulations, meaning it would cover the majority of hostels as well as supported accommodation providers.
It then moves on to a discussion of the proposed principles and standards for supported housing.
Principles
The Government is proposing for the standards to be based around the following principles:
- Person-centred
- Respectful
- Safe and responsive
- Effective
- Well led
National Supported Housing Standards and evidence
In this section, the Government sets out the proposed National Supported Housing Standards and suggested ways to evidence them.
For each standard, the Government lists what conditions may need to be met to meet the standard, and asks respondents if they agree with each standard and suggested ways of evidencing it. They also ask for suggestions of whether other types of evidence could be used.
The proposed standards are:
- Person-centred support
- Empowerment
- Environment
- Staff and safeguarding
- Local need
- Responsible person
- Statement of purpose
Additionally, the Government plan to set out in more detail what a needs assessment and support plan should include. These form part of the person-centred support standard. They are asking for feedback on what these should include, and for best practice examples.
The licensing scheme
This section covers Qs 34-75 of the consultation.
The government is proposing to use the powers in the Act to introduce licensing in all local housing authorities in England. Licensing authorities will each operate a local scheme using the same national licensing framework and guidance issued by the government.
The Government is considering allowing local licensing authorities to join up and run licensing schemes across bigger areas. It’s proposed that licences will be held at ‘scheme’ level, with a proposed definition of a scheme set out.
The consultation then sets out who would be the licensee, responsible for ensuring that the supported housing scheme meets the licensing conditions, in the possible service model scenarios.
The Government plans to introduce some exemptions for the licensing scheme, where clear existing governance structures mean that a supported housing licence will not add additional oversight or value. The proposed exemptions are:
- Community Accommodation Service 2 (CAS2) scheme
- Ofsted-regulated supported housing (where all the accommodation in the scheme provides supported housing for 16–17-year-olds and is regulated entirely by Ofsted.)
It will be of interest to some members to think about how licensing should be managed when part, but not all, of the supported accommodation they provide is regulated by Ofsted.
It will also be of interest that the Government is not proposing being a Registered Provider (RP) of social housing as an eligible exemption, and consideration will need to be given about how being an RP should interact with being licensed as a provider of supported housing.
The government is proposing that all licensees will be required to pass a fit and proper person test at the point at which they apply for a licence.
In terms of the actual licensing conditions, the Government are seeking views on there being the following:
Core conditions
- That the scheme meets the relevant accommodation standard.
- That the scheme is suitable to be used as supported housing.
- That the scheme has a process in place for the carrying out of needs assessments for its residents.
- Conditions relating to the provision of care, support, and supervision.
- That the scheme meets the National Supported Housing Standards.
Discretionary conditions
- Additional licensing conditions that may be appropriate to certain local areas.
The Government then sets out its plans around applying for a licence and fees, expectations around how licensing authorities should take reasonable steps to work with providers to maintain licences rather than revoking them, and the options around enforcement when a provider has failed to make necessary improvements.
The consultation then outlines proposals for a transition to supported housing licensing, including what this will mean for the payment of Housing Benefit.
Finally, this section seeks views on the proposal to introduce a supported housing planning use class to enable more effective regulation.
Proposed Housing Benefit changes
This section covers questions 77-78, 81-85 and 86-91 of the consultation.
To support the measures outlined in the Act, the government is considering amending Housing Benefit regulations to link the licensing regime in England to eligibility for Housing Benefit.
They have asked for feedback on the principle of aligning payment of housing benefit or any future housing support to licensing, and what risks or issues should be considered if this were to go ahead.
The DWP is seeking views on the inclusion of a definition of care, support, and supervision in Housing Benefit regulations, as they are not currently defined.
They are also looking at including a threshold in Housing Benefit regulations as to the amount of care, support or supervision individuals in supported housing accommodation should receive to be eligible for Housing Benefit under specified accommodation rules.
Members will want to feed back to ensure that any care, support and supervision provided by their services is adequately captured by the definitions.
Next steps
Please do have the relevant representative from your organisation book onto some of our engagement session(s) if you’d like to help shape Homeless Link’s consultation response. We will also be sending round a data capture survey to gather further insight from members.
If you are unable to attend the session(s) of your choice but still want to give feedback beyond the survey, we are always happy to hear from you by email – please contact our Policy Manager, Alex, on the details given below.
We’d also encourage interested members who have the capacity to submit their own individual response to the consultation.
