This document discusses exempt supported housing and intensive housing management in the context of universal credit and welfare reform. It defines exempt accommodation as housing provided by non-profit organizations to vulnerable people where additional services are provided by or on behalf of the landlord. Exempt accommodation allows housing benefits to continue being administered locally. Intensive housing management involves additional housing functions beyond ordinary management due to the tenant group's needs. Intensive housing management can qualify as support and exempt accommodation if sufficient. Examples of services described are alarm monitoring programs and repairs beyond standard management.

1. Exempt Supported Housing,
Universal Credit and Intensive
Housing Management
West London Almshouse Group
February 2013

2. What’s This About?
 Reallocating costs met, for example, by Supporting
People into the Housing Benefit income stream
 Protecting tenants, providers, local authorities &
statutory services
 Reducing unit costs for support/social care without
reducing the budget
 Protecting self-funders

3. Exempt Accommodation
 Nonprofit landlord (County Council, Registered
Provider*, Voluntary Organisation or Charity)
 Legal interest in accommodation (ownership or
lease), which….
 ….accommodates vulnerable people
 Where the service is provided by or on behalf of the
Landlord
 Accommodation-based & tenancy
sustainment/floating support can be Exempt
Accommodation

4. Exempt Accommodation
 Tenants of Exempt Accommodation will have
the housing component of their benefit
administered at local level much as it is now.
 This can be a significant amount of money
 It has helped providers to reduce
dependency on SP
 And subsidise support costs in tenders

5. Exempt Accommodation
 Exempt Accommodation scenarios are a
good idea:
 For tenants: service levels maintained
 Providers: income levels maintained
 Local Authorities: recover amounts paid
through HB from the DWP
 A good way of funding prevention & taking
pressure off statutory services

6. Exempt Accommodation
 Please talk to us!
 www.supportsolutions.co.uk/briefing/issue_12/
exempt_accommodation.html
 www.supportsolutions.co.uk/briefing/issue_12/
ucihm.html
 www.supportsolutions.co.uk/briefing/issue_11/i
ntensive_housing_management_.html
 www.supportsolutions.co.uk/blog/blog.html

7. Welfare Reform: What are the impacts on
Intensive Housing Management?
 What exactly is IHM?
1. Repetitive ordinary housing management
functions, i.e. lettings, tenancy sign ups
2. Additional housing management functions due
to the nature of the tenant group and the
accommodation
3. Housing Management functions linked to
communal areas and the provision of systems,
i.e. testing of door entry, CCTV and alarms, re-provision
of furniture and equipment etc.

8. Intensive Housing Management
 Housing Corporation defined – ‘A guide to Supported
Housing’
www.supportsolutions.co.uk/docs/guide_to_supported
_housing.pdf
 Judge Turnbull Legal Precedent
 Bristol CC v AW [2009] UKUT 109 (AAC) – satisfactory
test for determining support is more than minimal is
to ask whether support provided likely to make a real
difference to the claimant’s ability to live in the
property

9. Intensive Housing Management
 Why refer to support when defining IHM?
 Judge Turnbull Legal Precedent continued;
 R(H) 6/08, R(H) 4/09 – ‘Support’ involves the landlord
doing more than, or different from, the exercise of its
ordinary property management functions
 Chorley BC v IT (HB) [2009] UKUT 107 (AAC) – support not
confined to counselling, advising, encouraging etc. ‘the
carrying out of repairs which clearly go beyond ordinary
housing management can amount to support’
 IHM can therefore be sufficient to qualify as exempt
accommodation!
 It’s now “additional housing management services”!

10. Housing Proactive
 An example of a service that enables you to
communicate with tenants & check they’re OK
 Costs nothing (funded through HB)
 It is an “additional housing management service”
 Resolves problems associated with funding alarms
 Tenants very positive about it
 Provides excellent management information
 Staff can focus on tenants who need more support
 www.housingproactive.com

11. Our Contact Details
Fairgate House
205 Kings Road
Birmingham B11 2AA
0121 707 7766/8881
www.supportsolutions.co.uk
info@supportsolutions.co.uk
Twitter @suppsolutions
www.facebook.com/SupportSolutionsLtd?sk=wa
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