Get support to stay in your home

Supporting People is a fund to help people to stay in their own home and lead independent lives. Supporting People pays for things like alarms in your home, support staff, hostel accommodation or visiting support. We help people to be able to enjoy living in their own home with the support that they need.

• People with nowhere to live who are homeless
• People who are sleeping rough
• People who are experiencing or at risk from domestic abuse
• Teenagers who are leaving care, facing a lot of risks or becoming a parent themselves
• People who are working with probation services
• People with a mental illnesses
• Elderly people who might be frail who need support at home
• People with learning disabilities
• People from the gypsy/traveller community

St Helens Borough Council provides some of the help and we also use different organisations to give support to people who need help.

We make sure that they provide a good service so that people can stay in their own home. That might be a warden in the block of flats, an alarm that you wear around your neck or even a support worker there to help 24 hours a day.

There are lots of different ways to support people who have different needs.

Supporting People work with other agencies like probation, health services and social care to make sure we are giving the right help, to the right people.

• You may already be living in one of our contracted services. If you are and you receive Housing Benefit to help with your rent, you will be able to claim Supporting People funding. Once we receive your Supporting People application, we will check that you receive Housing Benefit then write to you to tell you that we can also provide Supporting People funding. We will always pay this directly to the people who are supporting you.
• If you do not get Housing Benefit, you might still be eligible. People who receive the housing element of Universal Credit are often also entitled to Supporting People funding.
• If you do not receive any benefits, we can help you to complete a fairer charging assessment if we think you might be entitled to the support. This is a financial assessment that we will complete to see if you are entitled to housing support.

• You can find information about all Supporting People Services in the downloads section at the bottom of this page. 
• If you are currently homeless or at risk of becoming homeless and need to access emergency accommodation, please contact St Helens Housing Options Advice Service on 01744-675150.
• If you are experiencing domestic abuse, you can find national support and guidance. You can also contact our housing options advice service on 01744 675150 to talk through suitable accommodation options.
• If you think you or someone you know would benefit from being supported in their home and they are not already receiving that support, you can request an assessment through St Helens Contact Cares.

For individuals

For new applicants and existing clients you can look at the different services provided in the Supporting People Services list in the downloads at the bottom of the page. There you will also see the Supporting People Application Form. Your support provider should complete this form with you and send it to us.

For Supporting People Providers

Supporting People Providers can view upcoming payment and PI workbook dates for 2021-22 by opening the document below called Important Dates For Providers 2021-22 and you can see the dates for 2022-23 by viewing the document called Important dates for providers 2022-23.

Providers can also download a Supporting People Application Form and the Quick Guide to applications for providers, which helps in completing and submitting the form.

Contact us

Telephone us on 01744-676152 or email supportingpeople@sthelens.gov.uk