FAQs

What support do you provide?

L&Q SL provides housing-related support to people in their own homes. The help we offer includes advice on benefits, tenancy issues, mediation in neighbour disputes, guidance on living skills and “signposting” clients to other useful agencies.

The aim of housing-related support is to help people achieve independence, or at least reach a sustainable level of independence.

Where do you provide support?

We work mostly in London but also have support services in West Sussex and Berkshire. The range of services we provide depends on the council – each council awards contracts for support services in its area based on its budget, strategy and the support providers working locally. L&Q SL is one of the largest support providers in the country but still only has a few contracts in each borough.

If you click on this link you’ll get a map showing where we have services and we also have a link showing the support contracts we are now running.

Map showing L&QSL properties (61 KB)

What type of support services do you have?

We have support contracts with councils to meet the needs of specific groups of people including:

• Older people
• People with mental health problems
• People with substance abuse problems (drugs and alcohol)
• Young people

We also have some contracts for generic tenancy sustainment which are open to all people who are having problems maintaining their tenancy.

How do I access the service?

Most of the referrals into our services come through the local council. We can sometimes take referrals from other organisations or even from potential service users or their families. We maintain waiting lists for our services and can sometimes offer placements to people who might not normally qualify for the service. As circumstances vary from borough to borough it is best to ring us and ask.

We also offer a personal support service to people who can pay direct. For information on this service look here - personal support service

Do I have to be an L&Q resident?

No. Some of our services are open to people who have no relationship with L&Q. These can be offered to people living in owner-occupation, privately rented accommodation, council property or homes belonging to another housing association.

What is accommodation-based support?

This support service is where a home is provided alongside the support service. The accommodation is normally conditional upon support still being needed, and the support service is usually for two years or more. Service users may have to move on into other accommodation when they are capable of living more independently. L&Q SL can provide support services in homes owned by other landlords as well as its own properties.

What is floating support?

Floating support is a service for people who do not need long term support. The idea is that we provide support for up to two years and gradually “float” the service away as the service user becomes more independent and confident. Floating support can be provided to people in any property.

How is support paid for?

Most of our support services are funded by Supporting People Grant, which is a government grant paid through the local council. In some cases we also have funding from Primary Care Trusts, Social Services Departments and charities.

Do I have to pay anything?

This depends on the type of contract we have with the council. Some councils have a charging policy based on your income which they apply to some (but not all) services. As a rule of thumb, if you qualify for housing benefit you are unlikely to be charged. We can advise you on this if you ring us.

If you are willing to pay privately we can offer you a service tailored to your needs at a very competitive rate. Look here for details of our private contracts providing a personal support service.

Do you work with other support agencies?

Yes. L&Q SL works in partnership with over 70 support providers across London and the South East. If we don’t provide the support service you are looking for we can refer you to one of our agency partners. See the full list of our agency partners.

Are you regulated?

As a support provider we have to comply with the terms and conditions of our contracts with the council. The council receives regular monitoring reports from us and periodically inspects our services to ensure they meet rigorous quality standards.

In addition, as a Registered Social Landlord we are subject to regulation by the Housing Corporation and we are inspected by the Audit Commission.

How good are you at support?

We believe we are one of the better support providers. We spend a lot of money training our staff and, as a large organisation employing over 800 people, we have access to a lot of expertise and assistance to help us deliver high quality support services. Our support services get good to excellent ratings at contract review and we are constantly striving to make them better.

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