Supported housing providers ponder court action

A growing number of supported housing providers are considering taking their local authorities to court to challenge “unfair” review decisions and low contract payments.

Two providers, one in Southampton and another in the North-west, are making last-ditch attempts to get the councils to resolve the disputes out of court but plan to lodge judicial reviews if the talks are unsuccessful.

A judicial review would set a national legal precedent on reviews of Supporting People spending or contracts that all local authorities would have to obey.

The cases follow £100m cuts to the Supporting People programme that have forced local authorities to cut back on the amount they pay to providers (HT 10 December, page 9). The programme had ballooned from £1.4bn to £1.8bn.

Southampton-based Support Ways said it needed more than £350,000 to run its service. But Hampshire council said it could only pay £129,000 – the limit it has set for providers of “generic” services.

However, Debbie Tapner, director of Support Ways, said the firm should be classified as a specialist rather than a generic provider – and therefore paid a bigger sum – because it provides support for complex needs.

Support Ways’ solicitor Julian Dobson, head of litigation at law firm White Bowker, said: “The main issue would be whether it was appropriate for the council to put us in a category of their choosing which limits the money they give us. These categories are arbitrary. Judicial review is the last resort to address the decision made by them.”

Hampshire council said its review and pricing process had been fair. Alan Hagger, lead officer for Supporting People at the council, said: “The ODPM definition of generic is working with two or more client groups and that’s what they [Support Ways] do. They made 43 points of complaint about it [the appeal] and not one was upheld.”

A second provider in the North-west is also considering judicial review if its appeal hearing with its local authority is unsuccessful.

An ODPM spokeswoman said the appeals process was designed to look at the way the service review process worked rather than to address decisions made in the light of a review.

At least two supporting people providers are believed to have threatened to take their cases to judicial review previously, but the local authorities concerned made settlements before the cases reached court.

She said that providers who are unhappy decisions should take their case to the Local Government Ombudsman.