Floating Support Services for People with Mental Health and Dual Diagnosis (Substance Misuse) Needs in Leicestershire

Leicestershire County Council is committed to the strategic vision that no working-age adult with mental health as their primary need should be placed in permanent residential care placements by 2025 and there is a requirement for a tiered system of supported living and floating support provision.

This service will assist people to maintain their own tenancies and to be able to access the correct level of support depending on their fluctuating mental health. This will provide a flexible, “step-up/step-down” model of support that will enable people to live their lives as independently as possible whilst providing support when it is required to prevent the need for residential care or readmission into hospital for this cohort.

The required tiered level of support to provide an effective, strengths-based accommodation pathway for working-age adults with mental health as their primary diagnosis can be summarised into the following categories:

• Own tenancies in the social or private rented sector with general needs housing support
• Own tenancies in the social or private rented sector with floating mental health and/or substance misuse support
• Building based supported living with recovery and move on
• Supported Living provision for those not yet engaged in rehabilitation requiring support to enable move on into rehabilitation and recovery
• Residential care or intensive supported living for urgent discharge from hospital and forensic cases with Ministry of Justice or MAPPA condition