MRAssociates — Knowledge base

Basic info

Floating support means support that is not linked to accommodation and not normally provided by a person’s landlord. Irrespective of his or her housing situation a person might need support with issues such as budgeting, life skills, drug or alcohol misuse, avoiding offending etc. A support provider can offer this as a stand-alone service without providing or arranging accommodation linked to the support.

In principle a person receiving floating support could be a tenant, licensee, owner occupier or living in someone else’s household. Typically, however, floating support tends to be provided to people who have previously lived in supported accommodation such as a hostel and have recently “moved on” to their own tenancy for a self-contained dwelling. In the short term they might require some help and guidance in setting up utility accounts, budgeting to ensure that fuel charges are paid, keeping in touch with a probation officer etc.

In Housing Benefit, there are no particular rules for people receiving floating support: HB is calculated according to the normal rules for the type of accommodation arrangement (rent rebate for council tenants, Local Housing Allowance for private tenants etc).