The main points
- Harbour Light is your landlord. We look after your home.
- Your support provider is a different company. They look after you and help you day to day.
- They are two different teams. This handbook tells you who to go to for what.
- Sometimes your support provider does jobs for us too, like testing your smoke alarm. Those jobs are still our responsibility.
- If you are not sure who to ask, ask your support worker, or contact us. We will help.
Who Harbour Light is
Harbour Light Assisted Living is your landlord. A landlord is the organisation that owns or leases your home and rents it to you.
We are a housing association. We are a "not-for-profit" organisation. This means we do not make a profit from you. We are also a registered provider of social housing. This means we follow rules set by a government body called the Regulator of Social Housing.
Our job is to look after your home. We keep it safe and in good repair.
Who your support provider is
Your support provider is a different company from Harbour Light. They are not your landlord.
Your support provider gives you care and support. They help you live well day to day. The people who help you at your home, like your support workers, work for your support provider.
We work closely with your support provider. But we are two separate organisations, with two different jobs.
Who does what
Here is a simple guide to who looks after what.
| Harbour Light (your landlord) looks after your home | Your support provider looks after you |
|---|---|
| Repairs to your home and building | Your care and support each day |
| Safety checks, like gas, electric and water | Helping you understand your tenancy |
| Your rent and service charges | Helping you claim and manage your benefits |
| The white goods and furniture we provide | Helping you with money and shopping |
| Insuring the building | Helping you report a repair to us |
| Dealing with your complaints | Helping you cook, clean and stay well |
Some jobs are shared. For example, your support worker tests your smoke alarm each week and checks your hot water is not too hot. They do these jobs for Harbour Light. Even though your support worker does them, keeping you safe is still Harbour Light's responsibility.
Your support worker also makes their own checks on you and your home as part of your support. These are to make sure you are well and safe. How often they do this depends on your support provider and on what you need.
We look after gardens, paths and bin areas, and we clean the shared hallways in blocks of flats. In a shared house, everyone helps keep the shared rooms clean and tidy, with help from their support worker. Section 10 explains more.
How to reach us
You do not have to go through your support worker to reach us. You can always contact Harbour Light yourself.
- To report a repair: tell your support worker. They will report it to us. You can also report a repair yourself on Fixflo at harbourlight.fixflo.com. (See Section 5 for more about repairs.)
- For an emergency repair, at any time of day or night: telephone 0151 909 5919. This is a 24-hour number.
- For anything else: telephone 0151 909 5919 or email hello@harbourlight.org.uk.
Your support worker can also contact us for you, or with you. Many tenants find this easier. Both ways are fine.
Working with your support provider
Your tenancy asks you to work with your support provider so you can get the support you need. Getting support is part of living in a Harbour Light home. Section 3 explains this in more detail.
If you are having any problems with your support, tell us or tell your support worker. We want to help you sort it out.
If you are unhappy with your support provider
Your support provider works with us to look after you. If you are unhappy with something they have done, you can still tell Harbour Light.
You can make a complaint to us about your support provider, as well as about us. We take these complaints seriously. Section 14 explains how to complain and how we deal with it.
Getting help to understand this
If any of this is hard to understand, that is OK. Ask your support worker. You can also ask a relative, a friend or an advocate to help you.
You can ask us for this information on paper, in a bigger size, or in another format. Just ask us or ask your support worker.
More detail
This box is for tenants who want more detail, and for support staff, relatives, advocates and social workers. You do not need to read it to understand the section above.
Two separate organisations. Harbour Light Assisted Living CIC is the Registered Provider and landlord. Care and support are delivered by a separate support provider under a Service Level Agreement (SLA) between that provider and Harbour Light. Harbour Light is not the care or support provider. The support provider holds its own registration with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) for the regulated care it provides.
Delegated housing duties. Under the SLA, Harbour Light appoints the support provider as its agent to carry out certain day-to-day housing tasks at the scheme — for example weekly testing of smoke, heat and carbon monoxide alarms, weekly water-temperature checks, periodic flushing of little-used outlets to control legionella, keeping fire exits clear, and reporting repairs. This delegation does not discharge Harbour Light of its own legal responsibility for these matters (SLA clause 2.7). Harbour Light remains the accountable body.
Reporting on a tenant's behalf. The SLA requires the support provider to report disrepair to Harbour Light where a tenant is unable or unwilling to do so (SLA clause 7.1). A report made by support staff is a valid report and starts Harbour Light's response times, including the timescales under Awaab's Law (see Section 8).
Complaints about the support provider. The Housing Ombudsman's Complaint Handling Code defines a complaint as covering the actions of "those acting on the landlord's behalf". Dissatisfaction with the support provider's housing-related work is therefore within Harbour Light's complaints process (see Section 14). Complaints about personal care may also be raised with the support provider and, where relevant, the CQC or the local authority; Harbour Light will help a tenant reach the right route.
Regulator. Harbour Light is a Registered Provider regulated by the Regulator of Social Housing (registration number 4791). It is also a Community Interest Company (CIC), subject to an asset lock overseen by the Office of the Regulator of Community Interest Companies.