SCOTTISH Borders Housing Support Service has been awarded Grade 5 (Very Good) ratings from the Care Inspectorate.

This is for the way in which they support the wellbeing of people who access their service and also the effectiveness of the team’s leadership.

The positive feedback is the result of a short notice announced inspection undertaken on October 26.

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The Inspector spent time with the manager and staff before speaking with supported people to seek their feedback on the quality of the service they received.

Among the key highlights noted in the report was the way in which the high standard of support being provided was impacting positively on people’s lives.

Also, that this was enabling supported people to create positive working relationships.

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Support staff were found to be very kind and polite. Through the positive working relationships being established, people felt treated with dignity, respect, and compassion, demonstrating the principles of the Health and Social Care Standards.

The service was found to be working within a very person-centred approach, supporting people with a variety of housing related support needs.

These included general housing advice, support with accessing welfare benefits, applications for grants and signposting to more specialist support services.

This meant that people could be confident that staff recognised and responded to their support needs in an individualised way.

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A variety of comprehensive quality assurance processes were noted to be in place which was enabling the management team to have a good oversight of the support being delivered.

This was also ensuring people had confidence that their care was being managed effectively and responded to appropriately.

The manager was seen to be responsive to feedback from people.

A satisfaction survey issued earlier in the year had given people the opportunity to give their views and suggestions on ways the service could be further developed.

The findings of this had been very positive and any areas for potential improvement and development were being actioned upon.

Councillor Robin Tatler, Executive Member for Communities and Equalities said: “This is deeply encouraging and reassuring report which clearly reflects the hard work and dedication of a team who are fully committed to providing high standards of support to all homeless applicants and their families.

“To have achieved such acknowledgement at a time when homelessness services across the country continue to be under extreme pressure is testament to that level of commitment and they are to be commended for their efforts.”