Issue - meetings

Sarah Jones, Policy Development Officer, Policy, Information and Commissioning (Start Well)

To receive an update on what is being done on housing for our Care Leavers and to note the development of the joint housing protocol with the Districts in Lancashire.

Sarah Jones, Policy Development Officer, Policy, Information and Commissioning (Start Well), Lancashire County Council provided a brief update on the Supported Accommodations Services – commissioning arrangements and the Joint Housing Protocol including the refreshed 16/17 Homeless Protocol and Roxanne McAllister, Children Social Care Team Manager, Child Protection/Children in Need Family Safeguarding, Lancashire County Council outlined the new Care Leaver Housing Protocol.  Further details can be found in the report that was attached to the agenda. 

In terms of the Supported Accommodation Services – commissioning arrangements, the Invitation to Tender for services was published in May 2019.  A significant number of providers across the private and Voluntary, Community and Faith Sector (VCFS) have been successful at selection criteria stage 1, which will allow them to bid towards mini-competitions for service contracts. COVID-19 implications have delayed the next stage of the procurement process and consequently direct awards have been issued to block-contract providers so that service contracts continue until September 2021, by which time it is anticipated that the new contracts will be in place. Other services will continue to be commissioned via the regional system during that timeframe.  A further update once the re-tendering process is nearing completion will be brought to a future Board meeting for its views and considerations.

The Joint Housing Protocol has been in place since 2016 and is generally working well across the County.  As part of that, there is an overarching protocol with specialist areas for 16/17 homeless young people and within that protocol there is also information on what to do for emergency presentations, throughput for young people leaving care into supported accommodation and then into independent living.  Work has been carried out alongside district housing partners to ensure they are also invested.  There has been a lot of legislative changes recently, particularly around the Homeless Reduction Act and also support for care leavers.  The new legislation will change how things are being done currently and the refresh to the protocol is also going to introduce a more robust way of preventing homelessness particularly 16/17 year olds, working with the Advocacy Service, Family Group Conferencing Service as well as the Child and Family Wellbeing Service to ensure there is a more even distribution of prevention services across Lancashire and also working alongside Third Sector partners.

Roxanne McAllister provided an update on the Care Leaver Protocol which is currently being drafted and will create some specific housing pathways for Care Leavers.  There has been Joint Housing Protocol's in the past with single Districts, however the intention is to have a single protocol across the County.  Work has been carried out with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on the Rough Sleepers Initiative and there are now two Housing Officers in post who will form part of the protocol.  Consultations have been carried out with the Districts and the housing providers to explore issues that are frequently found when accommodating young people.  The new protocol will focus on priority banding, access to social  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3