Decision details

Commissioning of Housing Related Support Services

Decision status: Recommendations Approved

Purpose:

The report will recommend the Council takes a new, more integrated, approach to the commissioning of short term housing related support services.

Decision:

That the lead Cabinet Member for Health and Social Care:

 

-          Endorses the development of a more integrated approach to the commissioning of housing related and prevention support services as set out in this report; and

 

-          Approves the development of a work programme to implement changes to the way housing related support services are commissioned as part of a wider integration with other significant council strategies; and

 

-          Notes that the first phase contract changes and savings set out in this report will be enacted through a further formal decision by the Director of Commissioning Inclusion and Learning in accordance with authority delegated by Cabinet in 2016.

 

Reasons for the decision:

A redesigned more integrated commissioning approach will:

 

a)    Deliver better, more preventative outcomes for vulnerable people; and

b)    Be more effective and efficient in terms of commissioning capacity and resources; and

c)    Ensure the Council works more effectively with partners to make the best use of public money.

Alternative options considered:

1.The Council could continue to commission housing related support services through a specific budget and dedicated commissioning programme.  This option has been rejected because increasingly the needs of the population are complex and often the risk of homelessness is due to a range of other underlying factors.  Designing a more integrated commissioning programme will reduce duplication in services and result in a more effective and preventative offer for people in need.

 

2. The Council has no statutory duty to commission housing related support services and could reduce the spend on these services significantly in order to address the current budget challenge.  This option has been rejected because well delivered support demonstrably helps the council deliver its wider duties around homelessness and provide essential preventative support for some of the most vulnerable people in the city.  This, in turn, reduces demand on more costly and intensive crisis interventions further down the line.

 

Publication date: 27/08/2019

Date of decision: 22/08/2019

Effective from: 03/09/2019

Accompanying Documents: