To seek approval to commission, by means of a competitive tender process, a housing-related support service for vulnerable young people, complimented by an offer of targeted and universal prevention services specifically developed for vulnerable young people aged 16 to 25.  New premises have been sourced through a local registered housing provider and a specialist provider is sought to offer varying levels of support to young people with different needs.

This service will not accommodate children in care under the age of 16.

The proposed new model will form part of Herefordshire’s growing offer of accommodation to young people and ensure flexible responses to people accessing services via multiple routes. 

The service will improve outcomes for vulnerable young people in Herefordshire and focus on meeting their individual needs through the provision of good quality accommodation, a clear pathway and flexible support options. The housing itself will be provided in Hereford by a local registered housing provider. The accommodation based, outreach and mediation support will be commissioned from a specialist support provider via a competitive procurement process. The support services will operate from the accommodation in Hereford and outreach and mediation services will support young people throughout the county. 

It is proposed that a procurement will commence in June 2020, and mobilisation will align with the completion of building works and the end of an existing supported accommodation contract for young people on 31 October 2020. That contracted service no longer meets the changing and diverse needs of Herefordshire’s vulnerable young people. The proposed new service would therefore commence on 1 November 2020.

That:

(a)       the commissioning by way of an open procurement process of an accommodation support service, along with floating support and mediation services for vulnerable young people, aged 16 to 25 years, be approved.

(b)       authority be delegated to the director of adults and communities, following consultation with the director for children and families and cabinet members, to award a contract for housing related support services for a period of up to five years and maximum cost of £3.1m.

1.         Not to identify and secure accommodation before the procurement.  Provider engagement has identified challenges to sourcing suitable accommodation for the use of supported housing provision, in a high demand and high value housing market.  This could exclude providers who identified the sourcing of accommodation as a potential barrier to tendering for an accommodation based support service.

2.         To continue with the existing foyer based model of supported housing for young people.  This option is not recommended as the model is felt to no longer meet the needs of vulnerable young people. A new focus on prevention and early intervention is required, including support to build and develop links in the community to establish successful independent living. The new model will offer a flexible service to young people with different circumstances and levels of need.  The contract for the support service will allow for variation should there be a significant change in the predicted needs of the young people.

3.    To deliver the service in-house through the council’s operational services. This is not recommended because currently, the council does not have the expertise available to operate and manage such a service and recruiting such expertise would be challenging. In addition, the council would have to invest significantly to create the infrastructure and systems to support the service, leading to disproportionate costs and reduced value of any cost avoidance.