Statutory Provision; commissioning and procurement

“For people needing high support there’s really nothing for miles.” Supported housing provider

Developing good working relations with local authorities can be a matter of good fortune. A significant number of agencies have told us that they and their clients have found that variable levels of advice and assistance and substantial gaps in provision have combined to leave them overburdened and providing support, advice and referrals beyond the requirements of their funding.

Anecdotal evidence also suggests that it is common in some areas for people to receive incorrect advice and be denied access to services as a result. Moreover, while we have been pleased to see that there is an increasing emphasis on cross-authority working by councils in some areas, in others local connection policies – at odds with CLG guidance, on working with rough sleepers in particular – are preventing people from being referred to services that they need.

It has been suggested that where local authorities cover both urban and rural areas, the emphasis of service provision is weighted heavily towards more populated areas to the detriment of rural provision. However, local authorities covering mainly rural areas seem to be more helpful and pro-active in recognizing the needs of their agencies, for example by running homelessness awareness days and funding specialized tenancy sustainment posts within the council, as highlighted in our main report. In some cases, the collective pressure of agencies attending homelessness and other provider forums has led directly to funding for resettlement and mediation services, and cross-agency rent deposit schemes. Vale Royal council also provides a number of examples of how a local authority can actively work both across council departments and with local agencies to improve provision, including: funding a quick-response mediation through Supporting People; joint homelessness assessments with the council’s Leaving Care team; secondments from the Housing Benefits department to the Housing options team; quarterly case conferences for people in temporary accommodation, attended by tenants, Housing Options advisors, support workers and landlords.

There also appears to be a need for independent, dedicated housing advice services to supplement and support that given by local authorities. A good example of such a service is Shelter’s Mobile Advice Service which provides professional housing advice and tenancy support across the North-East. They can advocate on behalf of clients in court, challenge evictions, assist housing and homelessness applications or help to secure emergency accommodation spaces as necessary. Before this project began the only specialist legal advice available in the region was by appointment with a solicitor in Newcastle Upon Tyne. For some clients that would mean a prospective and prohibitive round-trip of over 250 miles. The limitations of Legal Aid funding mean that this post is still only covered by one paid member of staff, but there is a growing recognition across rral areas – and one that agencies have helped to feed at regional provider forums – that advice and support which helps to sustain tenancies can ultimately relieve some of the burden on financial and staffing resources faced by local authorities.

“We don’t really feel like we have much a chance against the housing associations. We just don’t have the finances.” Hostel manager

It can be difficult for small and/or isolated agencies to compete with larger organisations such as RSLs in the bidding and procurement processes. Many rural agencies report that the higher costs of providing services in rural areas are not adequately reflected in their funding and that they do not have the resources to absorb such costs as readily as their urban counterparts or larger organisations. Yet to access funding they have to submit competitive tenders. Inevitably, preparing bids also puts a strain on resources for smaller agencies. As one manager of a supported housing provider told us, “It is down to me to prepare bids and it’s just so time-consuming. Half the time you feel like you’re just repeating yourself too. I don’t have as much time to do the day-to-day work but it’s important that I’m there to support my staff so I usually end up working late.”

Commissioning bodies can help to ease this situation by making the application process simpler, and provider forums can provide opportunities to highlight the cumbersome nature of the paperwork involved. Longer lead-in times for bididng would also allow smaller agencies more time to prepare and also, where possible, to work with other providers in the area to provide joint bids which can help to share the burden of costs. Regular attendance at provider forums and strategy groups can help in forming partnerships, and in some areas networking can be facilitated through dedicated websites. The HAYH (Housing Action Yorkshire & Humberside) website is a great example of agencies working together to share good practice, exert a collective influence on local strategy and policy and to form working partnerships, including joint-bidding.