Agenda item

The Specialist Accommodation report was presented by Hayley Rees, Category Manager Strategy and Commissioning.

Some of the points highlighted during her presentation are listed below:

·           A number of teams across the Council were working together to provide accommodation for children leaving care and homeless 16-17 year olds, to support their transition into adulthood and independence;

·           The Council did not currently have sufficient local provision to meet the demand.  In order to meet its statutory duties, the Council commissioned externally when needed;

·           It was desirable to have more accommodation locally as this provided more control and enabled young people to retain local links;

·           There were two phases of work to this work programme.  The first phase was to provide for care leavers (16-21) and the second phase was for care leavers who were 18 or older and for 16-17 year old who were homeless;

·           The current provision included a property in the centre of Wokingham which provided for 16-25 year olds, some of which were care leavers.  This property provided a range of accommodation options within it, it was very high quality, however there was a waiting list for it;

·           Another property, also within the town centre, which the Council had recently renovated was dedicated for care leavers only.  This was also high quality and provided a range of accommodation with support 24 hours a day seven days a week.  This property had a staff and training room and could provide emergency accommodation if needed;

·           Phase two of the programme was in the early stages, a potential property had been identified, a feasibility exercise was being carried out and a business plan was being produced to ascertain the requirements of the building.  It was hoped that this property, pending planning application and other approvals, would be ready for occupation by 2023.

During the discussion of the item the following comments were made:

·           A Member asked how the Council proposed to tackle the waiting list;

·           Hayley Rees explained that there was a desire to have accommodation for young people locally as it allowed more control in terms of affordability and quality.  The number of care leavers could be predicted, but it was not possible to predict the number of homeless 16-17 year olds who would need accommodation.  There was ongoing work with colleagues in Housing to provide adequate accommodation for care leavers and homeless 16-17 year olds;

·           A Member asked how the service providers in those two properties were going to be monitored;

·           Hayley Rees stated that there was a contract and a procurement process had taken place, which had involved various aspects of quality assurance.  The procurement process had involved a panel of care leavers.  The team was very experienced in monitoring contracts, through targets and outcomes.  Quantitative and qualitative data was used to monitor the provider.  An annual report would be produced that could be shared with the Committee.  If the service was not happy with the contract, there was a mechanism to deal with it;

·           Adam Davis added that each care leaver had a personal advisor who would also be able to provide feedback;

·           In response to a question Hayley Rees clarified that the first phase had been focused on accommodation for care leavers, the second phase was going to provide accommodation for 16-17 homeless young people.  She confirmed that it was hard to predict the number of 16-17 homeless young people;

·           Hayley Rees pointed out that the property in Reading Road provided accommodation for 16-17 year old homeless young people.  The new project involved Housing and Children’s Services working together to increase the capacity for this cohort, to ensure sufficiency.  Through the Front Door team, an assessment to took place to determine the type of support that a young person needed;

·           In response to a question Hayley Rees confirmed that a member of staff was on site 24 hours a day, seven days a week.  Care leavers received an allowance through Social Care.  The provider was expected to offer support with training in relation to budgeting, finance, cooking and to offer mental wellbeing support;

·           Adam Davis added that each child would have a pathway plan which covered preparation for independence;

·           A Member asked if it was possible to arrange to meet with young people in the facility to gain feedback;

·           Hayley Rees informed that conversations about this possibility were already taking place, and if young people did not feel comfortable meeting at the property, a different mechanism would be found.  It was important to gain their feedback, especially in preparation for other similar projects;

·           Adam Davis informed that it was more appropriate for Corporate Parenting Board Members to be involved in the feedback exercise;

·           A Member asked if there was a preference for properties in Wokingham town centre and if there was a need in other areas of the Borough;

·           Hayley Rees stated that central Wokingham worked well because of transport links and it being near the town, but there was also an element of availability of properties;

·           A Member mentioned that there was no bus from Woodley to Wokingham, so that was not convenient.

RESOLVED That:

1)     The report be noted; and

2)     The Committee supports the programme of work