Contrast:

The issue

Homelessness can be caused by a lack of affordable housing or by people’s difficulty in getting and maintaining a home. Homelessness can lead to misery and health problems as well as feelings of isolation, depression and low self-esteem. This can increase the chance of domestic violence, drug or alcohol abuse, child behaviour problems, offending and debt.

Supporting People is a partnership-based Government initiative that began in April 2003. Lincolnshire’s Supporting People Partnership helps vulnerable people to live more independently in their own accommodation and funds organisations that can provide housing related support services. Using the Supporting People Grant the partnership commissions support workers who visit individuals at home to assist them. This is known as floating support. A wide range of vulnerable adults and young people are helped including those with disabilities and health problems, chaotic lifestyles, substance misuse, homelessness and other vulnerabilities. By far the largest group supported are older people.

Each year the partnership in Lincolnshire supports about 11,000 vulnerable people to live independently in the community with an annual budget of £21 million. It allocates funding to around 100 service providers through 190 contracts to supply 400 services. Together this totals about 8,700 units of supported accommodation and 7,200 units of floating support. Most people pay little or nothing for receiving the Supporting People service as the programme is targeted at disadvantaged groups.

In Lincolnshire there are well established services for people who have become homeless. For example, East Lindsey District Council had been operating an established and successful floating support service which had helped to reduce the number of homeless in the authority by 50 per cent. East Lindsey's Housing Support Team work to address the effects of homelessness and poor housing on individuals and families. The help provided can include:

• Setting up a new home with furnishings
• Getting gas, water and electric connected or changing suppliers
• Claiming housing and council tax benefits
• Getting community care grants and loans for furniture
• Budgeting, shopping and sorting out bills
• Advice on home, personal safety and security
• Developing domestic and life skills
• Emotional support and advice
• Finding colleges, training agencies or employment opportunities.
• Accessing interpreters and English as a foreign language course.
• Finding specific religious and cultural groups.

Addressing Service Performance Challenges

There were a number of challenges facing the Supporting People services in Lincolnshire. Firstly, over the last five years, the Partnership had built up a significant underspend in the Supporting People Grant provided by the Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG).  Secondly, this underspend level was partly responsible for Supporting People services in Lincolnshire receiving three weak performance ratings from the Audit Commission in 2004, 2006 and 2007. In response, the Lincolnshire Supporting People Management team worked closely with the Audit Commission and CLG to develop an improvement plan. However while the service was centre stage for all the wrong reasons, the build up of underspend did give Lincolnshire additional funds for innovative services. And thirdly, the Supporting People Grant which used to be ring fenced was being merged into the Area Based Grant. In future this grant would be controlled by the Local Strategic Partnership so funding was not guaranteed and was more dependent on impact and positive results.

As part of the improvements the partnership planned to re-model services and to develop new services. While the reactive housing support services provided by authorities in Lincolnshire like East Lindsey District Council were successful there was an identified need to provide more services targeted at the prevention of homelessness. This was even more important given the downturn in the housing market which was evident by the middle of 2008. This approach was outlined in Lincolnshire County’s Homelessness Strategy 2008-2012. Lincolnshire County Council was also aware the housing market was continuing to change very rapidly and that the level of homelessness was likely to rise. Overall, there was also a desire to close the service delivery cycle by having both reactive and proactive housing support services across the County.

Underspend: Providers' Ideas for Services Gaps

In July 2008 Lincolnshire County Council asked the 100 local service providers in the county for ideas to address current service gaps in line with their five year strategy. The aim was to provide services differently. The projects would be funded by the Supporting People Grant underspend.

Eight weeks later the first bids were received and Lincolnshire County Council committed £1.35 million across a range of pilot projects. These projects included a court repossession referral service in Skegness led by East Lindsey District Council and the provision of credit union services including savings and loans for tenants of Longhurst homes in Lincoln City. Other funded projects included housing services for remand prisoners, crisis houses to provide short term accommodation for people with mental health problems, floating housing support for teenage parents and for people with mental health problems and the re-modelling of housing support services for older people across a number of Lincolnshire districts.

Court Repossession Referral Service in Skegness

From discussions with service users East Lindsey District Council were aware that by providing the right support while an individual was going through court proceedings for repossession it was possible to prevent homelessness. For example by backdating a housing benefit claim for an individual with mental health problems allowed their rent arrears to be cleared in just four days. A support plan was then developed to pay the court costs and address their other issues.

The project aims to help owner occupiers (who had been affected by the current economic conditions), tenants of registered social and private landlords (who were vulnerable due to mental illness, learning disabilities or age and unaware of benefit entitlement or unable to deal effectively with bureaucracy), and victims of financial abuse (for example, when financial information has been withheld by a partner).

A specialist housing support worker attends the Skegness court on repossession hearing days. Crisis intervention is offered followed by ongoing floating support to vulnerable individuals and families who are at risk of mortgage or tenancy repossessions. There is close working with the Housing Advice Teams and Citizen's Advice Bureau at the court desk on Repossession Hearing days.

The project provides support plans and aims to ensure income is maximised and debts prioritised. Users are helped to stick to their court arrangements. Over three to six months the support worker helps families to establish payment methods and these payments are monitored to avoid future eviction. The project will also represent service users in court if amendments to orders are required.

The service started in January 2009 for two years and is costing £38,400 per year.

If is very difficult to assess demand in advance and there is little baseline evidence. However the partnership will be monitoring impact against a range of outcomes (for example, debt reduced, income maximised, evictions avoided) which are linked to National Indicators 141 and 142. The capacity of the service is set by the hours of the support work assuming one hour per week contact with clients.

Credit Union Services in Lincoln

People who are financially excluded tend to not have access to a bank account, make limited use of financial services such as home contents insurance, have poor financial literacy, are often in debt including rent arrears, have problematic credit histories, tend to rely on ultra high interest credit and door step lending, and lack confidence. About 80 per cent of people who are financially excluded live in the social housing sector.

The project expanded the service offered by Lincoln Credit Union (LincUp) to provide simple banking and savings services, financial advice and capacity loans to people at risk of financial exclusion and homelessness. LincUp offers loans to members who have saved for 12 weeks and will then loan twice the value of the savings. LincUp was already working with the City of Lincoln Council to provide top up loans where there was a shortfall in housing grant.

The project initially focused on all people housed by the City of Lincoln Council but is planned be rolled out across the county at a later stage. The aim was to develop a sustainable county wide Credit Union service which will raise members out of poverty and help with improved choices in life (i.e. address financial and social exclusion and prevent homelessness). The project was done in partnership with Longhurst Homes, a Registered Social Landlord, which has supported LincUp from its inception.

The service started in December 2008 and will run until 2011. The service is costing £50,000 over three years.

The volume of activity is expected to be five to ten people per week, or about 250 to 500 each year.  Lincolnshire County Council will review performance on a quarterly basis and will complete a quality assessment in the first six months.

Governance and reporting

The Supporting People Partnership reported service development options to a Core Strategy Group (which included providers and service users) which then recommended projects and services to a Commissioning Body. Pilot projects were brought forward by the Underspend Strategy Group which was given delegated authority and decision making powers. Meeting on a regular basis from mid 2008, the Underspend Strategy Group was fully representative and included a councillor, the chair of the Core Strategy Group, the vice chair of the Commissioning Body together with officers from Lincolnshire County Council and Lincoln City Council. Through ongoing liaison with the local service providers the Underspend Strategy Group considered current needs and was able to rapidly filter and modify service specifications for the new pilot projects.

The key national indicators addressed are those supporting vulnerable people to achieve or maintain independent living (National Indicators 141 and 142) and these are contained in the county’s Local Area Agreement 2007 to 2010. The Local Area Agreement is the delivery plan for the county’s Sustainable Communities Strategy and is overseen by the Lincolnshire Assembly. The Lincolnshire Assembly was created in 2005 by the county council and its partners to secure a common voice for Lincolnshire and promote action in support of local communities. Organisations and partnerships eligible for membership undertake local decision-making and demonstrate a commitment to Lincolnshire through the implementation of the Sustainable Community Strategy.

The lessonsTop of page

Lincolnshire Supporting People Partnership believes there are a number of lessons that underpin the success of their approach to develop service gap projects for preventing homelessness:

Building on the crisis response model for flooding

The response to serious flooding 18 months earlier provided an important model of County and Local Authorities working together very rapidly to deal with a major and immediate homelessness crisis.

Early intelligence on market changes

Local service providers knew the market well and were the first to notice changes in demand for services.  By working closely with their local providers right from the start and not prescribing top down approaches the Supporting People Partnership believe they have brought forward a much better range of innovative projects to meet current needs.  The commissioning process was much faster compared to the six to nine months required for a strategic review and consultation programme.

Local support providers were innovative and responded well

Even though the Supporting People Grant underspend was being offered as grant with the usual eligibility criteria attached, the local service providers fully engaged in the process. The providers brought good insight and information that Lincolnshire County Council would not normally see through their reporting requirements.  With good relationships the Supporting People Partnership was able to work very closely with the providers, for example, in developing the specifications.  Many of the new services suggested were very targeted and had clear outcomes.

Governance structure that made rapid decisions

The cross organisation Underspend Strategy Group with its delegated authority was able to take decisions rapidly and meet on a weekly basis.

Benefits from a rapid response

The economic situation has deteriorated substantially since the middle of 2008. By getting their providers in place Lincolnshire County Council has been well placed to respond to a growing problem. As County Councillors have become more aware of the problems for their residents including the growing risk of redundancy, Supporting People services have been able to implement a range of innovative projects to tackle the growing levels of homelessness.

Early action offer value for money and manages demand

By taking preventative action at an early stage the Supporting People Partnership has been able to reduce the demand for floating housing support services for people who have already become homeless. Extending the current support services would have been more expensive than preventative action. There is also a finite amount of accommodation available for homeless people. Alternatives such as bed and breakfast accommodation are very expensive.

Turning around a failing service

Lincolnshire has been able to turn a problem (failed service inspections and budget underspend) into an asset (additional budget for innovative projects) just at the time that demand for homelessness has been rising rapidly up the political agenda.

Improved internal working

The link between the activities of Children Services and those of Supporting People has strengthened over the last four to five months. Lincolnshire’s Children Services procure accommodation for young people including those with complex needs. While Supporting People services do not deal with young people below the age of sixteen, they do deal with housing issues for sixteen to eighteen year olds (for example, provision of a night stop service for short term accommodation for older young people). The pilot projects have helped to increase the understanding about the complementary service areas.

Lincolnshire Supporting People Partnership has a number of future issues and ambitions for their pilot projects. Once there is evidence of the success of the Court Repossession Referral Service and Credit Union projects the Supporting People Partnership would like to roll these out across the county.

However, for this to be approved and to secure future funding from the Area Based Grant there is a need to demonstrate outcomes on the ground. There is also a challenge with the uncertainty about the length and depth of the current recession and what this means for the commissioning terms for services. There is a significant challenge in estimating demand and the level of referrals for homelessness services. In addition, it can be politically unpalatable to commission a new three year service for homeless people when the local community needs re-assurance.

Further informationTop of page

Ruth Batt, Head of Support Housing, Lincolnshire County Council
email: ruth.batt@lincolnshire.gov.uk
telephone: 01522 552222

Lincolnshire Assembly

Lincoln Credit Union

East Lindsey District Council