Other community, social and personal services

Tender description

The Council wishes to procure a service which will provide a support hub with accommodation for a minimum of 13 x 16 – 25 year olds who are homeless or at risk of homelessness and who require accommodation linked to that support.The service will also ensure that Service Users have access to appropriate educational, training and employment opportunities. In addition, as part of the same contract, the Council requires the provision of housing support to be extended to people with lower-level and varied support needs living in the vicinity of the support hub. The budget available is fixed at 102 000 GBP per annum for the duration of the contract.The successful tenderer must be able to demonstrate that it is able to maximise property-related income to complement housing-related support funding.The duration of the contract will be for an initial term of 3 years with an option to extend the contact by up to a further 2 years subject to contract performance and budget availability. Housing Support services will support people whose needs are such that their ability to maintain a tenancy or remain independent in their home would be compromised without that support. The focus of housing-related support with accommodation will be on ensuring that people are supported to stabilise their accommodation status and prepare for move-on to appropriate and settled accommodation according to their circumstances and to have the support networks in place to help them sustain that accommodation. Housing-related support will have two principal areas of focus: — helping people to prevent, delay or reduce the need for long-term formal care and support, including healthcare services, — helping to prevent homelessness and/or to support people who have been homeless into settled accommodation. — housing-related support with accommodation will therefore help the Council to meet its statutory prevention duties under the Homelessness Reduction Act and the Care Act, — housing-related support complements other activity through, for example, making resources available to other agencies to run activities or providing drop-ins and “surgeries” at other agencies’ premises. The core Ludlow Support Hub with Accommodation service will be aimed at young people and people aged 16 – 25 who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. The focus will be to provide short-term or temporary accommodation with intensive support to resolve immediate crisis issues, followed by support to build skills and resilience to move people out into their own accommodation, and to prevent future homelessness. Crisis avoidance, addressing worklessness and tenancy sustainment are also key for this group. A further aim is to help vulnerable people to develop to maximise stability within the home, minimise dependence on welfare benefits and funded support and to support access to education, training and employment, and community based social networks. The Council wishes to procure a service which will provide a support hub with accommodation for a minimum of 13 x 16 – 25 year olds who are homeless or at risk of homelessness and who require accommodation linked to that support. The service will also ensure that Service Users have access to appropriate educational, training and employment opportunities. In addition, as part of the same contract, the Council requires the provision of housing support to be extended to people with lower-level and varied support needs living in the vicinity of the support hub. Tenderers other than the current owner of Marston’s Mill and the developing Grain Loft should either bring forward proposals for alternative supported accommodation in the Ludlow area to meet the Council’s requirements or will be able to demonstrate at a minimum an agreement in principle with the property owner to deliver support to residents of Marston’s Mill and the Grain Loft. Referrals and allocations will be determined by the Council’s Housing Services in conjunction with the provider. Please note the Council will not be a party to any negotiations or agreements between the current property owner and any tenderer. The budget available is fixed at 102 000 GBP per annum for the duration of the contract. The successful tenderer must be able to demonstrate that it is able to maximise property-related income to complement housing-related support funding. The duration of the contract will be for an initial term of 3 years with an option to extend the contact by up to a further 2 years subject to contract performance and budget availability. Contract payments will be made monthly in arrears. The service is staffed by staff employed by the current provider and applicants should note that it is considered that the employee “Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006” (“TUPE”) will apply to this contract. Applicants are advised to seek their own legal advice about the practicality of these regulations.