Purpose

The purpose of this report is
to agree the proposal to vary the Complex Needs Service to provide
an inflationary uplift and add the Street Outreach
Service.

Content

Interim Head of Housing,
Revenues & Customer Services toapprove:
 
(1)        
That the Complex Needs Contract is varied from
1/4/25-30/9/25 with provision for the Service to be extended for 6
months from 1/10/25-31/3/26 with an agreed uplift for service
delivery;
(2)        
That the contract is subsequently varied, for the
same periods, to include the delivery of the District wide Street
Outreach Service;
(3)        
An option for a further extension of up to 12
months’ from 1/4/26-31/3/27 to be subject to a formal service
review and/or formalised procurement; and
(4)        
That the legal team is given permission to draw up
the necessary contractual documentation to proceed. 
 

Reasons for the decision

The current Street
Outreach Service, delivered by P3 is part of the existing County
Housing Related Support contract but the street outreach element is
due to end on 31/3/25 and will not be extended by the
County. 
If SDC wishes to
have access to a Street Outreach Service, it has to make its own
arrangements. The only viable option given the time constraints is
to add a district wide street outreach service onto the existing
Complex Needs Service with P3.
P3 were recently
supplied with a draft specification for a Street Outreach Service,
and asked to a consider the proposal to add Street Outreach
Services to the Complex Needs Service. 
While P3 agreed they could deliver this, in addition to outlining
the cost of providing a Street Outreach Service, they stated they
would require an inflationary uplift from 1/4/25 for the Complex
Needs contract for it to be viable and sustainable.
 
Cabinet Authority
 
Cabinet Report
titled “Approval of Procurement – Complex Needs
service” dated 5th June 2023 was approved by
Cabinet which gave authority for the procurement of a Complex Needs
Service contract:
 (1) That the funding
received in relation to the Rough Sleepers Initiative from
ringfenced Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
grant be allocated to the Complex Needs Service contract for a
period of 2 years, with the option to extend for a further 2 years
subject to confirmation of further funding; and
(2) That the decision to award the contract be
delegated to the Head of Housing and Customer Services, in
consultation with the Portfolio Holder, be approved.
The report summary
stated that “we intend to recommission these services but
create a single specialist Complex Needs Service to support rough
sleepers and those at risk of rough sleeping”.
 
The Portfolio Holder has also
been consulted about the variations to the contract and is in
agreement with them.
 
Legislative Underpinning
Under section 189B
of the Housing Act 1996 (the HA), local authorities have duties to
provide assistance to eligible homeless persons. Section 182 of the
HA requires local authorities to have regard to guidance issued by
the Secretary of State about homelessness and its
prevention:
13.7 Housing authorities will want to ensure that
people who are sleeping rough and eligible for assistance are
supported to apply to them for housing assistance and should seek
to prevent applicants from starting to sleep rough during the
course of the relief duty … Specific considerations in
relation to applicants who are (or are at imminent risk of)
sleeping rough and are or may be owed the relief duty
include: 
a. working with other agencies and/or commissioned
services to ensure rough sleepers are aware of, and have support to
seek, housing assistance from the authority and in the provision of
appropriate accommodation and/or support. 
The Street
Outreach Service would support a similar client group to the
existing Complex Needs Service but at an earlier stage, who also
may have complex needs or likely to have complex needs due to the
varying health outcomes that rough sleeping can contribute
to. 
The Street
Outreach Service will support people rough sleeping in the District
to help them access support and navigate a route off the
streets.  The changes to the contract
are refinements to current practice and in line with official
guidance on support.
 
Costs and Budget

The proposed variations to the
contract (uplift and outreach service) will change the cost profile
to:

1/4/25-30/9/25       
£118,507

1/10/25-31/3/26      £118,507

A total of
£237,014.
The current financial year is
fully covered by existing funding from the Rough Sleepers
Initiative (RSI) of £126,625 slightly over the original
annual cost of the contract of £125,670. The RSI funding will
be replaced by the Rough Sleeper Prevention and Recovery Grant
(RSPRG) for 2025/26 - SDC’s allocation will be
£303,000, enough to cover the period 1/4/25-31/3/26. Any
additional costs could be met from the 2025-2026 SDC Growth Fund
(up to £60,00, if the budget is approved) and the
Homelessness Prevention Grant 2025-26 (£791,294 total
allocation).
 

Alternative options considered

Option – 1 to allow the
Rough Sleeper Outreach & Complex Support Contacts to lapse
without renewal. This was considered an unsatisfactory option
because of the adverse impact on the fulfilment of SDC’s
homelessness duties under the HA.
 
Option – 2 to pursue a
full tendering and procurement exercise for the provision of a
Street Outreach service. This was considered an unsatisfactory
option because of:
 
(A)               
The limited time available for a full
procurement
(B)               
The desire to secure P3 staff to continue street
outreach before they can be redeployed at the end of the County
Housing Related Support contract
(C)               
The possibility of adding street outreach to the
existing Contract as part of SDC’s homelessness support
offering
(D)               
The ability to use the extension of the Contract to
observe how the street outreach operates with a view to refining
SDC’s requirements under a new procurement.
 
Option – 3 to agree
contract amendments as described to enable the seamless
continuation and streamlining of Rough Sleeper Outreach &
Complex Support Contacts