Supported Accommodation and Support Services for Children in Care and Care Leavers

Please provide detailed information regarding your local authority’s commissioning and delivery of supported accommodation and support services for children in care and care leavers, including Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children (UASC).

Please respond to the following questions in full. Where possible, provide data in Excel or CSV format.

1. Providers and Service Models
1.1. List all providers currently delivering supported accommodation and/or support services for:
Children in care aged 16-17

Care leavers aged 18+

UASC (if applicable)

Please see the child in care list.

1.2. For each provider, specify:
Type of provision (e.g. 24/7 staffed, floating support, outreach, safety pods)
Ofsted registration status (registered, pending, exempt)
Number of units or placements available
Number of young people currently placed

Children in Care aged 16-17

Where there is a ‘*’ under number of children placed,  this information is exempt from disclosure under Section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (Personal Data). Devon County Council can confirm the requested information is held; however, the Council cannot disclose personal information if releasing it would contravene any of the provisions in the Data Protection Act 2018. In this instance release of this information may identify the individuals placed with these providers. This would risk a disclosure of their personal information and would contravene the first data protection principle. Therefore, the information is withheld.

Care Leavers 18+

2. Costs and Funding
2.1. Provide the average weekly cost per young person for each type of supported accommodation and support service, broken down as follows:
Accommodation cost
Support cost
Additional costs (e.g. contingency placements, interpreters, transport)

This information is not held by Devon County Council as we do not have a breakdown of costs.

2.2. Confirm whether young people are expected to contribute to accommodation costs (e.g. via Universal Credit housing element). If so:
How is this managed and monitored?
What is the average amount recovered per young person per week?

Young people are expected to contribute towards their accommodation costs when they are over 18 and can apply for Housing Benefit to cover this. The amount is means tested based on their individual circumstances so will vary as per benefit entitlement. In certain circumstances Devon County Council can agree to make up the difference in rent but this is on a case-by-case basis.

3. Numbers of Young People
3.1. As of the most recent reporting period, how many young people are placed in:
Supported accommodation (16-17-year-olds)

57

Transitional accommodation (18+ care leavers)

54 in supported living providers; 45 in other support arrangements.

Emergency or contingency placements (e.g. safety pods)

31

3.2. Provide a breakdown by:
Provider
Placement type
Age group
UASC vs non-UASC

Please see the response to 1.2. The placement type is supported accommodation or transitional accommodation as above, the age groups are also listed in the question, placements take both unaccompanied asylum seeker children (UASC) and non-UASC. Emergency accommodation will take many forms outside of formal providers so we can only describe the placement by address which is identifiable.

We are not able to share further details of emergency accommodation placements as this information is exempt from disclosure under Section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (Personal Data). Devon County Council can confirm the requested information is held; however, the Council cannot disclose personal information if releasing it would contravene any of the provisions in the Data Protection Act 2018. In this instance release of this information may identify the individuals placed with these providers. This would risk a disclosure of their personal information and would contravene the first data protection principle. Therefore, the information is withheld.

4. Contractual Arrangements
4.1. Specify the commissioning route used for each provider:
Block contract
Spot purchase
Open or closed framework
Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS)
Other (please specify)

4.2. For each contract or framework, provide:
Provider name
Contract start and end date
Extension options
Total contract value or annual spend
Whether the contract is exclusive or non-exclusive

In response to questions 4.1 and 4.2 we can advise that between 1^st June 2019 and 31^st January 2025 supported living options (including accommodation and supported lodgings) was commissioned through an open framework which contained the following providers-

Acorn Independence Ltd

Ambitions Support Ltd

Central & Southern

CSM Independence Ltd

Dunborne

Exe-Changes Limited

Fusion Independence Ltd

Gloucester Family Care Ltd

Independence Support Services Ltd –

KPR Care Services Ltd

Key2 Futures Ltd

Keys PCE

Loveguard Ltd

Next Step Independence

Parallel Independence Ltd

Stepping Away From Care (SAFCA)

Stonewater

The Halfway Ltd

Westward Housing

Young Devon

This was non-exclusive with any individual placements outside of the Framework commissioned through individual spot contracts.

Following the expiry of the Framework in January 2025 all individual placements are being made on a spot contract basis.

A new 16+ Pathway contract incorporating these services is currently at the early stages of commissioning / procurement details can be found here, 16+ Support and Accommodation Pathway.

Supported accommodation for Care leavers and UASC is currently commissioned through a Flexible Purchasing System (FPS) and 4 block contracts (currently) which have been called off this system.

The dates for the arrangements are:

FPS – 1st May 2023 – 30th April 2028 (£6,500,000)

Block 1 – (1^st May 2023 to 30^th April 2026 with an option to extend for a further 2 x 12 months. (1st May 2026 – 30th April 2027) and (1st May 2027 – 30th April 2028)

Block 2 – (1st May 2023 – 30th April 2025) with an option to extend for a further 3 x 12 months. (1st May 2025 – 30th April 2026), (1st May 2026 – 30th April 2027) and (1st May 2027 – 30th April 2028).

Block 3 – (1st May 2023 – 30th April 2025) with an option to extend for a further 3 x 12 months. (1st May 2025 – 30th April 2026),  (1st May 2026 – 30th April 2027) and (1st May – 30th April 2028)

Block 4 – (25th September 2023 to 24th September 2025) with an option to extend for a further 2 x 12 months. (25th September 2025 – 24th September  2027)

Providers on the FPS currently are :-

1. Adriel Supported Care Living
2. Amber Foundation
3. Bridgwater YMCA
4. Keychange Charity
5. Keys PCE Ltd
6. LiveWest
7. Stonewater Ltd
8. Westward Housing Group
9. Young Devon
10. Accomplish Social Care
11. The Brook Support Services Ltd
12. Sanctuary
13. Rivers Independence Limited
14. Switch Hospitality
15. Dat Healthcare
16. AB Willows
17. Calmliving Healthcare Ltd
18. Kharis Healthcare Ltd
19. Limms Care Services
20. The Brook Support Services
21. Warren Homecare Ltd
22. Livity Care Ltd
23. Swift Care Services Ltd
24. Kindered Hearts Limited
25. Prime Social Care Services Ltd
26. Demand Recruitment Services Ltd
27. Encompass Southwest
28. Nudawn Housing and Support Services Ltd
29. Havana Care Services
30. Poles apart supported accommodation Ltd
31. Clent Support Ltd
32. Caring for communities and People
33. Denbridge Care Ltd
34. Pinnacle Supported Services Ltd
35. Robertallanmentoring
36. Ruchcare
37. Altair Healthcare Limited
38. Starlight Support Services
39. TD Supported Living Services
40. Eagle’s Nest Support Limited
41. Genesis Living Limited
42. Identity Quality Care Ltd
43. Daffodil Care Ltd
44. Icons Group Ltd
45. Lantern Homes Ltd
46. Solent Next Steps Ltd

Providers on the individual Block Contracts are:

Block 1 Young People’s Supported Accommodation: Keychange Charity, Westward Housing Group & Young Devon

Block 2 Emergency Beds: Stonewater

Block 3 Young Parents Accommodation: Stonewater

Block 4 24/7 Accommodation: Stonewater

4.3. Provide a copy of the service specification and/or contract summary for each current contract or framework.

Please see the Homelessness Prevention Service Specifications (4 blocks):

1. Service specification – core hours

2. Service specification – emergency beds

3. Service Specification – FPS

4. Service specification – young parents

and two service specifications for Supported Living Options (SLO):

Appendix 1a Specification Lot 1 Supported Lodgings Specification V2

Appendix 1b Specification Lot 2 Semi Independent Residential Specification V2

Some of the information has been redacted in grey. This information is exempt from disclosure under Section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (Personal Data).

The Council cannot disclose personal information if releasing it would contravene any of the provisions in the Data Protection Act 2018. In this instance release of this information would contravene the first data protection principle and therefore the information is withheld.

5. Procurement and Renewal
5.1. Confirm:
When your current contracts or frameworks are due for renewal or re-tender

Supported Living Options (SLO) has ended and Homelessness Prevention Service ends April 2028.

Whether you plan to re-procure these services in the next 12-24 months

We are currently working on redesigning this model and will be going out to tender for this next year.

How providers can express interest in future opportunities (e.g. market engagement events, PIN notices)

Via commissioning email (childrenscommissioningsecure-mailbox@devon.gov.uk) or procurement portal where market engagement notices will be advertised.

6. Quality Assurance and Young People’s Feedback
6.1. Describe how you monitor the quality of supported accommodation and support services, including:
KPIs used
Frequency of audits or inspections
Use of external regulators (e.g. Ofsted)

Please find attached the blank contract management templates (Supported Living Options Quality Assessment Framework and Young People’s Supported Accommodation Quality Assessment Framework) which providers submit to us each quarter and copy of the provider template spreadsheet.

These are being reviewed along with how we involve young people in the feedback loop and quality assurance.

6.2. How are the views of young people captured and used to inform:
Service delivery
Contract management
Provider performance reviews

Through contract management each quarter.