Agenda item

[Report of the Director for  Housing  and Growth. To be introduced by the Cabinet Member for Housing and  Estate Renewal.]

Request for approval of a  contract  for the Housing Reviews contract which delivers the statutory review function of decisions about homelessness made under Part VII Housing Act 1996.

The Cabinet Member for Housing and Estate Renewal introduced this report which sought approval for an extension of the contract with Housing Reviews Limited (HRL) to undertake reviews of allocation and homelessness decisions under Parts VI and VII of the house Act 1996. Cabinet was informed that the Council, in deciding what, if any, duty is owed to homeless applicants, had to make necessary enquiries to be sure that they were eligible for assistance. Such decisions were open to be reviewed if challenged and there was a set time within which applicants could seek a review. The Homelessness Reduction Act (HRA) now added additional points at which a review could happen. For the review process to be fully effective, there should be seamless delivery of this function. This ensured the quality of service to applicants, as well as minimising the risk of legal challenges, managing costs and protecting the reputation of the Council. This report recommended extending the current Housing Reviews Contract while officers monitor the impact of the Homelessness Reduction Act and explored other suitable options over the next year.

In response to questions from Cllr Cawley Harrison, it was noted that:

• The expected time scale to bring the contract back in house, or put it back out to tender as a full contract, was 1 year.

• The Council might have to recruit more reviewing officers in the future if there was an increase in the number of reviews by applicants. After reviewing the first 6 months of the impact of the Homelessness Reduction Act, the increase in reviews was not as much as was expected. However, it was considered that 6 months was too soon and a longer review period would be needed to assess the Act’s direct impact upon services.

• A shared service with other boroughs was also an option that could be considered for future delivery of review applications.

• The reviews being conducted externally to the Council had the added benefit of improving the perception of independence in the reviewing process and could assist in reducing the number of legal challenges.

RESOLVED

1. To approve, in accordance with Contract Standing Oder (CSO) 10.02, an extension to the Council’s current contract with Housing Reviews Limited for the reviews of allocation and homelessness decisions for a period of 12 months, from 1 December 2018, with a 6 months break clause. This will be at an estimated cost of £20,000, based on current contract rates, but subject to maximum costs of up to £50,000 being incurred if more reviews than currently estimated prove to be required during the contract extension.

2. To note that the requested extension will give officers time to track and fully review the impact of the Homelessness Reduction Act 2018 (HRA) on demand for Housing Reviews and develop a service delivery model that will achieve the best possible outcomes in terms of quality and value for money. During the extension period, officers will explore the option of Homes for Haringey or the Council delivering the function internally as well as other suitable options, such as developing a shared delivery solution with other boroughs.

Reasons for decision

The Council has statutory responsibilities with regard to reviews under Parts VI and VII of the Act. It can either carry out these reviews itself, or delegate them to third parties under the terms of the Local Authorities (Contracting Out of Allocation of Housing and Homelessness Functions) Order 1996.

The current contract expires on 30 November 2018; so an extension of the contract to HRL for 12 months is required to avoid disruption in the review process. This will also allow for all reviews contracted to HRL to be determined while Officers begin appraising options. Failure to do so would pose a significant risk to the Council.

The rates for conducting reviews would be fixed for the duration of the contract extension and the contractor will be paid in arrears upon completing a review.

The cost of contracting out to HRL the Housing Review function was £19,179 in 2017/18 and the amount spent from 1 April to 12 September 2018 is £12,976. It is expected to cost approximately £20,000 from 1 December 2018 to 29 November 2019, depending on the number of reviews requested, though it is possible that caseloads could increase due to the Homelessness Reduction Act, which is why approval for a maximum cost of £50,000 has been sought. The cost of carrying out the function within Homes for Haringey has been estimated at approximately £50,000 per annum, so using the external provider should deliver savings to the Council.

Alternative options considered

Asking HRL to continue undertaking reviews beyond the term of the contract without extending the contract:

If the contract with HRL is not extended for 12 months while a review is taking place, HRL will not be authorised to carry out reviews on behalf of the Council and any reviews conducted by HRL would be open to legal challenge.

Bringing the reviews function back in-house:

If the contract was not extended, all cases currently allocated to HRL would have to be passed back to the Council immediately to complete. The Council does not have sufficient staffing in place to deliver the statutory reviews function ‘in house’ from 30 November 2018, when the contract expires. Previous attempts to recruit staff to deliver this function were unsuccessful. The lack of capacity to complete these reviews would result in delays, increased costs and likely legal challenges. However, the option of bringing the reviews function in-house will be fully reviewed during the extension period.

Contracting out the reviews function to another borough’s reviews team:

Southwark Council’s Review Team has been conducting reviews on behalf of a number of other London authorities since 2017. If the contract was not extended with HRL, an alternative could be to conclude a contract with Southwark and pass all cases currently allocated to HRL to them, on expiry of HRL?s current contract to complete. Officers have not yet appraised the viability of this option and whether it would deliver best value for money and quality. However, the option of contracting out this function to Southwark or another Council will be explored fully during the extension period.