Agenda item

[Report of the Director for Housing, Regeneration and Planning. To be introduced  by the Cabinet Member for Adults and Health.]

The Housing Related Support contracts for supported accommodation services for homeless adults with mental health needs are due to end on 31/3/2021. An extension is being sought until 31/9/2021 to enable redesign and sourcing to take place.

The Cabinet Member for Adults and Health outlined that the Council and its statutory partners are committed to supporting people with mental health needs to live in the community and to achieve a sustainable recovery, preventing crisis interventions and the risk of homelessness. Housing Related Support services were a valuable provision delivered by specialist practitioners which enable and empower people to develop and rebuild the confidence and skills needed to achieve this.

It was noted that the Council currently commissioned a range of mental health supported accommodation and Housing First services and I believe it is appropriate that these should be extended as set out here, offering users continuity and the support which they need, while a new service model is co-designed and set in place.

RESOLVED

That, pursuant to Contract Standing Order 10.02.1(b) to approve the following:

1. To vary the contracts for the provision of short term specialist housing related support services for people with mental health needs awarded to St. Mungo’s and Sanctuary in order to provide for an option to extend the contracts for two further periods of up to one year each, in place of the current option to extend for two further periods of exactly one year each.

2. To extend the aforementioned contracts for up to twelve (12) months, as permitted under the terms of the varied contracts. The extension will be for an initial period of six (6) months, commencing from 1st April 2021 to 30th September 2021 and will be extended for further periods of up to six (6) months, if required. The breakdown of costs for each contract is as follows:

•           The contract for the provision of short-term supported housing specialist mental health services with 24-hour support and visiting support (Mental Health West) is delivered by St Mungo’s. The cost of the service for duration of initial period of six (6) months extension will be £265,816 and the total value over the full twelve (12) months, if used, would therefore be £531,631. The aggregated value of the contract over a period of 6 years will be £2,989,786, including the proposed extension.

•           The contract for the provision of short-term supported housing specialist mental health services with forensic provision is delivered by Sanctuary. The cost of the service for duration of initial period of six (6) months extension will be £194,859 and the total value over the full 12 months, if used, would therefore be £389,717.

The cost of the service (£194,858.50 for initial period of 6 months and £389,717 for full 12 months) includes a 6.5% uplift on the current contract price which amounts to £23,786 over a period of 12 months.

The aggregated value of the contract over a period of 6 years will be £2,019,387, including the proposed extension.

3. To vary the terms of the following contracts and to extend for further periods of up 12 months:

(I).        The contract for the Community Mental Health Floating Support Service delivered by Richmond Fellowship to be extended for further periods of up to nine (9) months, commencing from 16th July 2021 at the cost of £197,847. The extension will be applied for an initial period of two and half (2½ ) months, commencing from 16th July 2021 to 30th September 2021 and will be extended for further periods of up to 6 months, if required. The aggregated value of the contract over a period of 27 months will be £593,541 including proposed extension.

(ii).       The contract for the Integrated Response Mental Health Floating Support service provided by One Housing Group to be extended for periods of up to nine (9) months, commencing from 16th July 2021 at the cost of £185,250. The extension will be applied for initial period of two and half (2½ ) months, commencing from 16th July 2021 to 30th September 2021 and will be extended for further periods of up to 6 months, if required. The aggregated value of the contract over a period of 27 months will be £555,750 including proposed extension.

(iii).      The contract for the provision of the Housing First Intensive Floating Support Service delivered by St. Mungo Community Housing Association to be extended for a further period of up to 12 months, commencing from 1st April 2021. The extension will be applied for initial period of six (6) months, commencing from 1st April 2021 to 30th September 2021 and will be extended for further periods of up to 6 months, if required.

The estimated cost of the service for duration of initial period of six (6) months, from 1st April 2021 to 30th September 2021 would be £97,445, this includes uplift of £5,500. The total value over the full 12 months, if used, would therefore be £194,890 including total increase of £11,000 on the current contract price.

The aggregated value of the contract over a period of 6 years will be £1,114,340 including proposed extension.

4.To give delegated authority to the Assistant Director Commissioning to approve the further extensions to the contracts for mental health supported accommodation, floating support services and Housing First if required as set out above and up to the maximum durations specified in 3.1.3 above.

Reasons for decision

The mental health supported accommodation pathway offers a range of provision types and services, including those staffed 24-hours a day, specialist women’s provision and a forensic service for people involved with the criminal justice system.

The pathway makes a key contribution to the health and wellbeing of local residents and there is a clear strategic need and strong evidence base to continue to provide a mental health supported accommodation pathway going forward. The pathway operates to prevent homelessness and to facilitate hospital discharge and prison releases for people with ongoing mental health needs and supports residents to develop and strengthen the skills required to live independently. There is a continued and high demand for mental health supported housing, with residents referred via Barnet, Haringey and Enfield Mental Health Trust (BEHMHT) and Homes for Haringey’s Housing Needs Service.

Mental health supported housing and Housing First are important elements of the accommodation pathway for single homeless adults. The recommissioning process for the Mental Health Pathway is underway. The Housing Related Support (HRS) service have completed the review of existing Mental Health Pathway services and refreshed the service delivery model to maximise positive outcomes for service users and realign the recommissioned provision with strategic objectives for vulnerable adults.

Due to the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic staff in the HRS service were diverted to support vulnerable homeless residents placed in emergency accommodation under the ‘Everybody In’ directive from government. As such some slippage in the redesign timeline occurred, and extra time has been required to implement virtual consultation and stakeholder feedback processes, which have informed the development of the refreshed approach and service specifications for the Mental Health Pathway services to be set in place in the future.

Given the above, it is paramount to extend all five (5) existing contracts so that they all come to an end together and so that sufficient time is allowed for the redesign process. The new approach will bring greater coherence to the landscape for mental health services and create a single pathway offering a range of options to support people in the community. It will also allow time to implement a smooth transition and mobilisation process for the new services and allow flexibility to accommodate any future slippage due to Covid-19, if required.

The performance of the contractors has been evaluated as good throughout the contract period and demand for the service outstrips availability. Performance returns have been submitted by both providers throughout the course of the contract and targets are being met.

The proposed uplifts to the current contract values is recommended to reflect inflation and staffing cost increases of the contracts since their commencement in 2016.

Alternative options considered

Do Nothing - It would be possible to leave the contracts to expire at the end of this contract period. However, as noted above, there is continued demand for this service, and it was not felt viable to have no mental health supported housing service in place particularly given other pressures on other elements of the pathway. Rather, it was agreed to carry out an evaluation to recommission the accommodation pathway to best meet the needs of Haringey Residents. Therefore, it would not be in the Council’s interest not to continue with mental health supported housing.

Go out to tender – It would be possible to go out to tender to seek a new and refreshed service, which could result in a new delivery provider. However, this option is considered to be not suitable given that there is a need for redesign and for changes to the existing model. Furthermore, short term contracts would cause significant disruption to vulnerable service users and may be detrimental to their mental health recovery. Therefore, continuing to deliver these services through existing providers is the most economically viable and efficient option while redesigning the new service delivery model for the Mental Health Pathway and the re-commissioning of these services is underway and the new contracts likely to start from 1st October 2021.

Deliver the services in house – Sanctuary Housing and St Mungo’s (Mental Health West) are using their own accommodation to support this service, as well as agreements and leases with other landlords, and for the Council to ensure appropriate accommodation from which to deliver the service in-house would not be possible in the time frames available. All extensions requested are for a minimal period of 6 months and would not change the existing arrangements.