Commissioning and delivery of supported accommodation and support services for children in care and care leavers

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:

a) Children in care aged 16-17

b) Care leavers aged 18+

c) UASC (if applicable)

1.2. For each provider, specify:

a) Type of provision (e.g. 24/7 staffed, floating support, outreach, safety pods)

b) Ofsted registration status (registered, pending, exempt)

c) Number of units or placements available

d) Number of young people currently placed

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:

a) Accommodation cost

b) Support cost

c) Additional costs (e.g. contingency placements, interpreters, transport)

2.2. Confirm whether young people are expected to contribute to accommodation costs (e.g. via Universal Credit housing element). If so:

a) How is this managed and monitored?

b) What is the average amount recovered per young person per week?

3. Numbers of Young People

3.1. As of the most recent reporting period, how many young people are placed in:

a) Supported accommodation (16-17-year-olds)

b) Transitional accommodation (18+ care leavers)

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

3.2. Provide a breakdown by:

a) Provider

c) Placement type

d) Age group

e) UASC vs non-UASC

4. Contractual Arrangements

4.1. Specify the commissioning route used for each provider:

a) Block contract

b) Spot purchase

c) Open or closed framework

d) Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS)

c) Other (please specify)

4.2. For each contract or framework, provide:

a) Provider name

b) Contract start and end date

c) Extension options

d) Total contract value or annual spend

e) Whether the contract is exclusive or non-exclusive

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

5. Procurement and Renewal

5.1. Confirm:

a) When your current contracts or frameworks are due for renewal or re-tender

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

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

6. Quality Assurance and Young People's Feedback

6.1. Describe how you monitor the quality of supported accommodation and support services, including:

a) KPIs used

b) Frequency of audits or inspections

c) Use of external regulators (e.g. Ofsted)

6.2. How are the views of young people captured and used to inform:

a) Service delivery

b) Contract management

c) Provider performance reviews

Please provide the requested information in electronic format. If any part of this request is unclear or likely to exceed the cost limit, please advise on how it can be refined.

1. *This information is available on Contracts finder https://procontract.due-north.com/

1.2 a) Mix of 24/7 staffed hubs, solo or shared 2-4 bed properties with fixed hours of support, supported lodgings

b) All Supported Accommodation used by Lincolnshire is Ofsted registered

c) 64 units of supported accommodation in hub-style provision (Youth Housing Service) 4 units of parent and child flats (Youth Housing Service) 4 units of solo flats (Youth Housing Service) 11 units of supported lodgings 10 units of in-house supported accommodation (5 rooms per provision) Flexible number of supported accommodation for UASC/former/UASC care leavers (according to requirements) Flexible number of independent solo supported accommodation commissioned as needed d) Youth Housing Service - 61 CYP Supported lodgings - 7 CYP In-house supported accommodation - 10 CYP Supported accommodation for UASC/former/UASC care leavers - 161 CYP Independent solo supported accommodation - 13 CYP 2. 2.1 a) Youth Housing Service - av. £889/week per person Supported lodgings - av. £296/week per person In-house supported accommodation - av. £900/week per person Supported accommodation for UASC/former/UASC care leavers - av. £400/week per person Independent solo supported accommodation - av. £2,503/week per person as of 09-07-25

b) included in the above costs; breaking this down would take longing than the 18hours allowed under section 12(1) of the FOI act 2000.

c) additional spend is subject to agreement and is contingent on the needs of the young person

2.2 a) Children in Care may be asked to contribute a small amount towards utility costs, subject to their accommodation b) this is subject to agreement and varies by provider

3.3.1 a) at the end of Q1 2025-26 there were 141 x 16-17 year olds in SA

b) at the end of Q1 2025-26 there were 103 x care leavers (18+) in SA

c) at the end of Q1 2025-26 there were no [0] emergency or contingency placements

3.2 a) This information is available on Contracts Finder

c) at the end of Q1 2025-26 there were:

Youth Housing Service - 59 x young people accommodated

Supported lodgings - 7 x young people accommodated

In-house supported accommodation - 10 x young people accommodated

Supported accommodation for UASC/former/UASC care leavers - 153 x young people accommodated

Independent solo supported accommodation - 14 x young people Accommodated

d) See the response to 3.1

e) at the end of Q1 2025-26 there were 77 x UASC (16-17 year olds) in SA and 55 x non-UASC (16-17 year olds) in SA

4.4.1a) Youth Housing Service is a block contract

b) N/a

c) Supported accommodation for UASC/former/UASC care leavers and independent solo supported accommodation placements are individually sourced using our open & closed list procurement methodologies

d) N/a

e) Supported Lodgings contract is for professional support (individual providers are self-employed); LCC in-house provision

4.2 *All of this information is available on Contracts Finder https://procontract.due-north.com/

4.3 The contract documents for Youth Housing is on ProContract and the typical contract for independent supported accommodation is on Children's Commissioning- Professional Resources

5. 5.1 a) the end dates of our current contracts are noted on Contracts Finder

b) Any planned procurement is subject to decision making and will be publicly available once the decision(s) have been taken

c) Tender opportunities will be available on ProContract, and then later in the year on Panacea

6. 6.1 a) To complete and report against according to the agreed timetable; social care feed any issues with quality to the relevant Commissioning Officer who would consider the next appropriate action inc a monitoring visit; providers are RAG rated for quality and risk, with any concerns discussed with managers and flagged as appropriate to senior service managers; references requested from providers and sought from named La's

b) internal audits of paperwork and contract compliance are undertaken regularly of all commissioned contracts

c) Commissioning receive updates of all Ofsted inspections relating to accommodation provision, as well as any relevant regulatory notices/letters, and take the appropriate action

6.2 a) You Said We Did, provider surveys & engagement fed back to Commissioning through contract reporting; surveys and focus groups; CiC council and care leaver groups

b-c) As above.

* As such, this information is exempt from disclosure in accordance with the exemption set out at Section 21 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 which provides that a public authority need not comply with a request for disclosure under the Act where that information is reasonably accessible by other means.