Supported Lodgings Policy Statement

1. General

There is a need to ensure sufficiency of suitable accommodation for young people living in and around the Hull area. In particular, young people leaving local authority care and/or those who are vulnerable and unable to live at home, may need additional support and supported lodgings is one of the options which meets this need.

Hull City Council, Children, Young Peoples and Families Service strives to increase positive life chances for young people and to this end, believe that a Supported Accommodation Scheme, as part of the Staying Put Policy,  contributes effectively towards meeting this.

2. Staying Put Policy for Extending Placements Post 18

Under the Care Leavers (England) Regulations 2010 and Planning Transition to Adulthood for Care Leavers Guidance, the local authority must provide information about:

• The criteria for Staying Put arrangements;
• How extending placements will impact on the allowances provided by the Local Authority and whether other funding, e.g. funding for housing related support, will contribute to meeting placement costs;
• Any financial contributions from the young person from their wages, salary, benefits or educational allowances;
• How the income tax, national insurance and welfare benefits situation of carers may be affected. Young people may also 'stay put' in children's homes or other residential settings, although they are unlikely to be able to remain beyond the age of 18, unless there is a designated move-on accommodation linked to the residential care setting;
• Insurance issues including liability and household;
• The impact on foster carers' fostering registration limits and status;
• Safeguarding arrangements including DBS checks on over 16 year olds and issues relating to fostered children in households.

For a young person living in foster care, the first Child Looked After Review following their 16th birthday should consider whether a Staying Put placement should be an option. This will entail assessing the implications for both the young person and the foster carer.

Following the young person's 18th birthday, the legal basis on which they occupy the property (former foster home) changes. The legal term is that the young person becomes an 'excluded licensee' lodging in the home, - this should not denote that the young person will be treated differently from how they were as a fostered child.

Procedures should be agreed at the outset about how any request by the carer to bring the arrangements to an end should be managed.

Whilst Fostering Regulations will no longer legally apply to these arrangements, key standards should continue to govern the expectations of the placement when the young person reaches 18. These may be:

• Yearly reviews of the carer(s) if they are still registered foster carers;
• Supported Lodgings reviews to take place after the first year of being a provider and then every 3 years, unless there has been a significant change or allegation within the household then an ad hoc review will be held chaired by an independent fostering reviewing officer (IFRO);
• Updated DBS checks every 3 years on all adult members of the household, regular visitors and children of the providers  aged 18and over;
• Health and safety checks;
• Regular supervision from their Supported Lodgings Worker;
• Attending required training.

The Local Authority will need to assess individual circumstances and consider the appropriateness of all of these checks particularly where the young person is the only person placed/living with the provider and it is not envisaged that further children or young people will be placed.

3. Aims of the Supported Lodgings Service

The Supported Lodgings Service aims to provide placements in Hull and the surrounding area (up to a 30 miles radius) mainly for 16-17 year olds (extensions can be up to 21, or 24 if the young person is in further/higher education).

The Supported Lodgings Service is intended to provide young people with a gradual step between leaving local authority care or their home environment and into independent living.

The accommodation providers will support the young people, have an understanding of their life experiences, and nurture independence into adulthood.

4. Maintenance of Supported Lodgings

Recruitment, assessment, training and support will be provided by the supported lodgings workers to the providers to develop an experienced, flexible and capable resource. In turn this will promote safe placements, as well as creating and maintaining a quality accommodation and support service for young people, appropriate to their needs, during this transitional stage of their life.