Housing Scrutiny Committee

Review of resettlement pathway and related services and support

1. The multi-agency Project Board overseeing this review first met in Nov 2021. At that time the plan was to complete a relatively quick review by the end of April with a view to a final report and recommendations being brought to the Council’s Executive in June/July 2022. Given operational, staffing, and financial pressures across all participating partners there has been some slippage in this original timeline.

2. One key driver for the review was the fact that four Community Wellbeing Service (CWS) contracts were reaching the end of their initial 5 year term in early 2022. It will also help inform the refresh of the Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy due in 2023.

3. Given (a) the significant changes in the landscape since these services were last commissioned in 2016, and (b) the extremely close inter-relationship between these contract areas and a number of other contract/services areas and developments, a one year contract extension for the four CWS contracts was granted so as to enable a whole-system review of the resettlement pathway and related services and support.

4. This review is being overseen by a multi-agency Project Board co-chaired by Denis Southall (Head of Housing Management and Housing Options) and Jamaila Hussain (Corporate Director of Adult Services and Integration).  Jamaila has only recently replaced Gary Brittain, Head of Commissioning as the co-chair representing Adult Social Care.

5. A series of on-line workshops have been arranged to form the ‘spine’ of the review and to ensure that a wide range of stakeholders have the opportunity to engage in the process and offer their experience and views. 

• Workshop 1 – 16^th Feb – Where are we now?

• Workshop 2 – 10^th Mar – Where do we want to be?

• Workshop 3 – 6^th Apr – Taking stock / sifting / prioritising ideas

• Finance / Commissioning Workshop – 16^th May

• Workshop 4 – 8^th Jun – How do we get there?

6. We are three workshops into the process outlined above, with attendance of around 50-60 delegates at all three sessions, and will share a brief presentation at the Committee meeting which will outline the work done to date and highlight the key themes emerging so far.

Denis Southall

Head of Housing Management