Guidance for Local Authorities

Housing Support Duty to Those Found to be Homeless or Threatened with Homelessness – Amendment to Housing (Scotland) Act 1987 (inserted by Housing (Scotland) Act 2010)

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First published by The Scottish Government, September 2014
ISBN: 978-1-78412-804-3 (web only)

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The Scottish Government
St Andrew’s House
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG

Produced for The Scottish Government by APS Group Scotland, 21 Tennant Street, Edinburgh EH6 5NA
DPPAS36386 (09/14)

Published by The Scottish Government on behalf of the Housing Support Guidance Working Group. September 2014

Foreword to Guidance

The prevention of homelessness is one of the foremost challenges currently facing local authorities and their partners. Councils are well aware of the costs which can result from failing to support homeless households and of the value of effective preventative measures.

Significant progress has been made in this area in recent years, but there is still a way to go. That is why councils responded positively to the new duty to assess needs and support homeless and potentially homeless households where appropriate, and have played a leading role in the preparation of this non statutory guidance to augment the Regulations introduced in June 2013.

Having been designed by practitioners, the guidance is intended very much as a support to implementation. We hope the guidance will be helpful in assisting compliance with the duty, but have also built in a review process to allow the incorporation of improvements and good practice examples over time.

I am grateful to all who participated in the working group to prepare the guidance and to Scottish Government colleagues for providing drafting and secretarial support to the group.

Jim Hayton, Chair of Housing Support Guidance Working Group

Policy Manager, ALACHO
(Association of Local Authority Chief Housing Officers)

Part 1: Background to the Housing Support Duty

Introduction

Since the end of 2012, all those assessed as being unintentionally homeless by local authorities in Scotland have been entitled to settled accommodation.

While these strong housing rights are a crucial aspect of addressing homelessness in Scotland, access to accommodation alone will not be sufficient to meet the needs of some of those that are homeless or threatened with homelessness.

Against this backdrop, the prevention of homelessness has been taken forward across Scotland by five regional local authority led 'Housing Options Hubs'. Housing options encompasses looking at an individual's options in the widest sense, featuring early intervention and exploring all options available to a household.

This approach has led to falls in recorded homelessness across Scotland since 2010. This work continues to be developed following the establishment of the Homelessness Prevention and Strategy Group in 2013, of which the Minister for Housing and Welfare is a member along with the COSLA (Convention of Scottish Local Authorities) spokesperson on Community Well-Being as well as key organisations. http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Built-Environment/Housing/homeless/activity/homelessness-prevention-and-strategy-group

The provision of housing support can play an important part in preventing homelessness. Following the provision of a tenancy, it will be important that the tenancy has the best possible chance to be sustained. The housing support duty covered by this Guidance relates to those assessed as unintentionally homeless by local authorities and can therefore play an important role in addressing repeat homelessness in Scotland.

Purpose of the Guidance

This Guidance is provided to assist local authorities and their partners in implementing the housing support duty ('the duty'), which came into force on 1st June 2013, to help achieve the best possible outcomes for homeless households in their area. Part 1 of this Guidance provides the policy background to the duty and Part 2 is provided to assist local authorities and their partners in the practical implementation of the duty.

The Guidance has been developed, and should be read, against the backdrop of the development of housing options approaches to the prevention of homelessness with local partners in local areas and the practice that has emerged as a result of that approach. It is intended that this approach to prevention and the housing support duty should complement each other and that housing support resources should be allocated flexibly across these key objectives whilst adhering to the relevant legislation.

Local authorities should also consider how this Guidance links to any enhanced housing options guidance on the prevention of homelessness, which is being developed in response to the Scottish Housing Regulator's (SHR) Thematic Inquiry into Housing Options, published in May 2014. This report made some reference to the delivery of the housing support duty while indicating that implementation of the duty was at an early stage at the time of the SHR inspections: http://www.scottishhousingregulator.gov.uk/sites/default/files/publications/Housing%20Options%20Report%20-%20Web%20Version.pdf

In order to reflect the need for local flexibility and innovation, which was highlighted in the public consultation on the duty, this Guidance was developed and reviewed by a cross sector working group (please see Annex 2).This included the Scottish Government as facilitator of the Group's collective views. While this is not Scottish Government Guidance, it can be read in conjunction with the Scottish Government's statutory Code of Guidance to local authorities on homelessness, prevention of homelessness and for children facing homelessness:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/05/31133334/33366
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2009/06/08140713/0
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Built-Environment/Housing/homeless/las/children

Feedback on this Guidance is welcomed, including the highlighting of housing support practice examples. Any comments on the Guidance can be sent to the Scottish Government Homelessness Team who will collate on behalf of the Working Group. Any feedback on the Guidance should be sent to: homelessness@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

It is intended that the Guidance will be subject to review. This copy is the first reviewed version of the Guidance, published in September 2014.

The Housing Support Duty for Local Authorities

The legislation which established the housing support duty (Section 32B of the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987 inserted by Housing (Scotland) Act 2010) states there is a duty on local authorities to conduct a housing support assessment for applicants who are unintentionally homeless or threatened with homelessness and that they have 'reason to believe' need the housing support services prescribed in regulations. 'The regulations' are the Housing Support Services (Homelessness) (Scotland) Regulations 2012 and are outlined below.

The regulations were established after public consultation and the services prescribed are:

(a) advising or assisting a person with personal budgeting, debt counselling or in dealing with welfare benefit claims;
(b) assisting a person to engage with individuals, professionals or other bodies with an interest in that person's welfare;
(c) advising or assisting a person in understanding and managing their tenancy rights and responsibilities, including assisting a person in disputes about those rights and responsibilities; and
(d) advising or assisting a person in settling into a new tenancy.

If an assessment of a need for support is made, local authorities must ensure that housing support services are provided. If this assessment is made, an assessment also needs to be made for others that reside with the applicant as part of their household. Linked to this process are the issues of an individual's willingness to engage with support and the local authority's ability to discharge its duty. These issues are covered in more detail in Part 2 of this Guidance.

The legislation states that 'housing support services' include any service which provides support, assistance, advice or counselling to an individual with particular needs with a view to enabling that individual to occupy, or to continue to occupy, residential accommodation as the individual's sole or main residence. The form and duration of housing support will vary depending on the individual's circumstances and/or those of the people in the household. The accommodation referred to may be settled accommodation or temporary accommodation while appropriate settled accommodation is found.

If you wish to read the details of the amendment to the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987 Act in the Housing (Scotland) Act 2010, which brought in the housing support duty, you can find it at: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2010/17/section/158

If you wish to read the report written on the responses to the consultation on the housing support duty by Reid Howie, you can find it at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2012/06/7425

Purpose of the Duty

The purpose of the housing support duty ('the duty') is to help prevent further homelessness among people that the local authority believes may have difficulties in sustaining their tenancy. The duty is intended to complement the preventative approach developed in recent years through the Housing Options Hubs across Scotland rather than to shift focus and resources from wider preventative activity to dealing with the crisis of homelessness.

The prevention of primary homelessness should remain a priority for local authorities alongside the focus on preventing repeat homelessness. This is a key aim for the housing support duty given that the entitlement to housing support under the duty follows an assessment of unintentional homelessness.

Corporate Responsibility and Joint Working

The housing support duty is a corporate duty for local authorities and consequently its implementation is a corporate responsibility. This Guidance should be used to highlight the importance of the duty across local authorities and to local partners. The successful implementation of the duty, leading to improved outcomes for those assessed as unintentionally homeless, will require the involvement of a range of local authority departments such as housing, social work and education and local partners such as health and third sector organisations.

Joint working and developing a corporate approach to tackling homelessness was one of the key priorities agreed by the Scottish Government and COSLA in achieving the 2012 homelessness target. Local authorities can use the opportunity presented by the housing support duty to raise awareness and promote good practice around this issue. Feedback to the Scottish Government from the first year of implementation suggested that the existence of the duty helped to highlight and provide focus to the delivery of housing support at a corporate level in local authorities and develop working relationships across different teams. For example, Social Work and Education departments may have a role in ensuring that the housing support needs of homeless households are met.

Local authorities will need to work with cross-sector partners in their area to meet the support needs of every applicant with a legal entitlement to housing support. Where required, partner agencies (such as registered social landlords) should work closely with local authority housing departments to address support needs. It will also be important to consider links at a strategic level to help improve delivery of housing support, such as with Mental Health services and Alcohol and Drug Partnerships.

Communication with Partners and Service Users

Communication with cross sector partners about the duty will be an important aspect of ensuring best quality delivery of responsibilities under this duty. Local authorities will therefore wish to consider how they can best raise awareness of the duty and its potential implications to their partners. This also affords an opportunity to develop or strengthen relationships with local partners, such as registered social landlords and voluntary sector support providers, in relation to the delivery of housing support.

Where they are not already in place, local authorities may wish to consider establishing clear working arrangements and protocols with partner agencies in order to maximise efficiency and use of resources. Local authorities may find it helpful to share experiences and positive practice examples in the development of such protocols.

Local authorities should also consider the most appropriate way to highlight the existence of the duty to homeless applicants and may wish to consult with service users on this. An example of this is provided in the North Ayrshire practice example found in Annex 1. More information on service user involvement can be obtained from the Scottish Homelessness Involvement and Empowerment Network (SHIEN): http://www.ghn.org.uk/shien/

At a more strategic level, local authorities may wish to highlight the requirements of the duty through Community Planning Partnerships to help improve joint working and better plan and deliver services.

It is recommended that communication with partners and service users about the duty be part of any regular review of practice undertaken by local authorities.

Health and Social Care Integration

Consideration will need to be given to the implications of the Health and Social Care Integration agenda to the delivery of housing support under the duty.

The Public Bodies (Joint Working) (Scotland) Act received royal assent on 1 April 2014. Housing stakeholders engaged with the parliamentary process leading up to the Act through a cross sector group – the Housing Coordinating Group.

The Act sets out in a schedule a range of social care functions, including certain functions of local authorities under 'housing' legislation, which may be delegated to an Integrated Authority at their discretion. In addition, the Act establishes a power for Ministers to make Regulations requiring that certain of those functions 'must' be delegated. A number of homelessness functions are listed in the Act that 'may' be delegated to an Integrated Authority.

The proposed housing related functions that 'may' be delegated cover a wide range of services including, but not limited to, housing support and services related to homelessness. Contrastingly, functions that 'must' be delegated are narrow and limited in scope. For example, included in the 'must' list is Housing (Scotland) Act 1987 Section 5 which deals with powers to provide services such as laundry and meals and to charge for them. Within the same legislation, Section 32B is part of the 'may' list and deals with the duty to assess and provide for the housing support needs of homeless people.

It will be at the discretion of each Integrated Authority as to whether the duty to assess and provide for the housing support needs of homeless people falls within their scope. Guidance is expected to be issued by the Scottish Government on this following consultation on Regulations, which ended in August 2014:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Health/Policy/Adult-Health-SocialCare-Integration

Part 2: Implementation of the Housing Support Duty

Who the duty is to: assessment

1. The duty to assess the need for housing support is relevant to every applicant assessed by the local authority as unintentionally homeless or threatened with homelessness and who the local authority has reason to believe would benefit from housing support services as prescribed in regulations (see Part 1 of this Guidance).

2. Once the duty has arisen and the local authority has reason to believe that the applicant may need the support, the local authority must assess others residing with the applicant. If it finds that support services are needed, it must ensure they are provided. If the applicant does not require support, but a local authority is aware that others residing with the applicant may have support needs, it may be considered best practice (and most likely to lead to successful outcomes) to address these needs.

When the duty begins: provision

3. The duty to provide housing support services begins following assessment of the need for housing support. This reflects the need to provide support to prepare for settled accommodation.

4. If support is not determined as being required at this initial assessment stage, local authorities should consider the potential triggers for a further support assessment at a later stage e.g. when moving out of temporary accommodation, in reaction to unforeseen crises. In some situations, support needs may not be immediately evident particularly where an applicant may be reluctant to share the issues they face. The offer of settled accommodation may therefore have been made before the support needs become evident. It will be useful to clarify to cross sector partners, such as Registered Social Landlords who may accommodate those assessed as homeless, that the a duty for the local authority to assess and provide housing support may happen at this stage.

5. The duty is to the applicant, or those residing with the applicant, assessed as requiring housing support rather than to the accommodation. Consequently, while the legislation makes no specific reference to temporary accommodation, in practice, the duty to provide support may begin when in temporary accommodation and after the decision has been made that the household has the right to settled accommodation.

Defining 'Reason to Believe'

6. The duty only applies to those assessed as unintentionally homeless or threatened with homelessness who the local authority has 'reason to believe' is in need of support. Each case should be considered on its merits, avoiding the adoption of blanket policies.

7. It will be important for local authorities to establish clear triggers for a housing support assessment to ensure assessments are not driven by resource considerations. A local authority should be able to demonstrate a process that it follows to identify people that may be in need of housing support.

8. This Guidance does not seek to specify a particular process in this regard, but local authorities should be able to demonstrate that they have one and that it is implemented consistently.

9. While not an exhaustive list, triggers for having 'Reason to Believe' may include:

Issues identified through previous tenancy history;

Previous involvement in anti-social behaviour or previous significant rent arrears;

A history of repeat homelessness;

Age, such as a young person (16-25), including those that have been through the care system;

A person leaving an institution, such as prison;

Those with substance misuse issues;

Those with health issues including mental ill health;

A history of experiencing Domestic Abuse; and

Broad identification of particular groups at risk of homelessness as specified in the Scottish Government/COSLA's Prevention of Homelessness Guidance http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2009/06/08140713/14

Liaising with Partner agencies

10. Assessments of the requirement for housing support services may need to be on-going and may be informed by the views of partner agencies as further support needs become evident. If 'reason to believe' is identified at any point between, and including, assessment and resettlement, an assessment of housing support should be carried out.

11. Where existing service provision involves external providers, local authorities will wish to consider how external service providers can be involved in the assessment for, and planning and provision of, housing support. Appropriate data sharing protocols should be developed with key partners, such as Health services.

12. It is the local authority that has the legal duty to carry out the assessment and ensure that services are provided. The assessment by the local authority could include information from any other agency already working with the applicant, but it is the local authority that would be expected to decide what the housing support needs are and that these are being met. Local authorities should consider how to best to communicate with housing advice agencies about the implementation of the duty.

13. Local authorities should consider the best steps for communicating with landlords about a new tenant's support needs. For example, Registered Social Landlords will wish to be informed about support needs and the support being made available and the duty offers an opportunity to strengthen relationships with landlords in this regard.

14. Clear communication with landlords over the duty more generally may also assist landlords in being able to identify any support needs which may emerge after a tenancy has begun.

Existing Support Services

15. Many local authorities and their partners will already be providing support for those waiting for and living in settled accommodation. It is important to recognise that in many cases the duty should not lead to extra demands on resources or a duplication of current services, but to a formalisation of practice through housing support becoming a legal duty.

16. Where there is an existing support plan at the point of assessment of a duty to provide housing support, a review of the plan should ensure that the support plan is updated. It may not be beneficial to the applicant to start a new assessment process where services are already being provided.

Housing Support Standards

17. Most of the Housing Support Services (as defined in the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010) covered by the regulations in the housing support duty will be required to be registered by the Care Inspectorate. The Care Inspectorate will, through inspection and regulatory activities, seek evidence that the service is being provided in keeping with the National Care Standards and associated regulations. Against the background of a changing policy landscape, National Care Standards have been subject to review with a public consultation initially running to September 2014, with the review expected to be completed in 2015.

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2014/06/7325/0

18. Where providers of Housing Support Services are already registered with the Care Inspectorate, it may be appropriate to include housing support to homeless households within an existing registration, through a variation or notification to the Care Inspectorate. However where a separate service is provided, with different aims and objectives, staff team with different skills, different policies and procedures, a separate registration may be required. For further information contact the registration team at the Care Inspectorate. The Housing Support Standards can be found at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2011/05/16143310/0

Short Scottish Secure Tenancies (SSSTs)

19. Housing support may already be provided to some in SSSTs and interim or transitional accommodation, such as those with a history of anti-social behaviour. However, the assessment for housing support as part of the duty will only apply when the local authority assessment of a duty to provide settled accommodation is made under the homelessness legislation, irrespective of the type of tenancy.

Those residing with the Applicant

20. There is a requirement within the housing support duty to assess the support needs of the homeless applicant and any other person residing with the applicant as part of their household.

21. In most cases, where housing support is provided to an applicant, the support needs assessment and support plan would be expected to consider the needs of all those that reside with the applicant. In specific circumstances, for example where individual adults have very specific needs, where there is disagreement among the adults in a household or a suspicion of abuse, local authorities may consider carrying out separate assessment and support plans for different people residing with the applicant. Local authorities should be alert to this possibility.

22. The requirement to assess the support needs of others residing with the applicant also means that where there are children, and there is reason to suspect that the children require support or help, the referral should be made to appropriate lead professional or named person as outlined by the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 and underpinned by the principles of Getting it Right for Every Child (GIRFEC).

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/People/Young-People

Those not entitled under the Duty

23. The housing support duty specifically applies where the local authority has duties relating to unintentionally homeless households. This does not preclude local authorities from considering the longer term benefits of ensuring that housing support can also be provided to intentionally homeless households. In many cases, this will involve applicants who may be the most vulnerable to repeat homelessness and with the most complex needs. Local authorities could also consider the best approach to help sustain existing accommodation and achieve positive outcomes for households found to be "not homeless" after approaching the local authority for assistance. The local authority's legal duty to those found to be intentionally homeless is to ensure provision of temporary accommodation and advice and assistance to find accommodation.

24. More broadly, at paragraph 2.8 of its Thematic Inquiry into Housing Options (see Part 1 of this Guidance), the Scottish Housing Regulator highlighted what it considered positive practice in East Dunbartonshire Council. It offers the same support needs assessments to those who make homelessness applications and to those who go through its Housing Options process. It uses the same pro forma for both types of applicant.

When is the Duty discharged?

25. The legislation does not give details about appropriate timescales for support. This could have been detailed in regulations, but this was not taken forward in light of feedback in the consultation. The main reasons given for not covering this in regulations were: the need to maintain flexibility to respond to individual circumstances; the view that current legislation and practices are sufficient; and that detailed regulations would have issues relating to costs and resources.

26. A resettlement plan would normally be expected to run for an agreed period following the provision of settled accommodation. In some cases this may be for a very short period of time, but in other cases resettlement support may be for a longer period where there are higher level or more complex needs. It may be that these needs are best met by other services rather than housing support. It should also be recognised that some applicants may have long term needs which have not been identified before.

27. The key point is that the length of time that housing support is provided will depend on the individual support plan developed for each household or individual. Discharge of the housing support duty would happen once the support plan's objectives had been achieved. The discharge of duty should happen on an individual planned basis with an agreed timescale for each of those to whom the housing support duty applies.

28. However, a local authority will also need to be able to discharge their housing support duty, such as where a person or household continually fails to co-operate with the support plan or continually refuses offers of settled accommodation. Each case may be best considered on an individual basis in light of specific circumstances. Local authorities may wish to evidence every attempt made to continue working with an individual, and to consider the implications of investing time and resources where there is non engagement and people do not want to co-operate with the support plan.

29. A planned disengagement of the service will be important. The Beyond Homelessness report published by the Rock Trust in 2013 highlights the need for disengagement with assessment of both formal and informal network supports: http://www.rocktrust.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Beyond-Homelessness-Final-Report-2013_low-res.pdf

30. It is recognised that there will be a challenge for homelessness services in housing support capacity being tied up for long periods following resettlement, where support needs and indeed, health and care needs, may be better met by other services, such as Health and Social Care services. Consequently, early contact and effective partnership working with such services at the point of the housing support assessment will be important. The importance of partnership working to the achievement of the most sustainable outcomes may also increase over the time of any support plan.

31. Housing support services to homeless households are not expected to provide resettlement support over a long period, except where this is indicated as required by an individual support plan. If the support plan indicates that longer term support is not necessary, then this should be avoided so that resources are not diverted from providing housing support to new applicants. A focus of the resettlement period should be on engaging other appropriate services such as providing on-going health care and support services. Where possible, the transfer to mainstream services should be seamless. Other services may be more appropriate to provide a longer term or even permanent service. The integration of health and social care provides an opportunity for this to occur and address the need to have clear and effective pathways for homeless households to access other statutory services to address longer term health and/or social care needs.

32. Where withdrawal of support is being considered due to the achievement of objectives as part of an agreed support plan or because of non engagement, a local authority should consider whether the withdrawal is likely to lead to tenancy failure and repeat homelessness.

33. The length of time that housing support is provided is less important than the outcomes that are achieved and the support plan should be in place for as long as would be effective. It would be for the court, ultimately, to assess what was reasonable in terms of the timescales if a failure to assess or provide housing support was challenged by Judicial Review.

34. Local authorities may wish to establish clear procedures to record agreement with the applicant in relation to the housing support duty and to ensure they have the means of formally notifying the applicant of the discharge of the duty.

What if support is refused?

35. It will be important for local authorities to be clear about the point at which they have fulfilled their duties and be able to establish why someone is refusing support and what they are refusing. Support being provided should be explored in order to see if it could be tailored to better meet the needs of the household.

36. If an applicant does not wish to engage at the initial assessment process or when in temporary accommodation, it is recommended that a further assessment be considered on discharge of the duty to settled accommodation if there is reason to believe it is required.

37. Where a household does not accept or engage with support as part of the duty, it is recommended that this may be considered as discharge of the housing support duty for local authorities. In taking this approach, local authorities should however give consideration to how to best to engage with those households that may otherwise have qualified for support as part of the duty, but whose chaotic lifestyles have made engagement difficult.

Right to Review

38. The right to review homelessness decisions is covered by s35A and s35B of the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987.

39. The applicant has the right to request a review if they think that the council has not adequately discharged their duty to provide housing support and local authorities should ensure applicants are notified of this right as clearly as possible. Applicants should be informed of their right to review at the initial stage when they are informed about their right to an assessment and potential provision of housing support if assessed as requiring it under the duty. Local authorities should also ensure that partner agencies are informed of the applicant's right to review as part of the broader communication about the housing support duty. While not exhaustive, some examples leading to a request for review may include:

Failure to provide a housing support needs assessment when there is reason to believe that housing support is required;

Failure to assess the housing support needs of individual members of the household where there is an indication that different members of the household require different assessments;

Failure to ensure that prescribed housing support services are provided to any person that is assessed as being in need of them; or

Unreasonably discharging duty to provide housing support before a housing support plan is successfully completed.

40. The ability of the applicant to request a review on any of these grounds needs to be considered in light of some of the other points that are made above. While not exhaustive, questions the local authority may wish to consider include:

Has a process been applied to identify whether or not there is reason to believe that housing support services are required?

Is there real reason to believe that separate members of a household need a separate assessment and support plan?

Did the assessment identify that prescribed housing support services were required, or is this just the perception of the applicant?

Did the input of housing support end prematurely or was it at an appropriate time?

41. These issues can be resolved through the review process. However reference should be made to the four categories of support covered in regulations when considering what housing support services it is reasonable to expect a homelessness service to provide.

What type of housing support?

42. As outlined in Part 1 of this Guidance, regulations have outlined four categories of housing support that apply to the duty. Local authorities may query the difference between statutory and non statutory support .What is laid out in these regulations means that the statutory duty to provide housing support may be defined in the following terms as part of an agreed support plan with the applicant:

'advising or assisting a person with personal budgeting, debt counselling or in dealing with welfare benefit claims'

43. While many local authorities will already have established services to ensure help with budgeting is provided, the implications of welfare reform and awareness of mitigation tools for local authorities will be an important part of providing services: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Built-Environment/Housing/16342/hbreform

44. Against this background, local authorities will wish to ensure advice services are provided to help homeless applicants deal with welfare reform including advice about entitlements and the provision of Discretionary Housing Payments.

45. Assistance to homeless applicants to access the Scottish Welfare Fund can play an important role in developing a housing support plan to help sustain tenancies and more detail can be found here: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/People/welfarereform/socialfund

46. Welfare reform has implications for the future funding of temporary and supported accommodation in Scotland, resulting in a potential reduction in resources available to Scottish local authorities. Local authorities should be aware of on-going work of the Scottish Government, COSLA, ALACHO and other stakeholders to provide a clearer picture of the scale and nature of this provision in Scotland and to provide guidance to local authorities on addressing the implications of welfare reform regarding the provision of temporary and supported accommodation.

'assisting a person to engage with individuals, professionals or other bodies with an interest in that person's welfare'

47. This category provides an opportunity for providing broad and innovative support services as part of the statutory duty. Local authorities could consider needs around health, employability and social networks. Local authorities could also adopt a holistic approach to consider issues such as developing life skills and self-esteem, ability to 'gate keep own front door', and coping with addictions, loneliness and isolation.

48. Local authorities may also wish to consider the particular needs of young people and take into account the recommendations of the Supported Accommodation Implementation Group (SAIG). Its final report, published in November 2012, highlighted developing appropriate, person centred support services with a focus on employability and service user involvement. It also emphasised the potential importance of providing support to those in their own tenancies and those in short term accommodation preparing for their own tenancies: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2012/11/1267/0

49. Local authorities will wish to ensure that there are a range of flexible housing support services to address the different levels of need identified in implementing the duty in their local area. Examples of this range of support are identified in the SAIG report and may include lower level floating support through to more intensive support for those with more complex needs provided in mainstream tenancies. Support for those with more complex needs is a feature of the model piloted through Turning Point Scotland's Housing First project in Glasgow, with the participation of peer support workers. An evaluation of this model was published in December 2013: https://pureapps2.hw.ac.uk/portal/files/5945730/TPS_Housing_First_Final_Report.pdf

50. In addition, the recommendations of the Scottish Parliament Equal Opportunities Committee inquiry into preventing homelessness amongst young people, published in 2012 and reviewed in 2014, provides some important context for the implementation of the duty, addressing areas such as the use of mediation services and the particular needs of those leaving care. The Minister for Housing and Welfare's response to the Committee highlights some of the developments in these areas, such as the establishment of the Scottish Centre for Conflict Resolution and the publication of a housing options protocol for care leavers. The report, Scottish Government responses and evidence submitted can be found here: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/CurrentCommittees/74872.aspx

51. The Scottish Government funds national co-ordinators based in the third sector, to promote services to tackle and prevent homelessness around social networks, employability, furniture re-use and service user involvement. Local authorities may benefit from their expertise in seeking to develop support services in these areas. http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Built-Environment/Housing/homeless/HomelessnessPrevention/co-ordinator

'advising or assisting a person in understanding and managing their tenancy rights and responsibilities, including assisting a person in dispute regarding those rights and responsibilities'

52. Local authorities may need to give some thought to the potential for conflict of interest here, with local authority staff supporting people who are in dispute about tenancy responsibilities.

'advising or assisting a person in settling into a new tenancy'.

53. Support for resettlement may include different issues from support required whilst homeless, so existing housing support plans should always be reviewed when moving into settled accommodation.

Self Directed Support

54. Local authorities will wish to consider the implications of Self Directed Support for the implementation of the housing support duty. This provides for a number of options for those accessing support with control over an individual budget allowing choice on how it is spent on support which meets their agreed health and social care outcomes. The Self Directed Support (Direct Payments) (Scotland) Act was implemented from April 2014. http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Health/Support-Social-Care/Support/Self-Directed-Support

55. Entitlement of individuals to Self Directed Support should not make any difference to an assessment of entitlement to housing support under the duty. However, a right to Self Directed Support will indicate the importance of communication with Social Work about its use as a method of delivery of housing support under the duty. Self Directed Support may be seen as one method in delivering the support under the duty, but local authorities will want to highlight the importance of clear links between individual budgets and individual housing support plans to homeless households to best help achieve agreed outcomes. Multi-agency meetings may be helpful in these instances.

Monitoring the Implementation of the Duty

56. The Scottish Housing Regulator has a duty to inspect local authorities' homelessness services which includes housing support and may require seeing evidence from local authorities that the duty is being carried out effectively.

57. The Care Inspectorate, as the independent regulator of social care and social work services across Scotland, will regulate, inspect and support the improvement of housing support services and also has a role in inspecting the commissioning of housing support services.

Outcomes Framework

58. Under the Concordat between Scottish Government and COSLA, local authorities develop and report on Single Outcome Agreements. Provision of housing support may play an important role in achieving objectives outlined in these agreements.

59. Local authorities will find it beneficial to develop the most appropriate outcomes framework for their area in relation to the delivery of the Housing Support Duty. They are very useful in assessing (quantifying) the level of support required by a household and identifying progress made. Two examples of these are provided below:

– The Better Futures assessment model, developed through the Housing Support Enabling Unit, has a full IT package which covers assessment planning and case notes, along with an outcomes measure. Specific systems used by each Council need to be compliant with Care Inspectorate requirements. More detail can be found at: http://www.ccpscotland.org/hseu/information/better-futures

– The Outcomes Star is an approach to measuring change when working with vulnerable people. These measurable changes are referred to as outcomes. It is used within the key work process and is integrated within assessments and reviews. This approach can be used in key work with service users.

National Homelessness Statistics

60. In addition to local monitoring of outcomes, the Scottish Government collects statistical information from local authorities on the implementation of the housing support duty as part of its publication covering homelessness applications, assessments, and outcomes. This information is published annually and on a quarterly basis in the Operation of the Homeless Persons Legislation in Scotland statistics. From April 2014, information has also been collected on the prevention of homelessness under PREVENT1 (a statistical collection tool on homelessness prevention by local authorities).There will be an ability to see where an applicant, who has approached the local authority and is recorded on PREVENT1, then makes a homelessness application which will give useful information in terms of assessing the need for housing support.

61. With the agreement of local authorities, the Scottish Government has changed the amount of detail about support collected in two questions in the homelessness statistics (HL1) return. These identify whether an assessment of housing support needs was carried out, whether housing support was needed and whether this was provided. In discussion about the revised questions, local authority practitioners stressed that in many cases support is provided during the application while households are in temporary accommodation awaiting settled accommodation.

62. Full details of the changes to the HL1, introduced from July 2013 to allow recording of the housing support duty, can be found at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/0041/00418809.pdf

63. The first statistics in relation to the implementation of the duty were published in early 2014. At the time of publication of this reviewed Guidance in September 2014, the statistics[1] on implementation indicated that the monitoring of these regulations was still bedding in. A quarter of local authorities were still to make the necessary changes to their IT systems to allow recording to commence. For those that have provided data, the statistics show that support was provided for around 1,200 cases in each quarter.

64. Initially, statistics indicated that there may have been some different approaches across local authorities about when they needed to make an assessment under the regulations as part of the duty. Some local authorities had taken the approach of assessing every applicant assessed by the local authority as unintentionally homeless or threatened with homelessness, rather than just those where there is 'reason to believe' the applicant would benefit from housing support services as prescribed in regulations.

65. More detail on Homelessness Statistics is available at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Housing-Regeneration/RefTables

Conclusion

66. Local authorities are strongly encouraged to refer to this reviewed Guidance when meeting the housing support duty to help achieve the best possible outcomes for homeless households.

Annex 1: Housing Support Duty - Practice Examples

The examples below, provided at the time of reviewing publication of this Guidance in September 2014, seek to cover some of the practical experience of local authorities in implementing the housing support duty. They are not intended to cover all forms of practice and experience and it is recognised there will be other approaches being implemented across Scotland with innovative and flexible responses being developed in response to local circumstances.

Housing Support Duty Leaflet – North Ayrshire Council and South West Housing Options Hub

North Ayrshire Council reported no major practical issues in relation to the first year of implementing Housing Support Regulations from June 2013. It implemented some minor paperwork changes in relation to correspondence and information leaflets. The Council liaised with South West (Housing Options) Hub partners, (East & South Ayrshire, Dumfries & Galloway and Inverclyde Councils) throughout the first year of implementation and have been sharing good practice in relation to the Regulations.

The Council consulted with service users in respect of their preferred design and layout and following their decision to choose one of three options for a leaflet, posters are now displayed across all partners' Temporary Accommodation provision within North Ayrshire and that of the Hub members. The text of the chosen leaflet was as follows:

If you are homeless the Council has a duty to:

assess your housing support needs; and

offer you housing support if you need help with any of the issues detailed below

In order to help you keep your accommodation the Council must advise and assist you and members of your household:

with personal budgeting, debt counselling or in dealing with welfare benefit claims;

to engage with individuals, professionals or other bodies with an interest in your welfare;

in understanding and managing your tenancy rights and responsibilities; and

with settling into a new tenancy.

Right to Review

If you think the Council has not provided the services detailed above, you can ask for a review, by contacting the manager of the Homeless service. If you would like any more information regarding accessing housing support please speak with a member of staff.

More information on North Ayrshire Council can be found at: http://www.north-ayrshire.gov.uk/home.aspx

Housing Support Assessment – South Lanarkshire Council

The local authority adopts a triage system where every homeless applicant has a discussion with the homelessness officer regarding their support needs. This is based on a checklist approach and helps decide whether or not a household needs a referral for housing support. If at the point of application it is decided that housing support is not required, yet at a later date it is identified that housing support is in fact required, there can be a referral for housing support at that stage.

A checklist is used by the local authority for assessing 'reason to believe' under the housing support duty which has been re-developed in light of the new duty and is included below.

Apart from the new duty, the checklist has also been re-developed alongside the 'tenancy start' checklist used by the local authority at allocation for any tenancy which it is considered may be vulnerable from any Council list (homelessness, waiting list, transfer).

Housing Support Checklist

The Housing (Scotland) Act 2010 amended section 32B in the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987, and introduced a duty to provide Housing Support to households assessed as unintentionally homeless households where there is reason to believe that the household requires it. The Housing Support Services (Homelessness) (Scotland) Regulation 2012 invoked the additional duties within the Act and specified the housing support services which should be provided, to these households. These are:

Advising or assisting a person with personal budgeting, debt counselling or in dealing with welfare benefit claims;

Assisting a person to engage with individuals, professionals or other bodies with an interest in that person's welfare;

Advising or assisting a person in understanding and managing their tenancy rights and responsibilities, including assisting a person in disputes about those rights and responsibilities; and

Advising or assisting a person in settling into a new tenancy

In order to help us understand whether you may have housing support needs, can you please answer the following questions?

More information on South Lanarkshire Council: http://www.southlanarkshire.gov.uk/

For further information on any of the practice examples in this Guidance please contact the local authority area concerned or contact homelessness@scotland.gsi.gov.uk.

Annex 2: Housing Support Guidance Group - Original Guidance - Published June 2013

1. Remit of Group – To inform development and assist in the completion of non- statutory guidance in relation to the implementation of Housing Support Regulations for Homeless Households. To liaise and work with cross sector stakeholders as appropriate to inform the drafting and completion of guidance in the timescales agreed by the Housing Support Guidance Group.

2. Group Membership

Jim Hayton (Chair) | Association of Local Authority Chief Housing Officers
Ken Milroy | Aberdeen Foyer
Susan Shone | Chartered Institute of Housing
Yvette Burgess | Housing Support Enabling Unit
David Ogilvie | Scottish Federation of Housing Associations
Fiona King | Shelter Scotland
Robert Aldridge | Homeless Action Scotland
Lewis Hannah | Highland Council
Steven Caddis | North Ayrshire Council
Audrey McGuiness | North Lanarkshire Council
Val Holtom | South Lanarkshire Council
Marion Gibbs | Scottish Government
In attendance
Stephen White | Scottish Government
Matt Howarth (Secretariat) | Scottish Government
Alex McGhie (Secretariat) | Scottish Government

Housing Support Guidance Group – Reviewed Guidance -Published September 2014

1. Remit of Group – To review Guidance for the Housing Support Duty published in June 2013 and recommend any updates or changes that are agreed to be required by the Group, in light of experience of the implementation of the Duty, stakeholder feedback and policy developments since publication. Liaise and work with cross sector stakeholders as appropriate to inform the drafting and completion of guidance in the timescales agreed by the Housing Support Guidance Group.

2. Group Membership

Jim Hayton (Chair) | Association of Local Authority Chief Housing Officers
Ken Milroy | Aberdeen Foyer
Alan Ferguson | Chartered Institute of Housing
Yvette Burgess | Housing Support Enabling Unit
David Ogilvie | Scottish Federation of Housing Associations
Rosemary Brotchie | Shelter Scotland
Robert Aldridge | Homeless Action Scotland
Jules Oldham | Homeless Action Scotland
Lewis Hannah | Highland Council
Steven Caddis | North Ayrshire Council
Margaret Riddell | North Ayrshire Council
Audrey McGuiness | North Lanarkshire Council
Val Holtom | South Lanarkshire Council
Tim Pogson | Scottish Housing Best Value Network
Marion Gibbs | Scottish Government
In attendance
Andrew Waugh | Scottish Government
Lynsey McKean | Scottish Government
Matt Howarth (Secretariat) | Scottish Government

Footnotes

1. http://scotland.gov.uk/Resource/0044/00447304.pdf