Purpose

The council plans to discontinue the existing Housing Related Floating Support contract, currently held by The Riverside Group Ltd, upon its expiry in October 2026. The recommended course of action is to Re-Design and Bring significant parts of the service In-House, where the current contract is duplicating services we already provide in-house. It is a strategic shift aimed at reducing duplication of service, enhancing service efficiency and addressing critical financial pressures within the Adult Social Care (ASC) Commissioning budget.

Decision

RESOLVED:

1. To approve the In-sourcing of two elements of the current Floating Support service:

·  Debt Management and Financial Support (Here to Help).

·  Employment support for people with learning disabilities (Hackney Works).

To be implemented from 1 February 2027 at a total cost of £0.52m p.a.

Reasons For Decision

Options Appraisal

1. The Floating Support Service, run by Riverside since 2019, was designed to enable residents to access the right support at the right time. However, since the inception of the Council’s Here to Help service, significant duplication has emerged between internal and procured services.
2. Also, Strengthening Hackney Works and Here to Help, a primary driver for this decision is the opportunity to increase investment in Hackney Works. By insourcing employment support for people with learning disabilities and autism, we are:

·  Funding a new Work Placement Officer to secure structured volunteer and employment roles.

·  Directly improving performance against ASCOF Measure 1E, aimed at increasing the proportion of adults with learning disabilities in paid employment.

·  Ensuring that residents with neurodiverse needs receive support through a Psychologically and Sensory-informed approach.

Simultaneously, insourcing debt management to Here to Help allows us to:

·  Create a "one-stop shop" where residents can manage all aspects of Council-related debt, including rent, Council Tax, and, for the first time, Care Charging debts.

·  Eliminate the current two-step process where external providers must refer residents back to the Council to resolve local authority debt.

1. The following client groups are the main focus for the current floating support:

·  Older adults

·  People with learning disabilities

·  People with mental health problems

·  People in temporary accommodation

The existing contract started in September 2019 and was for 5 years with an option to extend for 1 + 1.

In September 2024 (after 5 years of the initial contract period) we extended by a further year until August 2025, and have the option to extend for 1 further year.

1. Charadi Support

We acknowledge the success of the specialised support offered to the Orthodox Jewish (Charedi) community via the current sub-contract with Bikur Cholim. It is our intention to continue this culturally sensitive provision via a separate procurement process.

1. Floating Housing Support (Long-Term Enduring Mental Health; LD,

Autism and Care Leavers)

The existing Housing Related Floating support contract will not be re-tendered in its current form. The procurement of a new contract for an external specialist provider to deliver one specific element of the original service will be completed. This new, smaller scope service, will focus specifically on the delivery of floating housing support for residents with long-term enduring mental illness which is most effectively delivered by an experienced specialist provider.

The annual value of this contract will be a maximum of £0.24m (ex VAT). The intention is to award a 7 (5+1+1) year contract. This will come to Hackney Procurement Board (HPB) in November 2026.

1. Current Provider

The current Provider delivers the contract in line with the specification and also subcontracts some services to support the Charadi community. The provider has worked well with the Council and the contract has been subject to 2 budget reductions as part of ASC savings targets over the lifetime of the contract.

Quarterly management meetings are in place and the provider has delivered according to the specification with few issues and has adapted as the reduction in contract value and change in needs has been discussed.

What has also become obvious is that since the Council’s Here to Help service was created, there is now significant duplication between the internal and procured services as the money hub and other similar community facing services and the fact that if it was more targeted it would have a better positive impact on clients under the care of ASC teams.

1. 7. Types of Referrals

Top reasons for referral:

·  Income maximisation; Debt management and financial support & employment support.

·  Mental health Floating Support - people with long term needs, preventing hospital readmission and supporting independent living.

8  Groups of people being supported

The service offers support via professional referral from:

·  People with long term enduring mental illness

·  People referred by Adult Social Care for support

·  People referred via community and neighbourhood services

The service is also available to the following but are less represented:

·  People in Temporary Accommodation under LBH

·  People with Learning Disabilities and Autism

The service was not open to:

·  Young people leaving care and transitioning to adult services

Options considered as the contract comes to an end:

Ref

Option

Pros

Cons

1

Do not re-tender and end contract

Significant ASC budget savings.

Risk to sustainable tenancies; 21 redundancies; no support for Council debt. Likelihood of people with enduring mental illness unable to maintain independent living and increase is residential and supported living placements.

2

Retender as is

No TUPE risk.

Continues duplication with Money Hub; poor value for money; no savings.

3

Retender reduced service

Some savings.

"Salami slicing" that weakens impact; misses redesign opportunities.

4

Bring In-house as is

Aligns with procurement strategy.

Lost opportunity to redesign; duplications continue.

5

Redesign and bring In-house

Aligns with policy; eliminates duplication; provides a one-stop shop for Council debt.

Small number of senior post redundancies.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected

The following options were considered and rejected:

1. Maintain the status quo
2. Contract out a redesigned service to the Market with no inhouse provision
3. Bring all aspects of the contract in house
4. End the contract and do not re tender

The alternatives were considered and rejected on the basis they either would not address the duplication of the service, allow us to improve the service by opening up for other groups via a redesign or build on the expertise of the Councils Here to Help service.

While this is a non-statutory service and could therefore be terminated, it was felt that the benefits to the residents and the Council outweigh the savings this would realise.