Purpose

In July 2025, Liverpool was notified by the
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) that
a top-up to the section 31, ringfenced Rough Sleeping Prevention
and Recovery Grant (RSPARG) for 2025/26 was awarded in the amount
of £1,405,537 to be spent or committed across the 2025/26
period, which is included in the report ‘Revenue and Capital
Finance Report 2025/26 (Quarter 2)’.

This report seeks approval to enter into the necessary contract
variations and grant agreements to deliver a range of additional
interventions aimed at addressing rough sleeping and associated
homelessness in Liverpool.

Decision

For the reasons set out in this report, the
Corporate Director has decided to:
1)   
Vary the existing contracts for the services listed below at Table
1
2)   
Award a grant as listed below at Table 2
3)   
Hold funding centrally as listed at Table 3
4)   
Transfer £121,883.04 to the Neighbourhoods and Housing
Directorate for two Grade 7 Full Time Equivalent staff in the
Housing Solutions Service for the period of 12 months

Alternative options considered

Where there are proposals to vary contracts
(Table 4 and Appendix 2), an alternative would be to procure a new
service. This option was discounted because there are existing
services being delivered by suitably skilled providers that can
deliver the interventions in alignment with their service
specification and by benefitting from shared resources representing
value for money. In addition, undertaking a procurement process
would introduce significant delay in securing much needed
provision, particularly for the start of winter. The revenue grant
funding is also required to be spent or committed within this
financial year 2025/2026, so delays could also potentially lead to
grant clawback and the loss of opportunity to increase
accommodation and support for this group.
 
The Council could decide to not administer the
top up ring-fenced Rough Sleeping Prevention and Recovery Grant
(RSPARG) for 2025/26. This option was not considered as that would
see the council failing to maximise the additional investment in
services and place more demand to procure costly interim solutions
such as B&Bs and hotels and therefore a failure to deliver Best
Value for the city.
 
Any failure to utilise this funding to address
rough sleeping would also impact on the wider community and the
local environment, particularly the city centre as well as leaving
a vulnerable group at risk, whilst not taking up opportunities to
increase provision and test new ways of working for the future.