St Helens Council Childrens Services Supported Lodgings Service

St Helens Council has directly managed a small Supported Lodgings Service for a number of years now and a decision has been made to engage with a suitably qualified service Bidder to take this service forward to meet future needs of young people in the borough. A detailed Service Specification is available setting out the service parameters and the requirements of the successful Bidder.

Whilst the timeframe for the initial service opportunity is short, the Council is keen to develop supported lodgings as a supported housing offer for young people and believes that this service has the potential to grow to meet wider needs, subject to the development of a successful working relationship between agencies and in the delivery of positive outcomes for the young people.

Whilst the service capacity is for ten placements, there are currently four young people placed with four householders that would transfer across into the management of the successful Bidder. An organised transfer of cases would be provided by the Council. Whilst the young people would transfer into the new service, there are no TUPE implications for Bidders to consider in this proposal.

The successful Bidder will need to demonstrate a strong track record in the delivery of similar services to young people (i.e. residential settings, supported housing settings) and to set out the delivery mechanisms for the support for both the householders and young people. Submissions will also need to show an understanding of the model of supporting lodgings from both a financial and an operational perspective. For further details see https://www.the-chest.org.uk/