Decision details

Agree to Gloucester City Council awarding a contract to People, Potential, Possibilities (P3) for delivery of an Enhanced Housing Service for rough sleepers, following a procurement process through the countywide Community and Accommodation Based Support (CABS) framework.

The Gloucestershire Strategic Housing Partnership has been awarded funding through the Ministry of Housing, Community and Local Government’s (MHCLG) Next Steps Accommodation Programme (NSAP) for the provision of accommodation and associated support to rough sleepers. In addition, the Partnership has agreed to fund additional, intensive support for a cohort of rough sleepers with a very high level of support needs who are not suitable for accommodation in the properties supported through NSAP. The support team to cover both cohorts has been combined into a single service known as the “Enhanced Housing Support” service.

Since February 2021 Gloucester City Council has been the host organisation for the countywide Housing Partnership Programme Team, and acts as lead contractor on behalf of the Partnership for countywide rough sleeping interventions.

This decision follows an invitation to tender issued to the County Council’s Community and Accommodation Based Services (CABS) framework, which is available for use by all Gloucestershire local authorities and public agencies. A total of five suppliers had an opportunity to respond to this tender having previously been accepted to the framework. Two suppliers submitted bids for the service. An evaluation panel including representatives from Gloucester City Council and the wider Partnership has concluded that the preferred bid was submitted by P3 and has recommended that an award be made to that supplier.

The total value of the contract is £2,067,500 from 1 October 2021 to 31 March 2026. Thisincludes a break clause after 12 months and then every 12 months thereafter, which is subject to confirmation of continued funding from the MHCLG; ongoing evidence of the need for and suitability of the service; and demonstration of satisfactory performance. 

The Enhanced Housing Support service is intended to provide those who have slept rough in Gloucestershire with tailored support to enable them to sustain accommodation and to make progress towards independent living. The service provider is required to provide a core team who provide support to those accommodated in properties funded by the MHCLG’s Next Steps Accommodation Programme (NSAP) with the objective of enabling them to sustain NSAP accommodation and identify an appropriate move-on option based on increasingly independent living. Restrictions on the use of the grant provided by the Ministry mean that this team is only able to support clients in NSAP-funded properties. In addition, the provider will be required to deliver a sub-team of more intensive support workers to work with the most complex clients in Gloucestershire. Many of these individuals are not accommodated in NSAP properties due to challenges of co-residing with others and/or risks posed to staff or other residents in these locations. As a result, Gloucestershire local authorities are providing a number of dispersed, self-contained “Housing-Led” properties across the county. The sub-team will work with clients allocated to one of these units whilst they are on the streets to prepare them to move-in, and then help them to develop the skills and stability required to sustain this accommodation longer-term. Both teams will include specialist workers related to addiction issues and challenging behaviours.

The service specification has been prepared by officers from Gloucester City Council and other partners and was scrutinised and endorsed by the countywide Partnership’s Oversight Board, which includes representation from all Partner organisations. This contract would replace an initial Pilot Phase contract issued by direct award by Gloucester City for NSAP accommodation and incorporate elements of the existing Navigator Service held by Gloucestershire County Council. The Housing Partnership has agreed that the countywide Programme Team should manage these services going forward.

A tender process has been completed according to procurement regulations and P3 have been identified as the preferred bidder following evaluation and moderation.

We could issue separate contracts for the locally funded Housing-Led team and for the NSAP accommodation team. This option was considered by the team tasked with designing the specification however they concluded that there were benefits to a combined service related to service resilience and management efficiency. A combined service should also enable greater lessons and intelligence sharing across the cohort of service users, as well as providing a degree of flexibility: particularly in terms of sharing specialist knowledge and enabling quick adaptation as the needs of service users are understood.

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