Joint housing protocol for care leavers

1. Introduction

1.1

Corporating parenting

Hammersmith & Fulham Council is the corporate parent for our children looked after and care leavers.

Corporate parenting is a collective responsibility, laid out in the Children Act 1989, and is about providing high-quality services that we would be happy for our own children to receive.

Effective corporate parenting is about taking a multi-agency approach to enable young people to receive the support they need.

Promoting equality of access and approach means that young people should receive a high quality of service regardless of their age, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, faith, or disability, whilst recognising the need to tailor services to different needs.

As a corporate parent, we pledge to do our best to help our young people to feel settled and develop a sense of belonging to be safe, happy and healthy and to be supported to thrive as adults.

It is therefore vital young people have a range of suitable accommodation where they have a stable base to prepare to live independently, alongside giving our young people the opportunity to hold their own tenancy where they can create a safe and stable home.

The corporate parenting priority areas in Hammersmith & Fulham consist of three overarching themes for our children, these are to:

  • feel settled and belong
  • be safe, happy and healthy
  • thrive as adults.

Ensuring we have a sufficient supply of high-quality local placements and accommodation options, both now and in the future, that meet the needs of all children in care and care leavers, that safeguards them from harm, and supports them to achieve the best possible outcomes is one of the mechanisms that enables us as good corporate parents to achieve this.

1.2

Purpose

This joint protocol is an agreement between Children’s Services and Housing Management to promote strong partnership working, as corporate parents, for the best outcomes for young people who are leaving our care. We are committed to providing our young people with the support they need to thrive interdependently as adults.

This document provides guidance to staff in Children’s Services and Housing Management. The protocol outlines the processes for supporting our care leavers to move into and sustain their own accommodation, and explicitly defines which department is responsible for providing each service to a care leaver.

1.3

Developing, embedding and reviewing the protocol

This protocol has been developed in partnership by colleagues in Children’s Services and Housing Management, with endorsement from key senior leaders including the Assistant Director of Housing Management and the Operational Director for Children and Young People’s Services (see Appendix 2 for stakeholder details).

We have consulted with our care experienced young people on our housing offer and processes, and their views and experiences have informed this protocol. Young people identified that they felt well supported with learning the skills necessary to manage a tenancy and understood the process of the housing panel. They identified though that it can be difficult to manage the move, given all of the tasks such as decorating and getting the flooring in, setting up bills and navigating living independently. The feedback from our young people has been pivotal in informing this protocol, and in updating our offer.

The practices and principles outlined in the protocol will be a working document to be utilised by frontline staff in Children’s Services and Housing Management, and feedback on how the work is delivered in practice will be relayed to the Care Leavers’ Housing Panel as part of the ongoing review process.

The Corporate Parenting Board will be responsible for receiving regular updates on the effectiveness and outcomes of this protocol, providing oversight and scrutiny, to ensure we continue to meet our corporate parenting responsibilities towards the young people leaving our care.

1.4

Legislative background and framework

This document refers to the following legislation:

The following is a list of statutory guidance that this document refers to:

1.5

Definitions and eligibility

There are five different groups of young people who are leaving local authority care (care leavers) and receive support from Hammersmith & Fulham Council:

Eligible young people

A young person aged 16 or 17 and who has been looked after for at least 13 weeks since the age of 14 and who is still being looked after.

Relevant young people

Young people who have left care (ceased to be looked after), are aged 16 or 17, and were previously eligible young people.

Former relevant young people

Young people aged between 18 and 25 and were previously either eligible and, or relevant young people.

Qualifying young people over 16

Young people who have been in care (looked after) at some point after their 16th birthday but for less than 13 weeks since the age of 14.

Returnee care leaver

Young people between 21 to 25, previously classified as one of the above categories, whose cases were closed, but have returned to request a service from the council.

This protocol applies to all eligible, relevant and former relevant young people.

Qualifying young people are eligible for advice, support and guidance from Hammersmith & Fulham. This can include entitlement to needs assessment and a pathway plan if requested, however, qualifying Young People are not entitled to housing from Hammersmith & Fulham. The below offer therefore does not apply to qualifying young people.

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