SS15 15 - Supported Accommodation in a Family Environment

Supported Accommodation in a Family Environment is a form of temporary supported accommodation for vulnerable people who are not yet ready to live independently for a variety of reasons. The Contractor shall manage referrals and agree arrangements for Supported Accommodation in a Family Environment on behalf of the Council and shall be responsible for recruiting, training and managing Hosts, where a Host is a private individual (or individuals) who accommodate a young person/s in their home, offering support and guidance as appropriate, to help him/her on their pathway to independence.

Hosts will assist the young people in a variety of areas, such as budgeting, cooking and cleaning to enable them to develop self-confidence, emotional resilience and independent living skills in a safe and supportive setting. This will allow them to move on to living independently in a timely way by 21 years old or earlier.

Young people placed in this accommodation will have their own room in a family home and be given support by the adult or adults that live in the home. It is a requirement that Hosts offering Supported Accommodation in a Family Environment have the capacity to offer each young person a bedroom of their own that is furnished and maintained to a good standard and access to a kitchen.

No more than three young people should be accommodated at any one time in a family home. Kent County Council (the council) is the largest county council in England covering an area of 3,500 square kilometres.

It has an annual expenditure of over £900m on goods and services and a population of 1.3m. The Council provides a wide range of personal and strategic services on behalf of its residents, operating in partnership with 12 district councils and 289 parish/town councils.

Statutory guidance places a legal duty on local authorities to provide support for Children in Care and Care Leavers. The precise level of care required by each young person will depend on their assessed needs and on their leaving care status, as defined by statute.

The Council recognises its responsibility to assist and support our older Children in Care, Care Leavers and vulnerable young people make a successful transition to adulthood; either through re-integrating with their families or becoming as self-supporting as possible. The 2010 (and 2011, 2014) regulations set out under Volume 3 of the Children Act 1989 have strengthened an emphasis on leaving care as being a transitional period rather than something that occurs at a particular point in time.

Care Leavers are expected to receive support from their responsible authority (the local authority that last looked after them) up to their 25th birthday if they so wish and are eligible. The aim of such continuing support is to ensure that care leavers are provided with comprehensive personal support so that they achieve their potential as they make the transition to adulthood.