(a) the recommendations of the SP strategic reviews of homelessness services for Cherwell, Oxford, South and West Oxfordshire are agreed

(b) it be recognised that the Vale of White Horse is unable to achieve a 15% reduction in expenditure due to the reasons stated in their report and that the Core Strategy Group should consider how this shortfall in the savings target can be met

(c) the Core Strategy Group indicate whether or not the Commissioning process following completion of the strategic review should seek to achieve a re-distribution of resources between administrative localities and if so, on what basis

(d) the District Councils should participate in a City led detailed review of support to homeless people moving-on from hostel provision, to identify an appropriate model of provision for Oxford and potentially the County, covering type of provision (balance of floating & accommodation-based provision, generic or specialist services, one centralised service or several contracts), the relationship between services in the City, routes for accessing services, minimising bed blocking of accommodation-based services

(e) the Commissioning process following completion of the strategic reviews should be carried out in consultation with the relevant District and the City Council and taking account of any related recommendations in individual review reports

1.1 To summarise the conclusions of the District and City led strategic reviews of homelessness services in Oxfordshire, to identify cross-county issues and to propose a way forward.

2.1 The purpose of the reviews was to evaluate existing homelessness housing-related support services in each of the local authority areas by considering whether they met with the requirements of the Supporting People Strategy 2004 to 2009 and other relevant strategic objectives of the commissioning partners, to consider whether services were meeting the needs identified for that locality, to assess value for money of existing services against agreed benchmarks and to propose a commissioning plan for the future direction of services which could meet the target of at least 15% savings on existing contract values over a period to April 2008.

2.2 Each local authority carried out its own review in accordance with the guidance agreed by the Commissioning Body.

2.3 Details of how each review was carried out and the conclusions reached can be found in the individual strategic review reports produced by each local authority.

3.1 All of the above proposals are considered to be a strategic fit with the SP Strategy 2004 to 2009 apart from the proposal for the Vale of White Horse since it is not possible to remodel this particular service to a high/medium accommodation-based service without significantly greater resources.

4.1 The estimated costs of future services have either been arrived at by

• Applying the benchmark Value for Money(VFM) hourly support rate of £23 and all other costs of 45% for accommodation-based services and an hourly rate of £25 for floating support with on costs of 60% for floating support services and/or
• Applying the caps outlined in the Eligibility for Services document which is out to consultation at present or by assuming that the service continues to receive the current contractual sum because the service is below the VFM benchmarks at present.

4.2 Some Providers have expressed reservations about the proposed caps of £360 per unit for high support, £120 per units for medium support and £60 for units of low support.

4.3 In order to achieve the 15% savings target, Oxford City Council are proposing to provide a total of £92,000 revenue funding for their Temporary Accommodation Managers and additional revenue funding for other providers through the Grants Scheme and ODPM HHSD funding, where services are impacted by Supporting People funding cuts and the service is considered to be a high strategic priority.

4.4 The Vale of White Horse DC is seeking agreement to not having to achieve the target 15% reduction on existing contract values on the basis that they have only one homelessness service in the District, there are not the additional resources available to achieve re-modelling of this service to make it a strategic fit and that the current provider has indicated that it would not be possible to continue to provide the service if their contract sum was to be reduced by 15%.

4.5 The other local authorities have formulated their commissioning proposals on the basis of achieving the target 15% reduction on existing contract values. They have each expressed the view that it would be difficult for them to achieve additional savings to make good the shortfall of £8,741 that would be created if the Commissioning Body were to accede to the Vale of White Horse DC’s request and that other sources of revenue should be sought by the Vale of White Horse DC to make good any shortfall in the sum required to continue the service.

5.1 The majority of existing services are situated in the City Council, which attracts 79% of current spend. West Oxfordshire attracts 13% of current spend, Cherwell DC and South Oxfordshire each receive 3% of existing spend and Vale of White Horse has 2%. The application of 15% savings target equally across the District and the City is considered to be the fairest way of achieving this objective whilst maintaining services that are needed and not causing damage to the current infra structure of provision nor harming existing relationships with Providers who will be faced with implementing the changes to services.

5.2 It is neither considered to be feasible nor desirable to seek to re-distribute resources from the City or West Oxfordshire to other parts of the County to achieve a more even distribution of spend on services across the County since this would have a major impact on the ability of those administrative areas to meet the needs identified. Both localities actually require more rather than fewer services.

5.3 However, redistribution of resources could be reconsidered as an element of any future strategic review across the County, or in the event that cuts in the SP grant are not as great as has been anticipated. In the circumstance that additional resources become available, these should contribute towards the establishment of new services or re-modelling services that are still not a strategic fit.

5.4 It was felt that there should be improved cross-boundary liaison in respect of providing move on from City based projects where the person(s) concerned have a local connection elsewhere in the County and in the event that existing projects were having difficulty with voids or not meeting full contract capacity.

5.5 The Oxford City review group recommends that further more detailed work is commissioned to review services providing support to those moving on in the City and to make recommendations for an effective model of provision for move on support to homeless people. This work would have greatest significance to the City but could also be applied across the County. It could also be tied in with any future strategic review of generic services.

5.6 It has been noted that the commissioning plan within the Strategic Review of services for Young People (including Teenage Parents) recommends there should be at least one high to medium level of supported accommodation-based service in each district. Consideration should be given to whether it is possible to remodel the Vineyard service in the Vale of White Horse to meet this requirement since the age criteria for this project already provides for this client-group.

5.7 There was a strong interrelationship between other strategic reviews being undertaken. Approximately 30% of service users had mental health issues and some services considered as part of the Young Persons Review provided homelessness services to those aged under 25 years old. In addition, a high proportion of service users (again, roughly a third) had support needs to help them overcome drug and alcohol addiction.

5.8 It has been agreed by the Review Leads to merge the benchmarks for accommodation-based homelessness services to those for young people, as in many circumstances they are providing a similar type of service for a different age range.

5.9 It should be noted that Providers have played a key part in the achievement of these reviews. Individual review reports contain various recommendations as to how the commissioning process should be carried out after completion of the strategic reviews in order to ensure that the savings are achieved satisfactorily and without compromising the future quality of performance of services.