The report of the Director of Children’s Services (Document “T”) provides an update on Youth Homelessness.

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The views of the Corporate Parenting Panel are requested. 

(Kirsty Askew – 01274 437500)

The report of the Strategic Director for Children’s Services (Document “T”) was presented to the Panel to provide an update on developments within the Youth Homelessness team in Bradford.  In 2018 it was identified in an Ofsted report that there were failings in the service provided to homeless young people.  The work carried out for youth homelessness formed part of the Improvement Plan which was scrutinized by the Improvement Board.

The most recent audit which covered the period from July 2019 to June 2020, considered 64 young people, who presented as homeless, of which some were mis-classified as they were under 16 years old.  Children in this age group did not qualify for youth homelessness services.  Adequate risk assessments were carried out on the majority of the young people audited who presented as homeless at the now integrated front door.  It was acknowledged that there was still and would always be room to improve and this was included in the Improvement Plan.  Social work practice was deemed as consistent with consistent file recording but, again, this needed to improve.

Officers stated that in some situations mediation was possible to avoid instances of homelessness and some safeguarding concerns were not notified quickly enough.  An apprentice has been recruited who would be able to provide a voice for homeless young people.

Improvements in placements were being looked into with responsibility for these passing to relevant teams whose staff possessed the appropriate expertise.

A telephone helpline was put in place in November and was being well supported by volunteer Social Workers.  Officers were also looking into integrating Regulation 44 visits into post 16 provision to ensure due diligence as this was statutory for under 16s only at present.  Feedback on this would be provided at a future meeting of this Panel.

Members asked questions, details of these and the responses given are as below:

·         Members wanted to know the difference between homelessness and rooflessness and whether the mediation service had been put into place.  They were advised that rooflessness covered a number of scenarios such as ‘sofa surfing’.  A mediation service would be put into place but training was still needed – there were no timescales available for implementation.

·         In terms of moving over to a virtual service, Members asked if there was any progress in this direction.  Officers advised that there was a queue for training.

·         A Member asked about the ‘One Stop Shop’ and whether young people were involved and could make it theirs.  Officers advised that a café had already been identified and was in use.  Feedback was given by Care Ambassadors to say what they wanted and the Authority’s staff knew and worked well with them.

·         A Member expressed concern about the inconsistency of the ‘Pathways’ process and was advised that audits were being completed for ‘Pathways’ and a draft improvement plan was in place and would supplement the existing Improvement Plan.  Officers were confident that work was going in the right direction and consistency would be achieved.

·          A Member asked about staffing of the telephone help line and was advised that it was manned by qualified Social Workers who were volunteering.  The response to the request for volunteer staff on this new service had been excellent and was continuing to be provided.

Resolved –

(1)       That the report be welcomed and the progress within the service, specifically the monitoring of unregulated providers, the introduction of a telephone helpline and mediation services.

(2)       That a regular report be presented to this Committee to monitor progress going forward.

Action: Strategic Director of Children’s Services