Councillors will be discussing a new opportunity to ensure we can provide supported accommodation for care-experienced young people aged between 16 and 24 in the city.
Supported accommodation helps care-experienced young people develop their independence skills before transitioning to fully independent living.
For 16 and 17 year olds, these placements offer an alternative to foster care or residential childcare placements for young people who find it difficult to thrive in those environments.
If approved at the Cabinet meeting on Thursday 26 September, a formal procurement process will take place to establish a new Accredited Provider List (APL) agreement to begin when the existing agreement expires in June 2025.
To help ensure we’re able to offer the best possible service through the agreement, the new APL will remain permanently open to encourage new providers to apply.
To encourage new providers into the city and new opportunities for our young people, applications will be reviewed frequently by the commissioning team within the first year and at least twice yearly thereafter.
Councillor Emma Daniel, cabinet member for Children, Families and Youth Services, said: “Supported accommodation helps care-experienced young people prepare for independent living and provides a valuable alternative to foster care and residential placements.
“It’s crucial that we have a robust system in place to ensure we meet our statutory obligations of providing suitable accommodation for children in care and care leavers, while supporting our mission to house, educate and care for children within the city wherever possible.
“These proposals highlight key improvements on our existing APL agreement, with more flexibility to admit new providers on a continuous basis while providing control over costs.”
To develop an APL, interested providers respond to a set of questions to demonstrate their suitability to provide supported accommodation for young people. Responses are evaluated by the council using a strong criterion to generate a list of accredited providers.
For more information, read the Supported Accommodation for Young People Placements cabinet report (agenda item 66).
