This document discusses commissioning quality social services for homeless people. It outlines the strengths and weaknesses of public tendering for funding these services. Some key strengths of local tendering include focusing on value for money, outcomes, partnerships, and community impact. The document also discusses Newcastle's context for commissioning homelessness services across different funding streams and levels of prevention. It notes factors to consider like positive user outcomes, flexibility, and developing a market for housing support while avoiding duplication.

1. FEANSTA - conference
Quality in Social Services –the perspective
of services working with homeless people
Funding Quality – the strengths &
weaknesses of public tendering
 Luxembourg City - October 2011
Neil Munslow - Newcastle City Council

2. Why strategic commissioning matters
 sector evolved from charitable roots
 strategic planning – specify services
 culture change
• balance quantity and quality - outcomes
• deficiencies in crisis progression models
• prevention not crisis – service users’ views
 VFM – budget cuts
 meet EU requirements – probity & fairness

3. Strengths & weaknesses – public tendering
depends on how and why - not neutral process
national
price, cashable savings, units, outputs, macro
contractual control, standardised systems,
prime & sub contracts , e-auctions, prescribed.
local
VFM, outcomes, partnerships, non-cashable
savings, community impact, micro contractual
control, service users, experimental, costs.

4. Newcastle commissioning context
2 commissioned funding streams
Revenue
Supporting People (2003) local (£16m)
Capital
Homes & Communities Agency – regional
Plus
Housing Benefit – national - laissez faire
Grants – mixture – offset costs of above
Infra-structure costs

5. Homelessness prevention at all levels
 Primary prevention activities – actions for the whole
community eg housing and debt advice, move on
accommodation, community support, peer education
 Secondary prevention activities – for people at risk of
homelessness: Predictive preventative support and advice to
those at risk of housing or income loss and debt eg the
Prevention from Eviction Protocol, Pathways to Independence
 Crisis prevention activities - supporting those people who
are at imminent risk of homelessness eg the provision of the
Council’s emergency accommodation, Court Duty
Representation Scheme, outreach services

6. Tendering context – local cycle
 strategies: partnership, evidence & analysis
 specifications
 monitoring and evaluation
 resource allocation methods
 service user involvement methods
 engagement – hard systems - soft intelligence
 governance and political support

7. What to consider – more strengths
• positive outcomes for service users
• flexibility & responsiveness
• alternatives, locations & service users views
• promote choice but reduce duplication
• homelessness prevention – perverse incentives
• developing a market for housing based support
• limitations - accommodation based services,
multiple needs
• strategic fit