The report on pages 17 – 24 of the Agenda was presented by Tiffany Bright. A link to the videos of the project would be emailed to Members.

The Chair felt the project was a wonderful programme and commented that a similar project could be done for offenders as well as care leavers. Councillor Redsell asked how long care leavers could stay in the property and if the service liaised with them. She also questioned if the videos could be presented at Committee that night; and if care leavers paid rent. Tiffany Bright answered that the average length of stay was eight months but could be longer if the care leaver did not have recourse to public funds. Pre-Covid-19, Officers were checking in every month but were currently calling care leavers every four days to check their understanding of the changing Covid-19 guidelines; if they were able to access education/training and if they had sufficient funds for food/mobile. If care leavers reported Covid-19 symptoms, these phone calls would increase to everyday until the symptoms ceased. In regards to rent, she said that an equitable rental system scheme had been developed as these were shared accommodations to ensure a fair way of contribution where a young person would contribute 10% of their weekly income after completing their probationary period in employment.

In regards to the video, Michele Lucas said that it was 25 minutes long which detailed individual young people living in the Head Start properties and one of the main issues raised was a lack of Wi-Fi which led to the installation of Wi-Fi in the new property that was shown in the shorter video. The videos would give Members an idea of the work that the service undertook with care leavers to ensure that they had a place to live with the wrap around service provided by the Council and linking them to the right opportunities.

Councillor Worrall was pleased to see that the service had taken a proactive approach in ensuring that care leavers had a settled accommodation. She questioned if there was enough accommodation for those who needed it. She noted that universities were currently closed and asked if any care leavers in university were in the Head Start accommodations or whether they could access these. Tiffany Bright answered that the current average occupancy rate was around 84 so had little capacity left and needed to be carefully managed by working with aftercare services in relocating young people when needed. The service set rooms aside for care leavers at university which turned out that none of those rooms were used so another piece of work was being done on this. The service was working closely with the Finance Team to ensure that there was sufficient provision in the next budget to be able to grow the service.

Councillor Worrall asked what the number of rooms were needed to adequately house care leavers to which Tiffany Bright replied that another 15 beds would be more than adequate. Councillor Worrall commented that this was a target that the service needed to work towards and that care leavers and young people needed homes as well so should considered as part of building homes in Thurrock.

Councillor Abbas said that the report was positive. He sought clarification on bringing care leavers back due to the differing paragraphs on pages 17 and 20. He also asked how care leavers with no recourse to public funds were supported and what support was offered upon leaving care. Tiffany Bright explained that the service’s aspiration was to bring the care leavers back to Thurrock by December 2023 as the service was unable to continually support Thurrock’s care leavers outside of the Borough. She said that where care leavers had been involved in serious crimes or in prison, there were court orders that required them to stay away from the Borough that they committed the crime in. The aspiration was for them to return but to ensure that they would not be placed in danger by doing so. In regards to care leavers with no recourse to public funds, she said that the Council covered rent costs and tenants received a personal allowance that was the equivalent of Universal Credit. Care leavers were supported until the day before their 26^th birthday and they were supported in home office applications for asylum thereafter.

Lynn Mansfield asked if there was other support available for care leavers after they turned 26. Tiffany Bright answered that the Aftercare Team would provide support if care leavers asked for this and it was a tailored support where care leavers could be supported into private rental accommodation or into an adult social care setting.

The Chair felt the service had taken a proactive approach in supporting care leavers and thanked the service. Michele Lucas added that the scheme had been achievable as there had been a joined up work approach across the Council that had enabled care leavers to be supported through this scheme.

RESOLVED:

1.1       To scrutinise the cross directorate working to improve the quality of services to care leavers regarding housing options.

1.2       To support and promote innovative ways to engage CLs to prepare for independent living including entry into employment.

1.3       Housing Overview and Scrutiny was asked to note and comment upon the work undertaken by HSH.