Supported Accommodation 16-25 year olds

In working collaboratively, Cheshire East is aiming to deliver a new supported accommodation initiative designed specifically for our Children in Care and Care Leavers aged 16 - 25, designed to provide high-quality, accommodation-based support. The specification outlines the service level requirements for the Supported Accommodation commission, which provides services for children and young people aged 16 to 25 years old. These services are categorised as follows:

Cheshire East will be looking to block contract approx.126 beds across the borough, with the number of beds scaling up across the life of the contract as young people can transition into them. In Year 1, we are looking to commission the following: Year 1, 66 beds, Year 2, 92 beds and Year 3, 126 beds. We will be looking to block contract a range of accommodation types for the following cohorts, with levels of support to match each individual cohort: 16/17 year olds, 18-25 year olds and Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children (UASC).

Full Lotting strategy:

• LOT 1 - Supported Accommodation for 16-17-year-olds - North Cheshire East

• LOT 2 - Supported Accommodation for 16-17-year-olds - South Cheshire East

• LOT 3 - Supported Accommodation for 18-25-year-olds - North Cheshire East

• LOT 4 - Supported Accommodation for 18-25-year-olds - South Cheshire East

• LOT 5 - Supported Accommodation for Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children

16-17-year-olds - ALL Cheshire East

The LOTS within this commission aim to offer a mixture of emergency accommodation, shared supported living facilities with own spaces, self-contained shared accommodation with own facilities, self-contained taster flats, community semi-independent flats and a post 18 offer focussed on independence.

Supported Accommodation Services for 16-17-year-olds will require registration with OFSTED under the new regulations which were brought in from April 2023. Supported Accommodation Services for 18-25 year olds will required to be a Registered Housing Provider.

The Provider will need to be a registered provider of social housing, where supported accommodation service providers are not registered, they can partner with a registered provider landlord to submit a collaborative application, however the Lead Provider will be the Registered Landlord. Registration ensures that housing offered is to national standards and that the costs of the accommodation can be met via Housing Benefits.