Responding to the Homelessness Reduction Act
Additional documents:
Decision:
*RESOLVED –
1. That the changes enacted by the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 be noted.
2. That the proposal to recruit an additional Homelessness Caseworker post be approved; the new post to be funded in full through the use of the Ministry for Homes, Communities and Local Government Homelessness Prevention Fund
3. That the proposed financial contributions to support delivery of the key projects identified in the Homelessness Strategy be funded through the Ministry for Homes, Communities and Local Government Homelessness Grants.
REASON FOR DECISIONS
To ensure that Chesterfield Borough Council fulfils the statutory duties in respect of homelessness.
Minutes:
The Assistant Director – Housing submitted a report which sought approval to increase the staffing resource in the Homelessness Prevention Service, in response to the new legislation and guidance contained within the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017.
In recent years there had been a shift towards focusing on the prevention of homelessness which had led to a change in service delivery.
The new legislation would result in an increased workload for the Chesterfield Homelessness Prevention service due to the introduction of statutory duties and formal time limits. Southwark Council acted as a pilot for the new legislation and experienced a workload increase of 466%.
The current Chesterfield Homelessness Prevention service comprised of an Assistant Manager, 3 Homelessness Caseworkers and 2 Homelessness Prevention Officers. The roles and job descriptions of the Homelessness Caseworkers and Homelessness Prevention Officers had recently been reviewed to ensure they would address the requirements of the new legislation. The review resulted in a removal of the discrepancies between the two positions and henceforth the 5 posts would become Homelessness Caseworkers.
In addition to the current staffing resource, it was recommended that an additional Homelessness Caseworker post be recruited to meet the increased workload.
The new legislation placed emphasis on partnership working and the North Derbyshire Homelessness Forum had been established in September 2017 to deliver the actions set out in the North Derbyshire Homelessness Strategy 2016-2020.
The officer’s report detailed various projects which would aid with the delivery of the new requirements along with the proposed financial contributions to support these projects. It was explained that these initiatives would be met by external funding via the Ministry for Homes, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) Homelessness Grants.
The report provided detail on the financial implications and explained that the service was funded by a combination of the General Fund and the Homelessness Prevention Grant. It was proposed to use the MHCLG funding to recruit the additional Homelessness Caseworker post. This would result in no additional financial pressures on the General Fund at this stage.
Details of the human resources, legal and equalities impacts were set out in Sections 7, 8 and 9 of the officer’s report respectively.
*RESOLVED –
1. That the changes enacted by the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 be noted.
2. That the proposal to recruit an additional Homelessness Caseworker post be approved; the new post to be funded in full through the use of the Ministry for Homes, Communities and Local Government Homelessness Prevention Fund
3. That the proposed financial contributions to support delivery of the key projects identified in the Homelessness Strategy be funded through the Ministry for Homes, Communities and Local Government Homelessness Grants.
REASON FOR DECISIONS
To ensure that Chesterfield Borough Council fulfils the statutory duties in respect of homelessness.