Young people's supported accommodation services (YPSA)
Information about young people's supported accommodation for professionals working with young people
On this page
Start dates
The service started on 1 October 2020. Some young people will receive the new service in their existing properties while their new accommodation is prepared. Watch and share this short video introduction to understand the changes.
About the YPSA service
Our vision
Our vision is that every child and young person in Oxfordshire should have access to:
- a full range of housing services
- the opportunity for a decent and affordable home suitable to their needs.
Vulnerable families should be helped to live in safe and suitable housing. We want to improve outcomes for vulnerable young people, children we care for and care leavers.
The service
Vulnerable young people - or young people at risk of homelessness - are provided with high quality accommodation while being supported to develop their independent living skills, find employment, education or training.
The service is a short-term intervention which includes a plan to help young people meet their long-term needs.
The service has been developed with professionals, organisations and young people who have experience of supported housing services.
The YPSA service is co-commissioned in partnership with city and district councils.
Who is eligible for the service?
Services are targeted at young people aged 16-24 facing the following issues:
- Separation from or loss of family
- Past family experiences such as trauma, abuse, neglect, family breakdown, parent drug and alcohol addiction, parent mental health or disability issues
- Challenging behaviours which have resulted from their experiences
- Needs resulting from drug and alcohol issues, anger management, low self-esteem, self-harm, mental health, learning disability and domestic abuse.
YPSA eligibility criteria and referral process (pdf format, 165Kb)
It is recognised that there may be young people that may display/have a set of specialist needs that cannot be catered for within the YPSA and alternative accommodation options and support will need to be considered. The young person’s support needs will be assessed on a case-by-case basis. Consideration will be given to the capacity to meet the needs of the young person within the YPSA framework of support.
YPSA service objectives
The YPSA service objectives are that young people are:
- in accommodation suitable for their needs
- supported to maintain their accommodation
- able to feel safe
- engaged in education, employment and training
- supported to live healthier lives
- equipped with the skills necessary to live independently so they can move on with their lives in a planned way without becoming homeless
- supported to prevent being homelessness
- supported to build positive relationships and links to their local communities and family members if it is safe to do so.
Referring to the YPSA service
Referral forms are normally completed by social workers, leaving care personal assistants, district council housing officers or other statutory agencies. These forms are emailed to placementserviceadmin@oxfordshire.gov.uk or via LCS for OCC staff.
- Emergency assessment and referral assessment form (doc format)
- Non-emergency assessment and referral form (doc format) and guidance guidance (pdf format) guidance
YPSA referral process flowchart (pdf format, 66Kb)
Referring from one part of the YPSA service to another
Some young people will need to be referred from the 16/17- year old to 18-24 year old service if they need support as they reach the age of 18.
They will need to complete the non-emergency assessment and referral form (doc format). Check the guidance to support the scoring required (pdf format)
The YPSA progress plan review at 17.5 years (pdf format) should be followed to ensure that young people can be transferred into the 18+ YPSA service or, where tenancy ready, supported to find their own independent accommodation.
Service packages (SP) | Locality | Organisation delivering the service |
---|---|---|
SP 1 (16-17): Shared accommodation with up to four young people living together. |
All localities |
Oxfordshire County Council in-house with Response commissioned to deliver accommodation. |
SP 2 (16-17): Unaccompanied young people welcome assessment houses (shared accommodation with up to four newly arriving unaccompanied young people living together for up to four months. After four months, young people will move into service package 1 - process (pdf format) |
Cherwell (Banbury) and Oxford City | Oxfordshire County Council in-house with Response commissioned to deliver accommodation. |
SP 3 (16-17): Move On Homes (intensive support for up to nine months). |
South and West Oxfordshire | Oxfordshire County Council in-house. |
SP 4 (16-24): Supported Lodgings (supported in a family environment). |
Localities vary depending on the location of Supported Lodging Hosts | Oxfordshire County Council in-house working with Supported Lodgings Hosts to deliver service. |
SP 5 (18-24): Shared accommodation with up to four young people living together. |
Cherwell (Bicester and Banbury) | Response (in conjunction with Oxfordshire Youth) |
Oxford City | Response (in conjunction with Oxfordshire Youth) | |
South Oxfordshire | Response (in conjunction with Oxfordshire Youth) | |
Vale of White Horse | Response (in conjunction with Oxfordshire Youth) | |
West Oxfordshire | Response (in conjunction with Oxfordshire Youth) | |
SP 6 (18-24): Single self-contained properties for young people where they are not able to safely live with other young people. |
Cherwell (Bicester and Banbury) | Key2 Futures |
Oxford City | Key2 Futures | |
South Oxfordshire | Connection Support | |
Vale of White Horse | Stonewater | |
West Oxfordshire | Stonewater | |
SP 7 (16-24): Parents (shared accommodation for a parent(s) to live with their children). |
Cherwell (Banbury) | Sanctuary Housing |
Oxford City | A2 Dominion | |
South Oxfordshire | A2 Dominion | |
Vale of White Horse | Stonewater | |
West Oxfordshire | A2 Dominion | |
SP 8 (16-24): Out-of-county due to risks of exploitation (self-contained or shared accommodation for young people who cannot live safely in Oxon). |
Out of county | Connection Support |
SP 9 (18-24) | Shared accommodation | Homegroup |
Supporting young people in the YPSA
Upon entering the service, young people will be allocated a YPSA worker to support them alongside other professionals. They will work as a team to support the young person while they are in the service and there will be a clear action plan in place.
Service guidance for commissioned services (pdf format). and the 16/17-year-olds YPSA in-house service (pdf format) provides detailed information about the service and how professionals will work together.
Here are some of the documents that workers will use to support young people in the YPSA service:
- Welcome pack (pdf format, 13Mb)
- House meeting guidance (pdf format, 164Kb) and easy read version (pdf format, 584Kb) and feedback survey (pdf format, 120Kb)
Dealing with licence breaches
Accreditation opportunities for young people in the service
Accreditation can be used for almost any activity between young people or a young person and a worker. Download the planning flowchart (pdf format)
The AQA Unit Award Scheme (Assessment & Qualifications Alliance) is a nationally accredited scheme. Oxfordshire Council County has been effectively using the scheme in different settings since June 2004.
The AQA Unit Award scheme provides the opportunity to give young people formal recognition of their success in short programmes of work, which have a notional learning time (NLT) of 10 hours and are known as ‘units’. Young people can also receive an accreditation for supporting staff interviews.
- A guide to accreditation – AQA Unit Award Scheme (pdf format)
- AQA - recruitment and selection (unit 2): interviewing (pdf format, 189Kb)
- AQA - actively participating in an interview panel (pdf format, 22Kb)
- AQA award scheme - summary/checklist (doc format, 20Kb)
- AQA award scheme - actively participating in an interview panel checklist (doc format, 20Kb)
Once a young person has completed the requirements to obtain accreditation, the information is sent to Riverside who can process the accreditation - see planning flowchart above.
Measuring progress
Reviewing young people's progress and outcomes
It is important to track a young person's progress and check what they have achieved every three months. This allows staff and young people to agree on where they need support and what areas to focus on.
This is also really important to check if a young person is ready to move from YPSA services into their own accommodation with outreach support available for up to a year.
- YPSA plan review process (pdf format)
- YPSA meeting record (doc format) should be completed at each of the progress review meetings
- YPSA case study template (doc format, 52Kb)
- YPSA outcome tool scoring guidance (pdf format) can be used by the professional to discuss the young person's scoring
- YPSA progress plan review at 17.5 years (pdf format) should be followed to ensure that young people can be transferred into the 18+ YPSA service or, where tenancy ready, supported to find their own independent accommodation.
- YPSA case study template (doc format, 52Kb)
Measuring the performance of the service
We have significantly changed this service to strengthen the areas identified in the 2019 service review - see below. It's important that we measure how the providers and the service are doing in response to these changes to improve the outcomes for young people.
The documents below need to be completed every three months as part of a performance measurement and outcome framework (pdf format)
How the service works with key partners
Working agreements have been set up with key partner agencies who will work closely with the YPSA service, to support the work with young people and ensure that all services work effectively together and avoid any duplication.
Family group conferences (FGC)
- Consent form (doc format, 147Kb)
- Referral form (doc format, 177Kb)
- Working agreement framework (pdf format)
Riverside
Thames Valley Police
- Partnership Agency Intelligence sharing submission form (doc format, 23Kb)
- TVP Partnership Intelligence submission briefing note (Sept 2018) (pdf format, 24Kb)
- Working agreement framework (pdf format, 268Kb)
Mental Wealth Academy
- Introduction to the MWA (pdf format, 485Kb)
- Working agreement framework (pdf format, 200Kb)
- Link to MWA referral form
Employment, Education and Training and Virtual School (OCC)
Aquarius
Brokerage (Placements) Team
Department for Work and Pensions Work Coaches
- Working agreement framework YPSA and DWP (pdf format, 218Kb)
-
Youth hubs are a new initiative from the Job Centre to help younger job seekers (aged 16-24) access the opportunities and support they need to find work and get ahead.
Unaccompanied Children's Team
- Working agreement framework between in-house YPSA team and Unaccompanied Children's Team (pdf format, 289Kb)
- Working agreement framework between in-house YPSA team and Unaccompanied Children's Team for young people aged 18 plus (pdf format, 649Kb)
Response organisation
Escalation process for decision making (pdf format)
Appendices
- Property checklist (xls format, 12Kb)
- Licence agreement template (doc format, 752Kb)
- Important details for properties (pdf format, 2.5Mb)
- Interpretation guidance for staff (doc format, 2.3Mb)
YPSA clinical psychologists
These clinical psychologists will support staff working in the YPSA service.
Children's social care
Working agreement framework with children's social care (pd format, 650Kb)
Adult homeless pathway
Interpretation services for young people who do not speak English
Paying for Young People's Supported Accommodation
Oxfordshire County Council pays for the staff support young people receive while they are in young people’s supported accommodation services. The district councils make a contribution towards these costs.
Young people are required to cover the cost of their accommodation and pay these costs to the service provider. These costs can be covered by housing benefits or job salary and then each young person also needs to pay an additional £10 a week to cover other costs which cannot be covered by housing benefit which include things like wi-fi and tv licence.
If a young person is under 18 and is in local authority care, all of their costs are covered by social care.
If a young person is over the age of 18 years and is an unaccompanied young person who is not able to access any benefit support, then social care will cover their accommodation costs. However, they will still need to pay the £10 a week charge from their allowance from social care.
Co-production and engagement
It is important to involve a variety of stakeholders, including young people and professionals, when delivering and developing services to ensure that they meet the needs of the people using the services.
Gathering feedback from young people to design the service (pdf format)
Resources to support co-production and engagement work with stakeholders.
Staff wellbeing
- Wellbeing self care assessment (pdf format)
- Health and wellbeing risk assessment (doc format)
- Supporting your staff during the pandemic (pdf format)
- Staff wellbeing guidance (pdf format)
Meetings
Training for YPSA staff
eLearning for YPSA staff
Check the Oxfordshire Safeguarding Children Board (OSCB) website for other training opportunities
Presentations from virtual training/briefing sessions
- Understanding the Move on Homes and work of REoC Pdf format, 185Kb)
- Understanding the House project (pdf format, 577Kb)
Accreditation opportunities available for young people in YPSA services.
- Flow chart (pdf format, 30Kb)
- Guide to accreditation AQA and OAA (pdf format, 223Kb)
- Accreditation training for Young People's supported accommodation service (pdf format, 733Kb)
Understanding the work of Riverside
- Working agreement framework Riverside and YPSA services (pdf format, 133Kb)
- Riverside referral form (docx format, 87Kb)
Family Group Conference service, making referrals and mediation
- 7 Min guide (pdf format,506 Kb)
- FGC consent form (docx format, 82Kb)
- Housing FGC referral form (docx format, 91Kb)
Substance misuse: harm reduction, identifying patterns around misuse and current issues around particular drugs locally. Understanding the work of Aquarius
Why we remodelled the service in 2020
Before recommissioning services as contracts with existing providers were due to end, an extensive service review was conducted to increase our understanding of the effectiveness of the commissioned services within our young people’s supported housing pathway (YPSHP). This allowed us to make changes to strengthen services to better meet the needs of young people now and in the future.
This review was undertaken with the involvement of district and county council staff, colleagues from partner agencies and young people who have used supported housing services.
Reports
Here are the findings reports from the service review, as well as detailed findings from the surveys with young people and professionals. These findings have been used to remodel the new service.
- Service review of the Young People’s Supported Housing pathway: executive summary (pdf format, 171Kb)
- Service review of the Young People’s Supported Housing pathway: Full report (pdf format, 628Kb)
- Professionals' questionnaire – summary (pdf format, 171Kb)
- Professionals' questionnaire – full report (pdf format, 171Kb)
- Time to hear your voice – survey findings 2018/19 (pdf format)