Agenda item

At its meeting on 20 November 2024 the Environment and Place Overview and Scrutiny Committee agreed to establish a working group to consider the BCP Council Safer Accommodation Strategy in response to a recommendation referred to the Committee from Ful Council. The group met three times during January and February 2025. The findings of the working group and the recommendations which the Working Group have formulated are summarised in the appendix to this report.

The Lead Member of the working group presented a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'C' to these Minutes in the Minute Book. At its meeting on 20 November 2024 the Environment and Place Overview and Scrutiny Committee agreed to establish a working group to consider the BCP Council Safer Accommodation Strategy in response to a recommendation referred to the Committee from Full Council. The group met three times during January and February 2025. The findings of the working group and the recommendations are summarised in the appendix to the report.

The lead member of the working group went through the 3 Key lines of enquiry the working group looked at. The group established that there was no one size fits all with accommodation, many declined group accommodation for various reasons. Separate accommodation could work better for some as well.

The strategy did not look at just domestic abuse amongst couples other groups were mentioned in the working group such as elderly or friends who live together.

The positive work that had gone into the strategy was acknowledged by the group and the lead member thanked officer who helped facilitate the group as well as the officers from the housing team.

RESOLVED that

Recommendations to Cabinet

1.     That as part of the Safe Accommodation Strategy development, officers consider an awareness campaign and/or guidance materials on the different types of financial support that are available to support those fleeing domestic abuse, in particular in relation to different types of housing tenure (e.g. shared tenancies, joint mortgages), in order to break down a potentially significant barrier to survivors accessing support to end their abuse.

2.     That the engagement plan for the Safe Accommodation Strategy should ensure that the voices of those with lived experience are heard and reflected within the Strategy.

3.     That an all councillor briefing session be added to the Safe Accommodation Strategy engagement plan, to ensure members are adequately informed about the strategy and able to contribute views, and to enable them to fulfil their role within the community by communicating the benefits of the Safe Accommodation Strategy to residents.

4.     a) that the provision of safe accommodation and associated commissioning process be reviewed, 

b) that scrutiny members be invited to review and input into this review, prior to the commencement of commissioning,  through an additional meeting of this working group.

5.     That the use of temporary accommodation be continuously reviewed and specific KPIs be established for monitoring the success of the new safe accommodation model, including occupancy rates, length of stay, outcomes for survivors (e.g., successful move-on to permanent housing), and survivor satisfaction. These KPIs should be reviewed regularly by the relevant scrutiny committee to ensure accountability and transparency.

6.     That Cabinet, with the support of the council’s Corporate Management Board, be requested to take a view on forthcoming decisions that may be of significant or contentious public impact, regardless of decision-making thresholds, and an all councillor briefing be held before any such decisions are made, to enable all councillors, and particularly ward councillors, to be properly informed.

Recommendations to Environment and Place Overview and Scrutiny

1.     Notes recommendation 4 to Cabinet and agrees to re-engage this working group to support commissioning work at an appropriate time.

2.     Notes recommendation 5 to Cabinet and assists in the development of KPIs related to the Safe Accommodation Strategy by scheduling a scrutiny item to provide test and challenge to draft measures.

3.     Schedules annual updates on the progress of the implementation of the Safer Accommodation strategy and the wider domestic abuse work, including monitoring of associated KPIs, and that all O&S chairs be invited to attend, so that they can schedule associated scrutiny appropriately.  This may be as part of a wider annual update to scrutiny on housing matters.

Voting: Unanimous