Supporting Young People

The Service will work to ensure that young people make progress and have a range of positive experiences. They will receive help to build trusted and secure relationships with staff or supported lodgings hosts. Staff and hosts know them well, listen to them, spend time with them, protect them and promote their welfare.

The Support Standard is that young people receive individual and tailored support that meets their needs.

In particular, the Support Standard requires the registered person to:

1. Ensure that young people are encouraged and enabled to take a lead role in determining the support they receive and to participate in and influence how the supported accommodation operates;
2. Ensure that plans for support are based on initial referral information, are meaningful and are created in full consultation with the young person, taking account of relevant plans for the young person;
3. Keep the young person’s support under review, taking into consideration the plans for support, and relevant plans, to ensure that the young person’s needs continue to be met and that the young person is kept safe;
4. Co-operate with the young person’s accommodating authority in agreeing the young person’s Placement Plan or, as the case may be, Pathway Plan;
5. Comply with requests by the young person’s accommodating authority to provide:
   1. The accommodating authority with information relating to the young person;
   2. A suitable representative to attend any meeting the accommodating authority may hold about the young person;
6. Engage and work with the accommodating authority if the registered person has concerns or if the young person's support needs to be changed, including where that change may mean that the young person requires more intensive support;
7. Ensure that processes are in place to enable young people to access support from other organisations and community services, such that they are encouraged and enabled to access a range of services, including those offered by advocacy organisations and training providers;
8. In the event that the registered person or a member of staff considers that an accommodating authority or a relevant person is failing to provide the support set out in a young person’s relevant plans, make representations or enable staff to make representations to the accommodating authority or relevant person with a view to ensuring that the young person’s needs are met;
9. Ensure that staff seek to develop and maintain effective professional relationships with such individuals or organisations that the registered person considers appropriate, having regard to the range of needs of young people for whom it is intended the supported accommodation undertaking is to provide support and accommodation;
10. Before a young person arrives or upon a young person’s arrival, ensure that the young person is given a written guide, in an accessible format, containing information about:
    1. The support and accommodation provided by the supported accommodation undertaking;
    2. What advocacy support or services are available, how the young person may access that support or those services, and any entitlement the young person may have to independent advocacy;
    3. How to make a complaint or representations in relation to the support and accommodation provided and how any such complaint will be dealt with;
    4. What services and facilities are available that take account of young people’s needs arising as a result of cultural differences or disability;
    5. And which the registered person must keep under review, seeking young people’s comments before revising the written guide;
11. Ensure a plan for support is in place to support the young person to develop the resilience and skills required to transition out of supported accommodation when the young person is ready to live more independently;
12. Ensure that an adequate level of support is available to the young person to assist with the transition out of supported accommodation;
13. Ensure that young people are supported to access education, training or employment;
14. Ensure that young people are supported to understand and manage the impact of any experience of abuse or neglect.

The Service will provide personalised support to each young person:  support which meets each young person's needs and promotes their welfare, and is sensitive and responsive to the young person's identity and family history, age, gender identity, religion, ethnicity, faith, belief, cultural and linguistic background, sexual identity and orientation, mental health, any disability, their assessed needs, previous experiences and any relevant plans.

Staff will help each young person to develop resilience and skills that prepare the young person to live independently as an adult, and which will help the young person to cope with and withstand challenges and difficulties, both mentally and emotionally. Young people will receive support  from staff who:

• Understand the Service's overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for young people;
• Use this understanding to deliver support that meets young people's needs and supports them to fulfil their potential;
• Place the wellbeing of individuals at the centre of their practice.

The registered person will:

• Understand and apply the Service's Statement of Purpose;
• Ensure that staff:
• Understand and apply the Statement of Purpose;
• Protect and promote each young person's welfare;
• Treat each young person at all times with dignity and respect;
• Provide personalised  support that meets each young person's needs, as recorded in the relevant plans, taking account of the young person's background;
• Help each young person to understand and manage the impact of any experience of abuse or neglect;
• Help each young person to develop resilience and skills that prepare the young person to live independently as an adult;
• Make sure the property provided is maintained to a high standard and repairs are completed in a timely manner;
• The young person knows where to go for help if staff are not based on site and that support will be offered in a timely way by staff when necessary.

Young people should be given the skills to learn how to shop and prepare food as well as shown how to clean and keep their property tidy.

Young people should be able to access all shared areas of their property. Young people will have varied pre-care experiences. A large proportion of young people come into care for reasons relating to trauma, neglect and abuse. Staff should be prepared and be able to listen to young people who want to talk about their past experiences.

Leaders and staff will work proactively with the local community, including neighbours, faith groups, leisure organisations and local businesses, to support young people to use the facilities and to develop a sense of belonging, security and purpose if this is what the young person wants.

All young people's achievements are to be celebrated and appropriately rewarded.

Staff should take every step to make sure that individual young people are not subject to discrimination, marginalisation or bullying from their peers by virtue of their age, gender, religion or belief, race, ethnicity, cultural and linguistic background, nationality, sex, gender identity, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, mental or physical health, disability or for any other reason.

Young people must be protected, and helped to keep themselves safe, from bullying, homophobic behaviour, racism, sexism, radicalisation and other forms of discrimination. Any discriminatory behaviours must be challenged and help and support given to young people about how to treat others with respect.

The importance of understanding who we are and where we come from is recognised in good social work practice, for example through undertaking life story work or other direct work. Staff in the Service should play a full role in work of this kind.

The involvement of staff in the day-to-day support of young people will differ across different settings within supported accommodation, which ensures a variety of provision is available and flexible enough to meet the diverse needs of young people. It is the registered person’s responsibility to outline in the Statement of Purpose the arrangements for support the Service will provide and the degree of staff involvement so that young people and local authorities are clear on what they can expect. This statement should clarify the characteristics of the young people, according to their needs and/or level of autonomy, who would be suitable for and thrive in the setting. As part of this, the Statement of Purpose should communicate the level of support offered by the Service, including details such as the arrangements in place to support young people with special educational needs and disability (SEND), health needs including mental health, to support appropriate matching.

The registered person should ensure that every young person in the Service is given tailored and personalised support based on their needs, personal history, levels of autonomy and so on, which informs young people’s individual plan for support. Staff should engage in strategic multi-agency working, including close working with the accommodating authority to produce and deliver a plan for support that meets all the needs of the young person and helps them work towards positive personal outcomes. Young people should be actively involved in shaping their plan for support, which should take into account their views, wishes and feelings. Where there are disagreements, staff should work with young people so they understand all decisions made.

The specific responsibilities of the Service towards supporting the health and wellbeing of each young person should be agreed with the accommodating authority and reflected in the young person’s plan for support. The registered person must ensure that all staff are aware of the young person’s plan for support and that all the young person’s needs are being met through the support package, including accommodation. The registered person should ensure that they and their staff engage proactively with the accommodating authority to contribute fully to the relevant plans for the young person on an ongoing basis.  Supported accommodation settings should be sufficiently flexible and adapt to the changing needs of the young person and without risking destabilising the placement or moving the young person to a different accommodation unnecessarily. Staff should do all they can to ensure safety, security and consistency for young people in a supportive environment. While this provision delivers support and not the level of care that is expected from a children’s homes, like any teenager, a young person in supported accommodation may need additional support or staff involvement during certain periods of the placement. These periods might include but are not limited to: when the young person first arrives at the setting and is adjusting to greater independence; if a young person is dealing with stress or a situation that poses additional strain on their routine and/or mental health; or if there is a temporary change to the young person’s circumstances that requires adjustment.

Staff should work closely with the accommodating authority to review the ongoing suitability of the placement or arrangement and assess the evolving circumstances of the young person to ensure the Service continues to provide them with high quality support that meets their needs and keeps them safe. If it becomes apparent that the young person’s needs are such that they require, on a longer term basis, high levels of care from their placement as opposed to the support that can be delivered in supported accommodation, the provider should alert the accommodating authority to consider whether the young person’s placement in supported accommodation is right for them. Young people should be included in these discussions and should be encouraged to express their views, wishes, and feelings, taking a lead role in shaping their support package. 

Staff should take an active role in establishing and maintaining healthy, positive, and supportive relationships with young people. Staff should promote appropriate and safe relationships with other professionals involved in the young person’s support package as well as family and friends if appropriate, taking consideration of the young person’s individual background and experiences. Staff should support young people to build and maintain healthy friendships in the local community and build strong relationships and a support system that will follow the young person into early adult life.

Young people should be permitted to have friends to visit them in their accommodation, in line with the setting’s visitor policies. Staff should be skilled in understanding the range of influences that friendships can have and where appropriate, should encourage those with a positive impact and discourage those with a negative impact.

Young people should be supported to express themselves as individuals and should have freedom and choice in relation to their day-to-day arrangements in relation to both activities and personal items such as clothing, technology and leisure items. Where a young person's preferences are unreasonable or cannot be met for safeguarding reasons, staff should discuss this with the young person to help them understand why.

Young people should have autonomy over their use of technology. Where appropriate, staff should provide advice to young people on how to stay safe online and signpost young people to additional online safety information, such as through the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC).

Young people should be able to maintain and develop their cultural or religious beliefs as far as practicable and where appropriate, through participation and instruction, and by observing religious requirements including dress and diet.

Staff should support young people in their development of a sense of self and encourage young people to have confidence in their identity, including with respect to cultural, national, and linguistic backgrounds, religion, LGBT+ identities, and so on. 

In line with budgeting support offered, young people should be supported to express themselves as individuals, including choosing and buying their own clothes.

Where appropriate, staff should encourage and assist young people, irrespective of any disability they may have,  to participate in a wide range of activities both inside and outside of the setting, such as educational trips, volunteering and leisure activities. Staff should support young people to understand what local leisure and other community, linguistic, cultural or religious services are on offer and support them to access any relevant leisure passes and encourage participation in activities in the community and wider area, where appropriate. They should be supported to engage in faith-based activities if they wish. Staff should provide information to young people on any specific local offers directed at opportunity access and inclusion for looked after children and care leavers, such as Care Leaver Covenant support packages.