Luton Borough Council has appointed Penrose to deliver its housing related floating support services to cover vulnerable people, including those with complex needs, from 1 July.
Penrose is an experienced third sector agency and won the contract based on experience and skills developed over 40 years of working with, supporting and assisting to independence some of the most vulnerable people, their families and their communities.
The Council has been working on reshaping the services since early 2011 with an extensive tendering process. Potential service providers were required to demonstrate innovation, value for money, flexibility of services to meet needs and strong evidence of outcomes achieved.
Until now, the Council has been using 14 different external support service providers costing more than £1.1m. Many of these services were inherited at the beginning of the Supporting People Programme in 2003 and they have not been through a rigorous tendering process. The new contract offers good value for money and significant savings overall while improving the wellbeing and quality of life of its users with extra services.
The Council is already working closely with Penrose to build new partnerships with other key agencies in Luton to enhance service delivery on the front line, providing a more holistic and seamless approach to service delivery to a wider groups of households than before.
Cllr Mohammed Ashraf, portfolio holder for public health, said: “This is good news for some of our most vulnerable households whose needs are complex. We are genuinely excited by the innovative and value for money services offered by our new provider.
He added: “We also expect Penrose to attract employment, training and social enterprise, enhancing the high quality of housing-related support it provides and contribute to Luton’s 'Pathway to Independence' vision.”
The process of transferring local staff from the existing services is well underway with all 28 external staff identified under TUPE arrangements being offered employment with Penrose, providing a continuity of service for those already using services who will move over with their key workers.