Zero stars for Rochdale’s housing support

Beleagured Cabinet member for health and social care, Councillor Dale Mulgrew

The delivery of the £15 million Supporting People programme provided by Rochdale Council is 'poor', and on a scale of zero to three stars the Audit Commission, in partnership with inspectors from Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Probation and Commission for Social Care Inspection, gave the service a zero stars rating. This is because there has been little reconfiguration of the services inherited by the programme, despite there being clearly identified unmet needs of vulnerable people in Rochdale.

Paul Clarke, a senior manager at the Audit Commission, said: "The Council has not made the progress that would be expected in the fourth year of this programme. A number of ineligible services continue to receive Supporting People grant. Until recently the Council has been slow to implement the necessary local policies and procedures needed for the Supporting People programme. Few new services have been provided to vulnerable people in Rochdale and it is only recently that efforts are being made to ensure that only eligible, value for money and high quality services are being delivered. This recent impetus has been sustained and provides a good basis to take the programme forward."

The inspectors found that:

• There have been delays in commissioning and improving housing related support services for vulnerable people, despite an accumulated grant underspend.
• Some ineligible services are still being funded by the grant.
• Value for money considerations have not been effective in driving the programme.
• Performance management and monitoring are not yet fully developed and embedded within the programme.
• Service users have limited opportunities to influence and shape services.

To help the service improve, inspectors made a number of recommendations, including:

• Rapidly drive forward the programme by ensuring that the full housing related support needs of vulnerable people are known and commission new services to meet these needs.
• Improve the performance management framework across the Supporting People programme. 
• Improve service user involvement in the strategic and operational development of the programme

The Audit Commission’s report does also conclude that the service has ‘promising prospects’ for improvement and predicts that a brighter future is ahead highlighting that, despite making slow progress in its first few years, the programme now has "effective leadership with clear aims and ambitions" in place and that a new three-year strategy provides "a firm basis on which to drive the programme forward".

Responding to the report, Rochdale Council has acknowledged the problems and has made a firm commitment to improve housing-related support services to vulnerable people.

A spokesman said: "After recognising areas of weakness in 2006, the council has worked hard to put a systematic improvement programme into place. New staff have been recruited to senior positions and are making a positive impact on the effectiveness of the programme - and action has already been taken to address key improvement issues.

"In addition to the introduction of the new three-year strategy, positive features of the service also now include pro-active leadership, an improved governance structure, robust and developing contract monitoring, and good quality information being produced."

Cabinet member for health and social care on Rochdale Council, Councillor Dale Mulgrew said: “It is a huge disappointment for the programme to be given a zero-star rating but we are fully committed to working hard to improve the service provided to vulnerable local residents. I welcome the acknowledgement from the Audit Commission of the progress we have made in recent months though – including improved consultation with elected members and service providers.

“We will implement most of the recommendations of the report by the end of the year and I am confident that we now have a strong and capable team in place to deliver the improvements needed.”

Paul Beardmore, head of Strategic Housing at Rochdale Council, added: “We already have solid foundations for change in place and have been making good progress over the last year. I am pleased that the Audit Commission has recognised our strengths as well as our weaknesses. Along with our partners in the Supporting People programme we are committed to the vulnerable people that we serve – that’s a strength that will give us the confidence that we need to meet future challenges.”

Rochdale’s Labour Group leader, Councillor Colin Lambert, blasted the Council for failing the poorest and most needy people in the Borough, pointing out that these services play a vital role in helping prevent problems that can lead to hospitalisation, institutional care, custody, eviction and homelessness.

Councillor Lambert said: “In the last year the Council has received a grant of £15 million to deliver this service and yet, as this report shows, they have delayed commissioning the right services needed to help people and failed to properly implement performance management and monitoring. The bottom line is that the overall service was rated as “poor” and this is not good enough.”

MP for Heywood and Middleton, Jim Dobbin, also registered his disappointment with the report and called for Councillor Dale Mulgrew, Rochdale’s Cabinet Member for Health and Social Care, to take full responsibility.

“This is the second scathing report that has landed on Councillor Dale Mulgrew’s desk,” he said. “When is he going to stop telling people that improvements are on their way and take personal responsibility? He must accept responsibility for not keeping officers in line and failing to understand his brief. He accepted the cabinet role and the money that came with it. Now he must accept responsibility for failing to deliver adequate adult care services and housing related support services. I do not think we should underestimate what this means for many people across our Borough and I hope he will be reconsidering his position.”

Rochdale’s Labour Parliamentary Candidate, Simon Danczuk, added that it was important that people understand the human consequences of such a critical report. “Is it any wonder that we’re seeing more homeless people begging on our streets when the Council are failing to house people who desperately need support?” he asked. “Many people who use these services are voiceless and it’s up to politicians to champion their rights.”

Deputy leader of the Conservatives on Rochdale Council,  Ann Metcalfe, said: "The Conservative members of the council fully appreciate and support the effort, hard work and dedication which has been made by all officers in this service in their attempt to readdress the many areas of weakness and previous failure. It is extremely unfortunate, and should be questioned, how and why the service has been allowed to sink to this level without the obviously much needed intervention and monitoring, especially from councillors who were themselves being paid for the responsibility of helping to manage and hold to account the progress of this scheme within their portfolio.