Presentation given by Matt Harrison, CEO, Homeless Link, UK, at a FEANTSA seminar on "Funding strategies: Building the case for homelessness", hosted by the Committee of the Regions, June 2012

1. WHERE TO MAKE SAVINGS IN
HOMELESSNESS SERVICES
Matt Harrison
CEO – Homeless Link, UK
WWW.HOMELESS.ORG.UK

2. Introduction
• Homeless Link is the national membership organisation for
homelessness services in England
• We have over 500 members working with homeless people across the
country to end homelessness
• Our role is to lobby government on behalf of homeless people and our
members and to support and help them in practical ways
• We provide advice and support to them through our network of
regional managers
• These are tough times – most of our members are facing cuts and
having to make savings
• We’re not yet seeing massive closures of services, but they are
happening (4.6% of services closed in 2011/12)
WWW.HOMELESS.ORG.UK

3. Why is there a need to make
savings?
• The recession has led to an “Age of austerity”
• Massive public spending cuts in the UK
• Funding cuts to local authorities of 28% over 4 years
• Much of this being passed on to our sector
• Local authorities provide 70% of our members’ funding
• Cuts at a local level varying from 0% to 50% - in year 1
• Most of our members (58%) have been cut already by 15% on average
• Most organisations (57%) expect further cuts this year
• So far the sector has just about coped – 10 years of public investment
means we have a strong and resilient sector
• But the risks are growing…
WWW.HOMELESS.ORG.UK

4. Main areas to make savings
• Organisational changes
• Staffing
• Methods of delivery
WWW.HOMELESS.ORG.UK

5. Organisational savings
• Mergers and collaborations
• Sharing resources
• Outsourcing back-office services
• Alternative income streams – Social Enterprise
WWW.HOMELESS.ORG.UK

6. Case Study
North East
•4 small local agencies have formed a partnership to share all
their back-office functions.
•Not a merger - a collaboration
•Share IT, HR and training and finance staff
•Use staff to cover holidays and sick leave – reduce locum costs
•Now employing a Business Development Manager to bid for
contracts as a consortium
WWW.HOMELESS.ORG.UK

7. Case study
North West
• A medium sized charity has joined a large Housing Association
in a group structure.
• Retain their own independent board and business plan
• Use the larger organisation’s HR, IT, Finance and Business
Development teams
• Reduces costs, gives them more resilience and makes them
more likely to win contracts
• Some loss of independence
WWW.HOMELESS.ORG.UK

8. Case study
South West
• Medium sized charity providing hostels and other services for
homeless people
• Set up a sustainable Social Enterprise, employing service
users
• They deliver construction and services for local housing
associations (eg. clearances, redecoration and refurbishment)
• Turnover has reached £300,000 – not yet making profits for the
parent charity but growing fast.
• This is in addition to providing a route into employment
WWW.HOMELESS.ORG.UK

9. Staffing
• Typically the biggest element of a budget for our sector
• On average in the UK about 70% of total costs
• If services are to continue with lower levels of funding, then
staffing costs have to reduce
• Many organisations in the UK are reviewing and reducing
salaries and changing terms and conditions (eg. longer hours)
• Competitive tendering makes this more likely
• Fears of a “race to the bottom”
• What else can be done?
WWW.HOMELESS.ORG.UK

10. Staffing options - 1
Possible Benefits Risks Mitigating actions
response
Reduce number • Removal of less effective staff • Low morale • Staff consultation
of staff, including • Interventions can be more • Longer working hours for throughout
sharing managers focussed remaining staff • Planning with staff
across services • New creative ways of working • Fewer support hours leading to • Measuring impact of
can inspire staff and achieve more incidents and worse changes
better outcomes outcomes • Work with external partners
• Clients with high support needs
receive all attention
Employ lower • Supervisory opportunities for • Inexperience leads to more • Review JDs and PSs to
grade staff existing staff incidents ensure that the skills
• Provide placements for social • Lack of confidence among required are right
work students team • Ensure training and
supervision is in place
• Arrange external
supervision from others
WWW.HOMELESS.ORG.UK

11. Staffing options - 2
Possible Benefits Risks Mitigating actions
response
Reduce • Better rota for full-time project • Fewer professional staff at • Staff consultation
workers, increasing morale critical times • On-going review of incidents
staffing at • Increased risk of incidents and impact
night • Training for night staff
• Review risk and incident
policies
• Implement a risk register
Use of more • Increased engagement with • Inexperience • Training and support from
the community • Reduced client satisfaction volunteer agencies
volunteers • Increased client involvement • As above • Social work students
• Volunteers bring new skills • Use skilled volunteers to fill
and expertise (possibly gaps
experience of homelessness) • Be clear about what you are
• Frees up staff to do more in asking volunteers to do
depth case work
WWW.HOMELESS.ORG.UK

12. Case study
London
• A new hostel that operates more as a hotel (not for cost
reasons)
• No night staff, but a concierge service
• Just to provide security, not support
• Lower costs, and many organisations find that night staff are
not as effective as they would hope at providing support.
WWW.HOMELESS.ORG.UK

13. Case study
London
• Large provider set themselves a target to reduce their costs
• All staff had a small pay cut and a longer working week
• One layer of senior management removed
• All staff asked to feed in ideas how to make savings
• More use of sessional staff, interns, trainees and volunteers
• Outsourced IT support
• Contracts centralised and consolidated (eg. mobile phones)
• Achieved their targeted cost savings, but some impact on morale –
partly because they started first rather than waiting until everyone was
doing it.
WWW.HOMELESS.ORG.UK

14. Case study
London
•Teams of 3 floating support staff now 1 staff member, 1 trainee, 1
volunteer. The trainee is paid, the volunteer unpaid
•Both trainee and volunteers receive accredited training and a
qualification after 1-2 years
WWW.HOMELESS.ORG.UK

15. Service changes
Possible Benefits Risks Mitigating actions
response
Stop delivering • Become more efficient • Job losses • Redeploy staff to other
less crucial or • Only support those with the • Increased pressure and services
ineffective areas highest need demand on other services • Consult and measure
of your service – • Risk to clients if vital service impact of change
for example is removed throughout
serving lunch.
Engage the • Increased community • Fragmented service delivery • Joint working protocols
engagement
c • Service level agreements
• New opportunities and
o • Review policies and impact.
creative mapproaches
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y
a
WWW.HOMELESS.ORG.UK n
d

16. Case study
East Midlands
• A large hostel redeveloped with public investment
• Some self-contained units, high standard, separate entrance
• These units are part of the service while they have funding
• But could rent these units commercially to generate income to
support the rest of the service.
WWW.HOMELESS.ORG.UK

17. Case study
North East
• Floating support service working with young people
• Funding cut significantly
• Now offer initial support when young people move in
• All follow up work done by young people visiting them
• Retains contact, builds independence and responsibility and at
a lower cost
WWW.HOMELESS.ORG.UK

18. Conclusions
• After 10 years of increased investment in services in the UK, we are
facing a sustained period of cuts
• No organisation wants to close services – especially as the recession
means demand is rising
• So we have to look to see if we can make savings in our
homelessness services.
• There are clear risks from these actions that need to considered and
mitigated.
• But the risks to our clients of closing services may be higher.
• Further reading on what’s happening in England:
http://homeless.org.uk/snap2012
WWW.HOMELESS.ORG.UK