In early 2006, the London Housing Foundation put into practice the proposals we had made to Communities and Local Government on taking outcomes and Supporting People forward.

Aims

Our aims were to clarify the detail of how a practical and effective system could work and demonstrate good practice. To achieve this we worked with Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham Supporting People teams and eight service providers, commissioning Triangle Consulting to facilitate the process.

Selecting outcomes to be measured

First, the three boroughs and eight providers agreed a menu of outcomes to measure. These were piloted for five months (July – November 2006) and the information fed back for analysis.

All the providers also either continued to use their own internal outcomes tools or started using the Outcomes Star for the pilot and drew on this distance travelled information within the pilot.

In early December 2006, we analysed the outcomes information gathered, listened to the providers’ feedback on the process and reviewed CLG progress on national outcomes. The Supporting People teams then separated all the indicators piloted in the Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham (LSL) initiative into one of three categories:

• Gathered by CLG and no need for greater detail at a local level
• Discarded because it did not show useful data and/or was complex or inaccurate
• Placed in a draft basket of additional outcome indicators that could be requested during contract monitoring if there were problems or other reasons for interest

Download a table showing the outcome indicators in each of these categories (PDF).

Conclusions

Through this process, Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham concluded that there was no need to gather additional outcomes routinely from all SP service providers. The only possible exception was tenancy sustainment. Otherwise, the three SP teams concluded that they would have all the outcome information they needed – and had the capacity to process and understand – through a combination of:

• National outcomes gathered by the CLG – provided these were fed back to local authorities in a useable format
• Providers’ own outcome monitoring tools, the findings of which could be drawn on in contract monitoring
• Asking some individual providers to gather one or more additional outcomes indicators for the basket, where there was concern or particular interest.

What next?

Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham are keen to encourage other SP teams to sign up to a basket of additional indicators, so that where more information is requested, there is consistency between local authorities. This would effectively limit the monitoring demands placed on providers. South East and South West London SP teams have already expressed an interest in doing so, and Lambeth is currently gathering final comments on the basket before others sign up.

Communities and Local Government is organising an event for all London SP leads, at which their national framework and the LSL basket and recommendations will both be presented alongside each other, showing the clear backing of the CLG for this approach.

If you are from an SP team and would be interested in a visit or presentation to go through the learning from the LSL initiative and the basket of indicators, please email Sara Burns. Her address is sara@triangleconsulting.co.uk.

Download a full, 16 page report on the Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham Initiative and learning from the project (PDF)

The latest on SP outcomes

• The National Supporting People Outcomes Framework explained
• What does the National Supporting People Outcomes Framework mean for service providers?
• The background to the National Framework
• The Outcomes Star and CLG's SP outcomes form

More on the LSL Initiative

• Report on the LSL Initiative and learning from the project (PDF)
• Menu of outcomes to measure within pilot
• Basket of additional outcome indicators
• Working group that was set up to develop a national outcomes framework

Author: Sara Burns, Triangle Consulting
Last updated: 2 July 2007