Adur & Worthing Homlessness and Debt

Adur and Worthing Councils intend to use part of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund in supporting work around homelessness prevention and debt support. We want to commission a service and content design project work focused on three groups of residents: People at risk of homelessness in Worthing Adur Homes tenants who are experiencing vulnerability, struggling with the cost of living and in early stage debt for their rent People who are in early stage debt, or at risk of debt, for Council Tax The outcomes we want to achieve are: Residents can find the most appropriate help for their situation, including being able to find help themselves online and being able to contact the service where needed Residents contact us as early as possible if they are facing difficulties, so we can work in a preventative way Residents can understand the realistic options for their situation Staff have the tools available to support residents and communicate effectively We want this project to include both discovery and design, ensuring that it delivers tangible change for residents. We are not in a position to make major system changes, and so want this to focus on the areas we can impact now: Discovery with people with lived experience of homelessness or debt, linking with local third sector organisations to support this. We can also share previous relevant work in this area. Co-design based on priorities from the discovery work, which is likely to include: Website content Communication approaches and content (letters, emails, text messages, phone) Team processes, tools and ways of working (across Housing, Council Tax, Benefits and Customer Services teams) The available funding for this work is £60,000 - £80,000. Due to the nature of this funding, the project must be completed by 31 March 2025. To be considered for this opportunity contractors should express an interest no later than the 25th of September 2024. Contractors should return their expression of interest to the email address; [email protected] the email should include the details of at least 2 examples of similar recently completed projects with reference details which may be visited and contacted by the authority to verify. We may use this information to inform a shortlisting exercise.