Allocation of Work for Young Persons Homeless Prevention Worker

Young person can present to the civic centre and request to speak to the Young Persons Homeless Prevention Worker to seek advice and support. This service is for young people who do not already have an allocated social worker.

Any advice provided during these sessions to a young person at risk of homelessness will be recorded on the young person's ESCR under 'Homeless Prevention – Advice'.

If ongoing support is required to prevent the young person from becoming homeless the Young Persons Homeless Prevention Worker will add a contact/referral to the ESCR to enable the case to be allocated. All interventions undertaken following this will be recorded on the young person's electronic Mosaic record under Homelessness prevention intervention step.

If a young person presents that is homeless the Young Persons Homeless Prevention Worker will add a contact and referral to the young person’s file to enable the case to be allocated. All interventions undertaken following this will be recorded on a Homelessness prevention intervention step. Any young person that is homeless must be allocated a social worker to enable a CIN Child and Family assessment to be completed. The contact and referral must clearly identify that the young person is currently homeless and a Child and Family assessment is required. If the young person declines to consent to an assessment, support will continue to be offered by the Young Persons Homeless Prevention Worker and an Early Help Assessment opened on the young person’s electronic file.

If another agency is aware of a young person aged 16 or 17 who is homeless or at risk of homelessness they should initially make the young person aware of the young person self referral process (see Section 2.1, Young Person Self-Referral) to enable them to access immediate support.

They should then seek permission from the young person to make a referral to CSC to enable the appropriate support to be provided. The referral form can be found at the Safeguarding in Gateshead website and can be e-mailed to: R&Aduty@gateshead.gov.uk.cjsm.net.

Any referral made by another agency for a young person who has an allocated social worker will be forwarded to the relevant team.

Any referral received regarding a young person who is homeless must be allocated to a social worker to enable a Child and Family assessment to be completed. If the case is already allocated a Child and Family assessment must be completed to assess whether the young person needs to become Looked After.

Once the young person is deemed to no longer be at risk of homelessness or alternative accommodation is found the Young Persons Homeless Prevention Worker will cease being involved.

If a case is already open to the Early Help Team and they become aware of a young person aged 16 or 17 who is at risk of homelessness the allocated worker must liaise with the Youth Homelessness Prevention Officer. If it is agreed that the young person is at risk of homelessness the EH worker will complete a contact and referral record and send the request ‘Please review and confirm outcome of referral’ to the manager/assistant team manager to consider the information. The case responsibility will remain with the EH team with the Young Persons Homeless Prevention Worker allocated as co-worker.

The role of the Young Persons Homeless Prevention Worker is to provide support to prevent the young person from becoming homeless. The allocated worker will continue to provide all other support.

Once the young person is deemed to no longer be at risk of homelessness the Young Persons Homeless Prevention Worker will cease being involved.

If a case is already open to the EH team and they become aware of a young person aged 16 or 17 who is homeless the allocated worker must liaise with the Young Persons Homeless Prevention Worker. If it is agreed that the young person is homeless the EH worker will complete a Referral for homelessness intervention and send the request ‘Please review and confirm outcome of referral to the A&I duty managers virtual worker for consideration. Any young person that is homeless must be allocated a social worker to enable a Child and Family assessment to be completed. The contact and referral must clearly identify that the young person is currently homeless and a Child and Family assessment is required.

This case will be allocated to a social worker within the A&I and the Young Persons Homeless Prevention Worker will become the co-worker.

The role of the Young Persons Homeless Prevention Worker is to provide support to look at alternative accommodation if the young person is homeless. The allocated social worker will continue to provide all other support.

Once alternative accommodation is found the Young Persons Homeless Prevention Worker will cease being involved.

If a case is already open to the Safeguarding and Care Planning or Edge of Care Team and they become aware of a young person aged 16 or 17 who is homeless or at risk of homelessness the allocated social worker must liaise with the Young Persons Homeless Prevention Worker. If it is agreed that the young person is homeless or at risk of homelessness the Safeguarding and Care Planning social worker will complete a Referral for homelessness intervention and send the request ‘Please review and confirm outcome of referral to the A&I duty managers virtual worker for consideration. The case responsibility will remain with Safeguarding and Care Planning with the Young Persons Homeless Prevention Worker allocated as co-worker.

A Child and Family assessment must be completed by the allocated social worker for any case where a young person aged 16 or 17 is homeless or at risk of homelessness to assess whether the young person needs to become Looked After.

The role of the Young Persons Homeless Prevention Worker is to provide support to prevent the young person from becoming homeless or to look at alternative accommodation if the young person is homeless. The allocated social worker will continue to provide all other support.

Once the young person is deemed to no longer be at risk of homelessness or alternative accommodation is found the Young Persons Homeless Prevention Worker will cease being involved.

The Looked After Teams have provision to meet the needs of a young person aged 16 or 17 who is homeless or who is at risk of homelessness.

If a case is already open to the Looked After Team and they become aware of a young person aged 16 or 17 who is homeless or at risk of homelessness the allocated social worker will continue to provide all relevant support. The case responsibility will remain with the Looked After Team.