We have developed two self-assessment tools (“Are we meeting our legal duties?” and “Are we following statutory guidance?”) as part of our ongoing work to help local authorities implement the Homelessness Reduction Act (in spirit and in practice). Prototypes of the tools can be accessed from the resources section of our project site and we welcome feedback from anyone using them.

Identifying the need

The HRA represented one of the biggest changes to the legal framework since its inception, and prompted a major rewrite of the statutory code of guidance. It is therefore unsusprising that a key challenge for local housing authorities has been getting to grips with this, whilst trying to apply it on a day-to-day basis. The legislation as written is often located in various sources and the statutory code provides nearly 200 pages of text. We recognised this in our ongoing work with five local authorities and thought there were some practical tools that could help. 

As always, we researched tools and materials that were already out there. NPSS have recently launched their SAHRA (Self-Assessment Homelessness Reduction Act) Portal - an online tool that replaces the Gold Standard programme with 10 self-assessment checklists in different areas of practice. Whilst these will certainly be useful for local authorities, we thought there was a gap we could fill that comprehensively covered all elements of the legislation and guidance.  

Using the tools

The tools are only prototypes so the current format is Microsoft Excel. The first tab contains the legal duties/ statutory guidance and the second tab provides a template and criteria for the self-assessment. Some areas are more appropriate for certain roles to complete than others e.g. a frontline officer or service manager. A nice way to do it would be a mixture of roles completing the relevant sections and comparing/ contrasting answers. This will help identify and explore areas of commonality and difference.

We have purposely structured the content around the different elements of the legal framework and used the same groupings in both tools (e.g. A - Duty to formulate a homelessness strategy, B - Duty to provide advisory services etc.). This received positive feedback during testing as it allows you to see in one place the written law and the accompanying guidance. Breaking up what can be a very unwieldy framework makes it easier to digest and allows you to focus on specific areas.

Feedback from our local authorities said the content itself could also provide a useful reference guide or training tool to test officer knowledge. There may be other uses as well so however you use the tools, let us know what you think. 

Further development

We tested the current prototypes with the five local authorities at one of our quarterly days. They received lots of positive feedback, which is why we are sharing them now, but there were plenty of suggestions to develop them further, including:

• Amending the tools for other purposes e.g. a competency framework or training
• Combining the tools and moving them to a digital format. The outputs of the self-assessment could then provide an action plan based on gaps and areas for improvement. Users could also select the sections they wanted to answer at the outset
• Adding for each section the users/ roles best placed to answer
• Adding a column with good practice examples for each (this will be addressed in other tools we are developing)
• Adding some distinction (e.g. colour coding) to show old/ revised/ new legal duties

We are well aware of the limitations of self-assessment tools on their own to understand the effectiveness and performance of a service. We have various other tools and approaches to complete a more holistic service review, but still think self-assessment tools provide value if completed honestly and collaboratively. Especially as a quick way to generate useful insight when time and resources are limited.

We hope to develop the tools further using the feedback above. We see them as the first steps towards a best practice service, and therefore have two more in the pipeline: “Are we implementing best practice?” and “Do we meet the standard for a great, user-centred service?”. Watch this space and sign up for regular updates on our project site. As always, contact us if you want to discuss the tools. 

This was the second blog in our “resource deepdive” series. The first focused on our Homelessness & rough sleeping strategy checklist.

Note: The “Are we meeting our legal duties?” tool does not constitute legal advice and is not intended to be an exhaustive list of relevant law/ legal developments (e.g. case law) affecting local housing authorities