Councillors have questioned why the council is not able to run a supported living service for people with brain injuries itself rather than contracting it out.
Brighton and Hove City Council spent £6 million knocking down Knoll House in Ingram Crescent and replacing it with a new specialist building, Brickfields.
The original plan was for the council to house people there itself – but instead, it has sold a 125-year lease to not-for-profit housing and care provider Southdown.
It will now pay Southdown to house people in need of its supported living services there.
The decision was made by the council’s Labour-run cabinet last month – but a special meeting was held yesterday (Tuesday 2 June) after opposition councillors called it in so they could ask more questions.
The nine Green and two independent councillors who called in the decision also asked the People Overview and Scrutiny Committee to discuss why other potential service providers lost interest in buying the lease.
Green councillor Ollie Sykes, who presented the 11 councillors’ case, said there remain uncertainties and risks with the project, which started in 2019.
He said the original business case in 2021 said the council’s housing department could manage the building repairs and maintenance, as the site is on a council estate next to sheltered housing.
The council would receive rent or housing benefit or universal credit, with specialist in-house services running the scheme such as the housing adaptation service.
Councillor Sykes said: “This is working very successfully at Brookmead, another council-managed extra care scheme for people with dementia.
“The present paper states the council has limited experience and capacity to manage a specialist supported living service with the level of responsiveness that’s required.”
Councillor Sykes questioned why in the early stages there were four specialist providers interested and eventually only one, Southdown.
He asked why the council was concerned about people living in the flats having secure tenancies for life as the reason to sell the leasehold, as the authority can offer flexible tenancies to the 28 people moving into the flats.
Cabinet member for communities, equalities, public health and adult social care councillor Mitchie Alexander said the decision was made after working closely with council officials before making the decision in May.
She said the specialist housing for people with brain injuries will reduce reliance on residential care, particularly out-of-city placements, and bring people back to be close to their friends and family.
During budget discussions last December, councillors were told that there was a potential £300,000 saving by moving 28 people into Brickfields from relatively expensive housing outside Brighton and Hove.
Addressing the concern about one provider, Councillor Alexander said: “The council did undertake extensive market engagement, approaching 15 registered providers in total.
“A number of providers withdraw due to several reasons, including the length of the lease, with some feeling it was too small, and alignment with their operating models.”
Committee member, Labour councillor Josh Guilmant asked for more details about the reasons why other providers dropped out.
He was told by the council’s head of commissioning Anne Richardson-Locke that issues varied from the lease being too long, too short, or not fitting with financial models.
She explained the procurement process in this situation is not something advertised, but the council approaches organisations that already provide the same or similar services to negotiate.
Conservative councillor Alistair McNair asked if there were other options for lengthening the leases, as Patcham Court Farm was sold off for 250 years to Royal Mail.
He was told the provider that wanted a longer lease withdrew from the process, even though the longer option was being considered.
The 125-year lease is the minimum required by Homes England which provided the finance for the rebuild.
Committee chair Labour councillor Sam Parrott asked if the council had considered going back out to the market.
The council’s corporate director for homes and adult social care Genette Laws said: “That was considered and discussed, but the view was that this is a niche, small market, and we had gone through those reputable organisations that we felt could deliver a good service.
“So there was a view if I can use this phrase, that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, given we felt we’d done our due diligence, and the offer from Southdown was a good one.”
Following two hours of discussions, with half an hour in private to discuss the confidential finances, the committee agreed they were satisfied with their scrutiny and did not send the decision back to cabinet or full council.
Wow – a bit alarming that a council, who like all councils have statutory legal duties to support vulnerable adults (including those with brain injuries), don’t seem confident in their abilities to offer support to a vulnerable group of people with brain injuries. Quite incredible when taken down to its basic level – it suggests that the council has neither the experience or capacity to deal with vulnerable people it has certain responsibilities to in relation to care needs.
All sounds very odd that the council spent this much money on a project that they are now too frightened to run, for whatever reason.