Provision of Suitable Housing for Separated Young Adults 18+

Cumberland Council is looking to engage with providers with capacity and the required skills and experience to deliver a service for the Provision of Suitable Housing for Separated Young Adults 18+.

Separated young people are aged less than 18 years arriving in the UK unaccompanied by a parent or guardian, and who claim asylum. On entry to the UK, these young people become cared for by Cumberland Council.

When a separated young person reaches the age of 18, (become a young adult), under Sections 23C-E and 24 of the Children Act, as amended by the Children Leaving Care Act 2000, Local Authorities continue to have duties and powers in respect of separated young adults.

Before receiving right to remain, the young adults have no recourse to public funds and therefore cannot enter into tenancy agreements for a home. This service seeks to provide suitable accommodation for these young adults. In addition to accommodation an element of low level support will also be required to negotiate the right to remain process, and once acquired, to support the young adults to find permanent homes and access all benefit entitlements.

Although the service specification is in the development stage, delivery of this service will include provision of the accommodation for the young adults as well as staff to provide the low level support as outlined above. Staff will need to be appropriately trained and in receipt of ongoing support.

We are therefore inviting all providers interested in delivering this service to attend our provider engagement session on the 18th August 2025 at 1 pm via Microsoft Teams.
During this session, the following will be covered:
• The outline commissioning plan
• Expectations of the service
• The tender process

The Council welcomes the views of providers and there will be an opportunity for providers to ask questions.

To reserve a space on the provider engagement session please send an email to Alice Clague, Commissioning Officer using the following email address: alice.clague@cumberland.gov.uk by 5pm 12th August 2025.

A Microsoft Teams invite link and agenda will be sent to all providers who register an interest before the deadline (12th August 2025, 5pm.)

.