West London Somewhere Safe to Stay Service Contract

Through the Fairer Funding Review, the MHCLG have proposed plans to consolidate multiple homelessness and rough sleeping grants into one Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Grant allocated through a needs-based formula. For single homelessness/rough sleeping funding, this represents a big shift for boroughs and sub-regions from separate funding pots into one combined grant to deliver specific outputs. The funding was only announced at the end of December 2025 resulting in the Authority not having enough time to conduct a competitive procurement procedure with the current contract coming to an end on the 31st March 2026. This combined with the uncertainty on how the funding reform will affect subregional funding and commissioning means an interim arrangement through the direct award of the contract for a 12 month period is required to avoid any loss of service and associated critical infrastructure, which would likely lead to an increase in rough sleeping due to reduced short-term accommodation provisions. If longer term funding is secured, the Authority intends to carry out a procurement exercise in the future.