‘Smaller agencies are best providers’

Homeless people feel they receive the best service from smaller providers or larger agencies divided into smaller units, according to a report.

Agencies often delivered services that were “unresponsive to the individual needs of clients”, said

the survey of homeless people’s views of Supporting People services by charity Groundswell.

It also said agencies did not work together effectively and requiring them to compete for funding undermined co-ordination.

The report recommended that service users should be given more say in how places were run and suggested commissioners employed a mystery-shopper model to test services.