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Housing Support Outcomes Framework

Outcomes of Housing Support Framework Development Report - October 2009

A Report on the Further Development of the Housing Support Outcomes Framework is now available. The report sets the framework in the wider context in terms of the Scottish Government's national objectives and how housing support contibutes to them. The report then goes on to consider the key issues highlighted in the evaluation of the pilot project in 2008 and sets out how these can be dealt with. The matrix has been updated and is provided in appendix 1.

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Housing Support Outcomes Framework Report

The Scottish Government has published its Evaluation of the Housing Support Outcomes Framework.

Through the pilot it was found that the principal value of the Outcomes Framework is that it measures the impact of service intervention and can be a useful tool both in service provision and the monitoring of services. There are, however, areas of the framework that do need to be developed. Issues around consistency and counterfactual questioning were particularly highlighted during the pilot.

Consistency

The Outcomes Framework is designed to record what progress a person makes during their time with a housing support service. The way it works is that a service user is asked a series of questions at the beginning of their time with a service. Then they are asked the same questions at regular intervals to find out what if any changes are happening.
The pilot highlighted that for the outcomes framework to have value it must be used in a consistent manner. However, this had proven difficult to achieve. While staff within services tended to score the matrix in a similar way, different services scored the matrix in different ways which meant there was no consistency and results could not be compared.

There was much greater consistency when services received the same training on the matrix which has led to the conclusion that consistency will not be achieved unless there is an external body (such as a local authority) overseeing the implementation across an area.

Counterfactual

Preventative services have often said it can be difficult for them to show evidence about the value of their work as the whole point of their service is to ensure that certain things do not happen. The Outcomes Framework attempted to address this by including questions about what would happen if the service user did not receive the service. These questions all came under the loose heading of "counterfactual".

The counterfactual question was the area that services had most problems completing. Some service users became upset when thinking about what would happen if they did not have access to services and others found it difficult to answer the question "What would happen if no service was in place?".
Some providers have said that while they thought it was important to prove the worth of preventative services the pilot showed that the counterfactual questions did not work and it would be best to explore alternatives.

Providers' views

The work of the Outcomes Framework pilot was assisted by an advisory group which included a number of providers of services.

Sandra Brydon of Viewpoint Housing Association participated in the group and said of the pilot:
"The Outcomes Framework is a useful tool for some sectors. It seems to work particularly well for those client groups that have made conscious decisions to make changes in their lives such as young people or ex-offenders. It is less useful for other services such as the low level and preventative services provided within sheltered housing. Additionally there continues to be concern about the costs and burden for providers in managing such a tool.

Further thought is needed about whether or not the Outcomes Framework is useful for all sectors. Although I would say all sectors do need to measure their work and if the Outcomes Framework is not the way forward then another way should be sought."

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Housing Support Outcome Framework Advisory Group 15/08/07

The Scottish Government is keen to find out more about how housing support services impact on people in Scotland.

Currently the Scottish Government has a lot of information on the numbers of people in receipt of support, the hours they receive and the types of services provided but it has little information about the extent to which people are helped by the services provided. Last year DTZ was commissioned to investigate this and try and come up with a method for recording how service users lives have been affected by the services they receive.

DTZ has completed this research and has produced a report which outlines a method for recording how service users lives have been affected by the services they receive called the  Outcomes Framework Report.The details of the outcomes' matrix that has been developed have also been made available.

Following on from this DTZ has now been commissioned to manage a pilot of the outcomes framework. This pilot will involve 7 local authorities namely:

  • Edinburgh
  • Aberdeenshire
  • Moray
  • North Lanarkshire
  • Argyll and Bute
  • Highland
  • Perth and Kinross

Within each these local authority areas four or five providers were invited to take part in the pilot so there are 28 providers taking part. The providers were selected to ensure that the wide range of agencies that provide housing support would be represented.

Wile DTZ is managing the pilot scheme the Scottish Government commissioned another organisation called Craigforth to evaluate the outcome framework pilot. A research advisory group has been set up to help guide this work which met for the first time on 15 August 2007. Minutes of the first meeting are available here.

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