Practical Prevention Casework

Introduction

Successful prevention casework hinges on early identification and the right intervention relevant to the presenting problem where there is a risk of homelessness.

If prevention casework is unsuccessful, there is a huge impact on the individual or family through becoming homeless, as well as a significant increase in the resources required of the local housing authority and other services with the cost of temporary accommodation being one of the most significant impacts.

Overview

This Block covers the various tools, good practice and tips which case officers can utilise to confidently deliver effective prevention casework.

The Block should take 4-6 hours to complete, with 2-3 hours of follow-up readings.

At the end of the Block there is an Assessment to test your understanding. The assessment is made up of 40 randomly generated yes/no questions. The pass mark is 70 per cent. This means that 28 of the 40 questions must be answered correctly. Once the assessment has been passed, you will receive a certificate showing your accomplishment in your personal dashboard.

Contents

• Introduction
• The meaning of Preventing Homelessness and Performance Indicators
• Prevention Toolbox and Personal Housing Plans
• Prevention casework and essential work for success

Learning Outcomes

When you have completed this Block, you should understand:

• What is meant by preventing homelessness under the Homelessness Reduction Act?
  • The national and local prevention performance indicators
  • What might be in a case officers Prevention ‘toolbox’?
  • Making effective use of Personal Housing Plans to drive your prevention casework.
  • Effective prevention casework through using structured prevention pathways to guide your actions. 

Conclusion

The conclusion to the learning block.

References & Further Reading

At the end of the Block, you will find all the links to the references and there is also some suggested further reading that may also interest you.