Referrals and matching
Referrals and matching
Ghausia Homes is a supported accommodation service for young people aged 16 and 17. This page explains who can refer, how we consider suitability, and what happens after a referral reaches us — so you know what to expect before you pick up the phone.
Not currently accepting placements
Ghausia Homes is in development and is not yet accepting referrals or placements. There is no referral route to use today. This page sets out how referrals will work, and we are glad to have commissioning or partnership conversations in the meantime.
Who can refer
Formal referrals come from the responsible local authority
A placement in supported accommodation is arranged by the local authority that holds responsibility for the young person. We cannot accept a referral from a young person, a family member or a member of the public.
- Local authority children's services
- The responsible authority for a looked-after young person or care leaver, usually through the allocated social worker or personal adviser.
- Brokerage and placement teams
- Commissioning, brokerage or placement colleagues acting for the responsible authority.
- Everyone else
- A young person, family member or another professional can ask us questions, but a formal referral still has to come through the responsible local authority.
Eligibility
Who this service is for
Supported accommodation is accommodation with support, for young people who are ready to build independence with help nearby. It is not care, and it is not a children’s home.
| Criterion | What applies |
|---|---|
| Age | Young people aged 16 and 17. |
| Status | Looked-after young people and care leavers for whom a local authority holds responsibility. |
| Category | Accommodation with support, under the supported accommodation regulatory framework in England. We do not provide care. |
| Service area | Will be published here once the areas we can accept referrals from are confirmed. |
| Ofsted registration | Registration is not yet in place, so we cannot accept placements. |
You can read more about what this category is and is not on supported accommodation explained.
Suitability and matching
A good match is a decision about a household, not a vacancy
We consider each referral against the young person’s needs, the young people already living in the home, the staff team’s skills, the building and the area around it.
We look at what a young person wants to work towards, what has helped before, what support they need day to day, how they get to education, training or work, and how the group in the home is likely to live together.
If a match would be unsafe or unsuitable — for the young person being referred or for the young people already there — we will decline and tell you why. An honest no is better than a placement that breaks down, and we would rather lose the referral than lose a young person’s trust.
Our approach to support once a young person moves in is set out in our support model.
The referral process
Four stages, in plain terms
The same four stages apply to every referral we consider.
Step 1: Enquiry
A local authority, brokerage or placement team gets in touch through a secure professional route. At this point we only need enough to know whether we are the right kind of service to be talking about — not a full case history.
Step 2: Information sharing
Referral information is shared securely and lawfully between professionals: needs, risks, what has helped before and what has not, education or training, health, and the plan the young person is working to. Nothing about a young person is ever collected through this website.
Step 3: Matching
We consider the young person alongside the young people already living in a home, the staff team, the setting and the surrounding area. If we cannot see how the placement would work for everyone in that home, we say so.
Step 4: Decision and introduction
We give a clear yes or no with reasons. Where it is a yes, we plan an introduction at a pace that suits the young person — a visit, a conversation, and time to ask questions before anything is agreed.
What professionals can expect
What we will do, and what we will not
Commissioners tell us the worst part of placing a young person is not knowing where things stand. We would rather be predictable.
- A named person to talk to
- You will know who is dealing with your referral and how to reach them.
- A clear decision with reasons
- Yes or no, with the reasoning behind it, so you can plan rather than wait.
- A response commitment
- We will publish a response-time commitment here once it is one we can hold ourselves to every time.
- Honest updates while a young person is with us
- Progress and setbacks reported the same way. You should never learn about a problem late.
- No pressure and no overselling
- We will not claim to meet a need we cannot meet, and we will not accept a referral to fill a home.
Start a conversation
Commissioning and partnership conversations
We are not accepting referrals yet. If you commission for young people aged 16 and 17, we would welcome an early conversation about what you need from a provider.
How to reach us
Contact details will be published on this site as soon as a monitored professional route is in place. We would rather publish nothing than publish a route nobody is watching.
Please keep first contact free of information about a young person. See our contact page for what is safe to send.
Commissioner resources
Everything a placement decision needs, in readable HTML
Referral criteria, matching, our service model and how we will report outcomes — written as web pages you can read and share, not documents you have to request.