Page 29 - Pobl Annual Report FY25

Annual Report 2025 27
High-quality support services
Over the course of the year we have continued to ensure that our
high‐quality support services reach and impact some of the most vulnerable
individuals and families across 16 local authority areas in Wales.
Lessons learned from the Covid‐19 pandemic and the current housing
crisis highlight the need for preventative interventions that are easily
accessible and avoid waiting lists. This has meant that our housing support
and advice hubs have been critical to local communities, and we’ve seen a significant increase in
demand. During the year we have successfully retained our hub provision in the Vale of Glamorgan
and Bridgend.
The location of our hub services ensure that we are fully responsive and able to provide a one‐off crisis
intervention service to anyone who may need it. We offer a welcoming and relaxed space which is
available for people to drop in for immediate support when needed, which removes any barriers to
accessing a support service. Housing related support and welfare benefits advice is combined with
other forms of interventions focussing on health and wellbeing, employment and skills development to
achieve sustainable outcomes and improved wellbeing. The hubs collaborate closely with the local
authority, other agencies, organisations and the community to provide a holistic service.
Throughout the year our hubs have supported on average over 5,000 individuals. Interventions
provided by our hub services prevent people from reaching crisis and experiencing homelessness.
How customers feel about of service
There has been strong development of our inclusion and co‐production work this year.
Surveys are created with input from the individual to create the questions and to record them
online in user friendly formats. One of the people we support has helped with translation of
surveys into the Welsh language to benefit other customers. Our 'Experts by Experience'
programme is fully launched, allowing a broad range of individuals to join Responsible Individual
(RI) and other visits to services and provide their views. This was positively reflected during CIW
inspection, with one inspector writing that “We spoke to one person who accompanies the RI on
their monitoring visits, they told us they feel they can talk to them and know they will take on
board what they say.”
Individuals are consulted as part of the Assistant Director and RI visits to gather ad hoc feedback
about their experiences of their own service. Individuals have supported us with policy reviews
and helped in the creation of an Easy Read Professional Boundaries policy for the individuals using
the service. Individuals have also worked co‐productively with us to design a new personal plan
which they have said is easier for them to understand and engage with.