Resettlement Support team: supporting move-on from hostels
25 September 2025
The pilot explored how a dedicated external team could increase move-on from hostels and create more movement in pathways
The Resettlement Support Team (RST) was a Thames Reach pilot delivered in partnership with the Greater London Authority (GLA) and London Councils. The project set out to explore whether having a skilled external team focused on move-on could help people in hostels move into longer-term, more independent accommodation.
Working across three hostels in Lewisham, Haringey and Southwark, the team provided personalised resettlement plans and worked closely with partner agencies to ensure support in the community was in place where needed; a barrier which was previously used as a reason to not move these clients on. The pilot also ensured people had access to post-resettlement support, helping to reduce the risk of tenancy breakdown.
Ruth Shepherd, who led the project, explained: “The aim was to test the theory that if you have an external team doing move-on work within hostels, would that increase move-on? Move-on is always raised as a challenge in London-wide forums, and we were seeing the same issues in our own hostels, but the conversations were focussed on lack of appropriate move on, so we also wanted to test if that was the sole issue or if there was more to unpick.”
RST was very flexible and worked with a range of clients. The pilot also aimed to change the culture around move on, ensuring it was prioritised and that historic risks didn’t hold people back. “Our role was to take the workload pressure off, to be an expert team that could help move people on”, Ruth said. “But just as importantly, we wanted to work with staff to show that even people with ongoing support needs can move on and live more independently.”
The results were encouraging. In Lewisham, the number of people moving on increased from three people to 17. In Haringey, this went from eight to twelve. In Southwark, levels remained steady, but the pilot offered important insights into the barriers that can make change more challenging in some settings, and how those might be addressed in the future.
Alongside the numbers, the pilot demonstrated the value of follow-on support.
“A significant part of our role became providing transitional support,” Ruth explained. “We’d keep in touch after people moved, making sure they were linked in with mainstream services”
The pilot’s achievements have also been recognised externally, with the Resettlement Support Team shortlisted for this year’s London Homelessness Awards.
“We’re really pleased about the shortlisting,” Ruth said. “It helps raise awareness of how successful the project was, which in turn makes it easier to get the buy-in needed for future delivery, which people have been asking us for across the board.”