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TIFA Life Supported accommodation · 16+

Homes and settling-in support for unaccompanied young people

Shared, solo and staffed homes for unaccompanied young people aged 16 and over across South and West Wales, with the settling-in work led by our UASC lead from the day the young person arrives.

Prices are in the pack

A written response within 24 hours

We tell you the home we have in mind, the support, the charge and anything we cannot do.

A suitability decision within one working day

Sometimes the answer is no. If the placement would not be safe for the young person or the others in the house, we tell you in writing so you can look elsewhere.

Same-day placement where it is safe

We place on the day if the matching, the staffing and the written agreement can all be done that day.

60

young people in a TIFA Life placement

12

Welsh authorities placing with TIFA Life

22

Welsh authorities have sent us referrals

Figures as of November 2026

The three kinds of home

We sort out culture, faith, language and diet before the young person moves in. Which kind of home is right depends on the young person, not on which rooms we have empty.

A matched shared home

Who it suits

For young people who can live alongside others, which is often what they want.

What is in it

A furnished room in a house where we have matched the young person to the other residents. Support hours are agreed separately.

A solo home

Who it suits

For young people who should not share, because of risk, because a court or a plan says so, or because they need the space.

What is in it

The young person lives alone, with their own keyworker, and support hours agreed to the plan.

A staffed home

Who it suits

For young people whose assessment says they need staff on site at all times.

What is in it

A team on site around the clock, with managers on call. The final rota is quoted from the referral.

For the standard to hold a provider to, see what a Local Authority should expect from a UASC provider. For the practice itself, see what works in supporting unaccompanied young people. For what trauma-informed practice changes in a staff rota, see trauma-informed practice, past the buzzword.

The first weeks

The first few weeks are when a placement succeeds or fails. Our UASC lead runs them, in this order.

  1. The first 72 hours In the first three days we make sure the young person has eaten and has a phone, and that anything to do with faith and diet has been sorted, most of it before they arrive. They meet the other people in the house and the staff who will be on shift, and we make the first contact with their social worker.
  2. The first fortnight We register the young person with a GP and dentist, open a bank account, get a bus pass and enrol them in college and ESOL. Someone sits with them at solicitor and Home Office appointments.
  3. The first month The young person has their own routine. We agree the hours with the social worker before support starts, and reduce them to what the plan says once the young person is settled and the social worker agrees.

The same support can be delivered in accommodation your authority runs, from an hour a day. It does not depend on the young person being housed by us.

Adina Thomas, UASC lead

Adina worked in the Neath Port Talbot leaving care team from 2010, and before that from 2002 to 2006. She was the regional UASC young persons advisor for Swansea and Neath Port Talbot from September 2023 to April 2026. Since June 2026 her weekly Swansea drop-ins for unaccompanied young people aged 16 to 25 have been attended by young people placed by four authorities, with referrals from five. She supported the regional consultations with unaccompanied young people in 2024 and 2025. She does not give immigration advice.

The rest of the team

Sessions at the Studio, Swansea

Unaccompanied young people are placed in Swansea by authorities across South, Mid and West Wales, and their workers are often an hour or two away. Our UASC lead runs sessions at the Studio, our community space on Mansel Street, for any authority's young people aged 16 to 25, whoever houses them. A case note follows every session.

The Studio, and sessions for young people you have placed

How we match and what we record

We do not place a young person just because we have a bed. If the placement would not be safe for them or for the others in the house, we tell you in writing within one working day so you can look elsewhere.

The home

The property, where it is and what is nearby.

The young people already living in it

Who is in the house now, and whether another arrival is safe for them and for the young person arriving.

The staff who will work there

The team on the rota, and whether they have the skills and support to do this work.

During the placement

Daily
We record logs, incidents, actions and missing episodes in TIFA Connect on the day and share them as agreed.
Weekly
A check-in with the young person, and a written report where the plan asks for one.
Monthly
Progress against the pathway plan: education, health, independence, immigration appointments kept.
Quarterly
A written audit of the home, which you can see.

The same home past 18

The young person keeps the same home and the same people past their 18th birthday. We agree this with the authority in advance. After 18 we provide the home. It is not a staffed placement, and support hours are commissioned separately. Sessions with our UASC lead run to 25, so the young person keeps that relationship. Housing-cost payments and an agreed resident contribution reduce what the council pays, and our charge stays the same. Both are confirmed for each young person, and the contribution does not change automatically when status is granted. The charge and a worked example are on the post-18 accommodation page.

Post-18 accommodation

Training and experience days

Our UASC lead runs six practice sessions for any authority's team, whether or not it places with TIFA Life. They cover triple planning, the journey of a child seeking sanctuary, meeting cultural needs, the day to day, what the authority has to do and when, and a day shadowing the hub at the Studio. Each runs as a 90-minute team session, a half-day workshop or an experience day, at your offices or the Studio. Dates and prices on request. They are not an accredited qualification, and none gives immigration advice.

The six sessions

Questions commissioners ask

How quickly can you place an unaccompanied young person? +
You have a written response within 24 hours and a suitability decision within one working day, and we place on the same day where it is safe to do so. The referral promise is built around the five working day window on a National Transfer Scheme transfer.
How do you decide whether a young person can live in a particular home? +
We match on three things: the home, the young people already living in it, and the staff who will work there. We sort out culture, faith, language and diet before the move. We do not place a young person just because we have a bed. If the placement would not be safe for them or the others in the house, we tell you in writing within one working day so you can look elsewhere.
What is confirmed in writing before the young person arrives? +
The charge on one page, with the home, the support hours and anything billed separately such as a sleep-in or an emergency uplift. The safeguarding arrangements for this young person in this home, including the risks of exploitation and going missing, and who holds them. Who you and the young person contact out of hours, the number answered 24 hours a day, and what reporting you receive and how often.
What does the settling-in support cover? +
College and ESOL enrolment, GP and dentist registration, a bank account, a phone, local travel, and someone beside the young person at solicitor and Home Office appointments. We agree the hours with the social worker before support starts and reduce them to what the plan says once the young person is settled. The same support can be delivered in accommodation your authority runs, from an hour a day. The pack sets out the settling-in rate and the hours it is based on.
Does the Home Office funding cover your prices? +
The Home Office rate for an unaccompanied child under 18, under the 2026 to 2027 funding instructions, covers the shared home with or without the settling-in hours, the solo home with up to ten hours a week, and the whole-home staffed rate. A staffed bed at the standard or enhanced rate and the twenty and forty hour solo packages cost more than the rate. The pack shows our prices beside the Home Office figure, and the further payment where a National Transfer Scheme transfer completes within five working days. Eligibility for that funding is for your authority to confirm.
Can you work with a young person another provider houses? +
Yes. Our UASC lead runs sessions at the Studio in Swansea for any authority’s unaccompanied young people aged 16 to 25 living in or near Swansea, whoever houses them, with a case note to you after every session. The same hours can be delivered into a placement your authority runs, from an hour a day. The rate is in the sessions sheet and on the guide rate card.
What happens when the young person turns 18? +
The young person keeps the same home and the same people past 18, agreed with the authority beforehand. After 18 we provide the home, and support hours are commissioned separately. It is not a staffed placement. The charge and a worked example are on the post-18 accommodation page.
Does your UASC lead give immigration advice? +
No. Advice comes from solicitors and registered immigration advisers. Our lead reads and explains solicitor and Home Office letters, chases solicitors, and prepares for and attends interviews and appointments where it helps.
Is TIFA Life registered with Care Inspectorate Wales? +
TIFA Life provides 16+ supported accommodation, which sits outside the scope of Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW) regulation. This is the correct regulatory position for our service type under current Welsh legislation. Our governance, safeguarding, staff training, and reporting standards are designed to match or exceed the expectations commissioners would apply to regulated services. The full regulatory position statement is at /docs/regulatory-position-statement.
Who holds the records, and where are they processed? +
TIFA Life Ltd is the data controller, registered with the Information Commissioner's Office under ZC131131. Records are held in TIFA Connect, our own platform, processed in the UK, and shared with the placing authority under an information-sharing agreement. Nothing identifying a young person goes into marketing, and session notes go only to the worker and authority responsible for that young person.

Prices, and the full offer

Every price is in the pack, from our published 2026/27 list, and the guide rate card prints every rate in one table.

The full pack Six pages: the homes and every price, the Studio, past 18, sessions, training, and how we work with you. PDF The offer on one page The homes, the prices and the referral promise, for a panel paper or an email. PDF Sessions at the Studio For a young person you have placed in Swansea, whoever houses them. PDF Training and experience days The six sessions and the three formats, for circulating to a team. PDF Regulatory position Our position on registration, in the form a commissioner can put on file. PDF The guide rate card Every rate TIFA Life publishes, in one table, with the condition attached to each. On this site

TIFA Life is not a CIW-registered children's home or care service. We accept placements only where needs can be safely met within our supported accommodation model.

Make a referral

Send the referral information you already have. A written response within 24 hours, a suitability decision within one working day, and same-day placement where it is safe.

Make a referral 01792 677275
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