Issue - meetings

Report of the Interim Director for Children’s Integrated Services

Lisa Lopez, Lead Commissioning Officer, introduced the report which seeks approval to secure a small block contract to provide semi-independent accommodation for up to ten older young people, to enable them to move towards living more independently, but with support available when required. Through this contract we will provide high quality accommodation for the young people whilst supporting them towards greater independence in a managed way, potentially improving their longer term outcomes around sustaining tenancies, managing budgets and understanding where to go for support.

This block contract model offers improved value for money for Nottingham City Council, and is expected to offer savings of approximately £216,944 per year once the contract is in place. This links to Nottingham City Council’s approved budget for 2022/23 onwards.

Resolved to

(1)  approve the expenditure of £2,730,000 over the entirety of the contract term (up to 7years) for the provision of a block contract for Semi-Independent Accommodation for Children in Care, as detailed in appendix 1 of the report;

(2)  approve the procurement of the block contract for Semi-Independent Accommodation for Children in Care, as detailed in appendix 1 of the report, through an appropriate procurement process, and to award the contract(s) for the services based on the outcomes of the procurement process. The approved contract(s) would commence on 1 April 2022, for a 3–year period with an option to extend on a two-yearly basis for a further four years (3+2+2), to a maximum of 7 years in total;

(3)  delegate authority to the Director for Commissioning and Procurement to approve the outcome of the procurement processes and award the contract(s) to provider that is deemed most suitable to provide these services;

(4)  delegate authority to the Head of Contracting and Procurement to sign the final contract(s) and agree annual extensions on the basis of performance and budget availability.

Reasons for recommendations:

·  To provide high quality, local accommodation for older children in care, aged 16 years and over. Commissioning a block contract for up to 10 placements within Nottingham City, in addition to the existing provision, will ensure the young people who are moving towards living independently will have access to high quality accommodation and support locally. This service will form part of a range of accommodation and support options to meet the differing needs of children in care.

·  To ensure sufficiency of local placements for the young people who require them. There is a national shortage of available placements, which can result in young people being placed outside the city, away from their support networks. Commissioning this service as a block contract will secure a fixed number of local placements exclusively for use by Nottingham City Council.

·  To improve efficiency and value for money. The proposed new service model will provide up to 10 beds at a fixed cost to Nottingham City Council. Most of the young people who will be moving into this accommodation will be moving from higher cost placements, at the appropriate time as they approach adulthood. The average cost  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14