Agenda item

Report of the Portfolio Holder for Adult Care and Local Transport

Claire Labdon-West, Lead Commissioning Manager, introduced the report seeking approval to commission four Housing Related Support Services and two Independent Living Support Services for people with mental ill health. These services support adults with mental ill health to live independently or to recover sufficiently to move to more independent living arrangements and to help reduce the need for other more intensive forms of support.

Discussions are ongoing with the NHS around funding for commissioned health-related services.

RESOLVED to

(1)  approve the commissioning of a Mental Health Reablement service, which will replace the current Independent Living Support Service for which the contract ends on the 31^st of March 2020;

(2)  approve to undertake a tender process for a Mental Health Reablement service, four accommodation based Housing Related Support (HRS) services and the Forensic Outreach Service for a contract period of 3+2+2+2 years. This will be for an annual contractual value of up to £1,595,024;

(3)  delegate authority to the Head of Service for Contracting and Procurement to approve and sign off the outcome of the tender process for the four HRS services, the Mental Health Reablement service and the Forensic Outreach Service and to award a contract;

(4)  note that one of the HRS services, Hughenden Lodge, is subject to agreement by NHS Greater Nottingham Clinical Commissioning Partnership to maintain joint funding. Discussions with NHS Greater Nottingham Clinical Commissioning Partnership suggests that they may change the method of payment from a block fund arrangement to a S117 and continuing healthcare arrangement. NCC should receive confirmation by the latest February 2020 as to how they will pay for the service;

(5)  approve the spend associated with this decision in recommendation (£14,355,216) for a potential contract period of nine years;

(6)  approve an extension of six months from 1^st of April 2020 in relation to the current contracts. This will be required if there is a change in provider and a longer implementation period is required or for some other reason. This will be up to a total value of £797,512;

(7)  approve dispensation from Contract Procedure Rules 5.1.1 and 5.1.2 in accordance with Financial regulations 3.29 to allow for 6 month extensions as outlines in recommendation 6 and for the funding of services for the 6 month period as outlined in appendix 1;

(8)  delegate authority to the Head of Contracting and Procurement to issue extensions to contracts up to the values noted in appendix 1.

Reasons for decision

·  The services within the scope of this report have been reviewed recently. The review concluded that these services are generally operating effectively in line with current requirements. These services enable the Council to deliver against its statutory requirements under the Mental Health Act 1983 and the Care Act 2014.

·  Approval is sought to procure six services: a Mental Health Reablement Service, four accommodation based HRS services and the Forensic Outreach Service which will support people with mental ill health. A competitive tender process will be undertaken which will deliver value for money.

·  The recent review suggests that the current HRS services provide value for money when compared against other provision within the mental health pathway such as residential care or accommodation based Care Support and Enablement.

·  Longer contract periods are being recommended for the services outlined in appendix 1 as this will support opportunity for providers to innovate during the contract life and respond to any necessary and permitted contractual changes.

·  The provision to extend the current contracts for a period of up to six months is recommended to provide sufficient time for implementation should a new provider successfully bid for the contract. It will allow potential new providers to support services users with transition arrangements. If the existing provider is successful in the tender process then an extension should not be required.

·  The contracts will allow commissioners to review services in the context of budgetary pressures as well as managing any changes required due to a shift in policy and legislative changes.

Other options considered

·  The option not to procure but to directly award the services to current providers was considered however this was discounted as it would mean that NCC were not meeting its legal obligations under procurement law.