Agenda item

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 of a placement for a young person who requires this type of support, and is currently in semi-independent accommodation, is approximately £1,459 per placement per week. The expected cost of the Semi-Independent Accommodation block contract will be approximately £750 per placement per week. Therefore, once variations have been considered, the proposed new service model offers expected savings of approximately £216,944 per year once the contract is in place.

·  To manage the market. The shortage of placements has led to increased demand and high placement costs, with placements being taken by other local authorities. Commissioning this service will increase local placements available, and therefore reduces competition for other placements as well as costs. Should there be additional demand for the service, Nottingham City Council could seek to negotiate for additional placements with the provider, at additional costs and subject to approval.

Other options considered:

·  Develop additional internal semi-independent accommodation. The existing internal provision for semi-independent accommodation takes the form of a centralised management ‘hub’ shared across the satellite properties. This management ‘hub’ is at capacity, and any new internal provision could not be

developed as a satellite of the existing internal provision. Therefore a new ‘hub’ would be required to expand internal provision. This means the model would not be cost effective in the short-medium term, and would not realise the savings required.

·  Do nothing. Taking no action will mean outcomes for children in care are likely to be negatively impacted and costs will increase. Lack of sufficiency in both the internal and external markets mean that without action, Nottingham City Council will not be able to secure the best placements for each child. More children will be placed out of area, leading to more disruption for the child/young person, and lost connections to friends and loved ones. Matching options will be increasingly limited, making it ever more difficult and costly to secure placements, particularly for those with the most complex needs. Lack of suitable placements for children/young people with highly complex needs will mean these needs will not effectively be de-escalated, potentially leading to risk of CSE, criminal exploitation, offending behaviour, and long term poor outcomes. Choice and diversity of provision are required to meet the needs of each individual child/young person. Therefore this option is not recommended.