Agenda item - D2N2 Supported Accommodation Framework

Agenda item

D2N2 Supported Accommodation Framework

Joint report of Directors for Children’s Integrated Services & Commissioning and Procurement

Minutes:

Lisa Lopez, Lead Commissioning Officer, presented the report, highlighting the following:

 

·  Nottingham City Council’s (NCC) current accreditation process for Semi-Independent Accommodation was due to end, and the existing contracts due to expire, in March 2023;

 

·  as such, approval was being sought to utilise the opportunity to jointly commission a Supported Accommodation light-touch framework contract across the D2N2 area, replacing the existing accreditation;

 

·  as this would be a framework, and therefore services paid for solely based on activity, the costs in the report were only indicative and NCC would only pay for services actually commissioned;

 

·  commissioning services jointly across the D2N2 area was likely to result in more efficient use of resources, and, as Derby City Council were leading the re-commissioning, it would reduce pressure on NCC resources and align with the Residential and Foster Carers frameworks, which are currently jointly commissioned across D2N2.

 

In response to questions, Ms Lopez stated that although the:

 

·  main aim of the service was around accommodation provision, it also included life-skills training, such as financial responsibility etc;

 

·  D2N2 area was large, with providers across all regions, NCC would look to place service users locally where possible, or across the region if that was more appropriate.

 

Resolved

 

(1)  to approve:

 

(a)  procurement of the provision of Supported Accommodation for Children in Care, as detailed in appendix 1, in partnership with the D2N2 councils, through an appropriate procurement process led by Derby City Council, to commence on 1 August 2022 for a five–year period, with an option to extend for a further two periods of 2-years and one period of 1-year (5+2+2+1), therefore up to a maximum 10 years in total;

 

(b)  a maximum expenditure of £12,355,200 for the provisionover the entirety of the contract (up to 10 years), to be met from the Children's Placement Service budget;

 

(3)  to delegate authority to the:

 

(a)  Head of Contracting and Procurement to sign as required any inter-Local Authority partnership agreement to set out the legally binding relationship and inter-dependencies between Nottingham City, Derby City, Derbyshire County and Nottinghamshire County Councils;

 

(b)  Head of Children in Care (Regulated Services) to award any call-off contract(s) in accordance with the Council’s scheme of delegation number 274(a).

 

Reasons for recommendations

 

1)  To provide high quality, local accommodation for older children in care, aged 16 years and over. Commissioning a light touch framework contract for placements within Nottingham City, in addition to the other existing provision, will ensure the young people who are moving towards living independently will have access to high quality accommodation and support locally.

 

2)  The current Nottingham City Council accreditation has over 50 providers – this is extremely challenging for our Quality Assurance colleagues to monitor on an ongoing basis. The D2N2 framework will have up to 10 providers for each local authority – this will provide sufficient opportunities to secure placements, whilst keeping the number of providers manageable and thus improving quality. This service will form part of a range of accommodation and support options to meet the differing needs of children in care.

 

3)  To fulfil Nottingham City Council’s statutory duties. Nottingham City Council has a statutory duty to provide sufficient accommodation for its Looked After Children. For those young people aged 16 years and above (who have left school), it is often appropriate to provide this accommodation in a semi-independent setting, in order to successfully prepare young people for independent living. Nottingham City Council’s accreditation for Supported Accommodation is due to end at the end of March 2022. Where there are no alternatives available, placements are spot-purchased outside of contracts.

 

4)  A national shortage of available placements means that placements can be spot-purchased wherever they are available. This results in young people being placed outside the city, away from their support networks, and lack of quality assurance of accommodation and support being provided. Commissioning a light touch framework contract for placements within Nottingham City, in addition to the other existing provision, will help to ensure statutory requirements are fulfilled, reduce incidences of spot-purchasing and help keep young people closer to home.

 

5)  To improve efficiency and value for money. Commissioning the service jointly across the D2N2 area is likely to result in more efficient use of resources – Derby City Council have led development of the service model, and will lead the procurement, which reduces pressure on Nottingham City Council’s resources. There is an existing partnership agreement in place with the other D2N2 authorities, and the proposed Supported Accommodation framework will be added to the scheme of work within that agreement. In order to take advantage of this opportunity, Nottingham City Council needs to re-commission the Supported Accommodation framework in line with the other D2N2 authorities’ timescale.

 

6)  The average cost of a placement for a young person who is currently in Supported Accommodation is approximately £750-900 per placement per week. With a light touch framework, providers submit their pricing structure within specified parameters, which is then fixed for the duration of the contract unless otherwise agreed. Because the contract is paid on activity i.e. we only pay for the placements we are using, all costs in this report are indicative.

 

7)  Providers will only be accepted onto the framework for Nottingham City Council within the agreed price banding, which is in line with the current market rates. There may be some small savings from moving to a model with a smaller number of local providers. However, the more significant savings will come from work with families to ensure less children become looked after, and from more of our placements being commissioned via provided internally or via fixed-price contracts, rather than via frameworks, accreditations, and spot-purchasing. This framework will only be used for those young people who could not be placed in our internal services, or one of our fixed-price services (for example, Supported Lodgings, or the Supported Accommodation block contract).

 

8)  To manage the market. The shortage of placements has led to increased demand and high placement costs, with providers effectively in control of the market. Many local authorities have sought to keep placements local by withdrawing from larger frameworks – this leads to more work for providers, for the same volume of work, and the costs of this are likely to be passed on to the local authorities. Commissioning this service jointly across the D2N2 area is likely to provide sufficient volume of activity to be appealing to providers, whilst keeping placements local and managing costs.

 

Other options considered

 

1)  Re-tender for a Nottingham City only Supported Accommodation, as per the current arrangements. The current accreditation was developed to allow a flexible option to purchase placements in and close to Nottingham City. However, the flexible nature of the accreditation has resulted in over 50 providers now being accredited. Nottingham City Council has no children placed with the majority of these providers, but is still required to quality assure them – an enormous undertaking which is not possible for our teams to carry out effectively. Supported Accommodation is currently not subject to national registration, and therefore this presents a risk to the quality of accommodation and support being provided, as well as creating additional work for Nottingham City Council officers. Therefore, this option is not recommended.

 

2)  Do nothing. The current Supported Accommodation accreditation is due to end at the end of March 2022. Taking no action would result in having no flexible contract arrangement in place, and all placements beyond those in our internal and fixed-price contracts would need to be spot-purchased. This would result in uncontrolled, highly varied pricing and quality, and in young people being placed outside the city, far away from their support networks. This would likely result in poorer outcomes for the young people and significantly increased costs to Nottingham City Council. Therefore, this option is not recommended.

Supporting documents: