The Fosterline Service

Concepts

• fosterline service
• technical support
• independent national advice service
• current service
• ongoing services
• scope of fosterline
• services aim
• helpline service
• behalf of the department
• helpdesk and support

Location

Description

It is the Department for Educations intention to undertake a procurement exercise to appoint a suitably experienced organisation to deliver The Fosterline Service on behalf of the Department from 1st October 2023. The Fosterline Service is a free, independent national advice service that offers support for both current and prospective foster carers. It has been in place since 2006, funded by the Department of Education. During that time, the Department also increased the scope of Fosterline from responding to ad hoc enquiries to offering individualised ongoing services for current or prospective foster carers requiring help with ongoing issues or detailed tax and benefits advice. The services aim to support foster families to stay together during times of crisis, reducing placement breakdown, and avoiding costs associated with this. The current service is widely used, with over 108,000 contacts (through the helpline service, 1-2-1s, web-chats, emails, website visits etc )in the year 2021-22. In order to provide further information on the opportunity a market engagement webinar will be held on 12/1/23 from 10:00am - 11:30am GMT. This will be an online event hosted through Microsoft Teams platform.

CPV Codes

• 71356300 - Technical support services
• 72253000 - Helpdesk and support services

Indicators

• Contract is suitable for SMEs.
• Contract is suitable for VCOs.

Other Information

To register for the event, you will need to be registered as a supplier on the DfE Jaggaer eTendering portal, available at https://education.app.jaggaer.com/web/login.html Once registered the event will be accessible via the 'View Opportunities' link on the Homepage. Select the Opportunity Notice for 'The Fosterline Service Engagement Event' (SSQ_326) and this will take you directly to the registration page. The closing date for registering your interest of the market engagement event is 17:00 GMT on the 10/1/23 Scope of the Service To run Fosterline, the free service for prospective and current foster carers by providing a telephone helpline, website, social media presence and 1-2-1 support service on a referral basis.