Additional Reception Accommodation for Newly arrived Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Young People

Concepts

• welfare services
• maidstone
• uasc
• additional reception accommodation
• children and young people
• unaccompanied asylum-seeking children
• unaccompanied asylum seeking young people
• council’s services for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children
• reception centre
• humanitarian accommodation

Location

Description

Kent County Council (the Council) is the largest county council in England covering an area of 3,500 square kilometres with a population of approx. 1.6m. KCC spends in excess of £1 billion annually on works, goods, and services for the benefit of the communities and citizens of Kent. The Council provides a wide range of personal and strategic services on behalf of its residents, operating in partnership with 12 district councils. The Council’s Services for Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children (SUASC) has a statutory responsibility for Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children (UASC) under the Children Act 1989 and seeks to develop additional reception accommodation for newly arrived UASC, to provide humanitarian accommodation, assess their needs, including age, and prepare those assessed as under 18 for living in the community. Having identified facilities makes the risk assessment more robust and supports the Governments Prevent agenda.

Total Quantity or Scope

Service Requirements The services required to fulfil the offer of a Reception Centre is made up of: • Accommodation for UASC males; must be single bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms with some shared facilities i.e., kitchen and dining facilities and shared lounges. • Accommodation for staff such as offices, meeting rooms and communal areas to deliver the independence skills required, various assessments and administrative functions. • Housing support from the landlord including furniture, safety equipment such as CCTV and concierge services. • Support staff/Social Worker support. Ideally, the Reception Centre must be able to flex to an increasing need, potentially by having bedrooms and communal space of a size to fit more than one single male in one room. Physical Accommodation Requirements • A single building or grouped buildings on the same site of between 80-120 units. We will NOT be interested in small properties dispersed across the county. • The building/grouped buildings must have the correct planning permission in place to be able to deliver this service to this specific cohort. • A location in the East or South of the County (Kent). • Set in a discrete location to have minimal impact on the local community. • Catering facility able to accommodate the number of occupants. • Only male aged 16-17 occupancy. • Minimum capacity of 80 placements, ideally up to 120. • Communal areas are available for socialising, lessons, and briefings. • Low maintenance costs. • Easy to repair given propensity for damage. • Space for office accommodation for the SUASC Operational Team (22 staff).

Renewal Options

May be subject to renewal following end of contract.

CPV Codes

• 85311300 - Welfare services for children and young people

Indicators

• Renewals are available.

Other Information

** PREVIEW NOTICE, please check Find a Tender for full details. ** The Council would like to hear from organisations, which may be interested in tendering for this opportunity, to discuss ideas on how this could be most effectively and efficiently delivered and to provide greater insight into the market. The Council may arrange to meet with interested organisations, either individually or at an open market engagement event, depending on the levels of interest in this PIN. Any meetings that take place as a result of this PIN will be for the purpose of market engagement and information gathering and will not form part of the formal tendering process which will follow at a later date. If your organisation is interested in potentially delivering this service, please ‘Register an Interest’ in this PIN. The information requested below is to ensure that the minimum requirements could be met if you were to tender for this contract and will assist us in being able to capture the market capability, capacity, and appetite for delivering this service. When you express an interest, please email CICCommissioning@kent.gov.uk with the subject line "Additional UASC Accommodation EOI" confirming the following information: 1. company name 2. contact details 3. the minimum number of units that you would be able to supply 4. whether it would be one building, or a group of buildings on one site 5. location of building(s) Expression of Interest Deadline: Wednesday 1 February 2023