Contract for 16+ Accommodation and Support Pathway

Concepts

• social work
• maidstone
• kent
• accommodation and support service
• support services
• support pathways
• sufficient accommodation
• support service
• current provision of unregulated accommodation
• intensive support service model

Location

Kent County

Description

Kent County Council has a statutory responsibility to safeguard and promote the welfare of Kent Children in Care and ensure best value for money it spends on behalf of the Kent population. It also has a statutory responsibility to ensure there is safe and sufficient accommodation for Children in Care. The KCC Sufficiency Strategy for 2022-2027 sets out our approach to meet this statutory responsibility over the next five years. In addition, in December 2021, the Department for Education outlined its intention to introduce national standards for independent and semi-independent provision for looked after children and care leavers aged 16 and 17, which will be overseen by an Ofsted led registration and inspection regime. The implication of this, is that current provision of unregulated accommodation and support services within Kent, will need to be decommissioned during a 12 months transition process, commencing in April 2023, to meet the new national regulation standards. The Council is working to redesign and align the existing accommodation and support pathways for Care Leavers, Children in Care and Children in Need 16 and 17 year-olds. This includes purchasing a good range of stable, safe, and well-maintained accommodation and support services that are flexible to meet individual and changing demands. This Prior Information Notice (PIN) is to advise prospective providers of the Council's intention to hold early market engagement with providers, in order to ascertain their intention about becoming regulated providers, and plan and conduct the procurement of the Accommodation and Support service, with the aim to commence the procurement by 1 April 2023.

Total Quantity or Scope

The Services required to fulfill the offer of an Accommodation and Support Pathway are made up of: High/Medium Needs Supported Accommodation - the capacity to support 16/17-year-old young people by providing an intensive support service model. This will require adequate accommodation units spread evenly across the 12 districts, providing a range of medium/high level support between seven to twenty-one hours per week for 16/17-year-old young people as set out by the new Ofsted Regulations. Low Needs Supported Accommodation - to provide up to seven hours of support per week is to be provided via an outreach support or on-site staffed provision. The young people need to receive the appropriate support based on their needs, to help them develop skills for adult living. This may include arranging support sessions on education and training, including opportunities such as apprenticeships; tools and/or resources to support their mental and physical health; employment, including job and interview skills; domestic skills such as cooking nutritious meals and budgeting. The Council also expects providers to aid integration into the community by signposting young people to multi-agency opportunities. Support will be in line with the new Ofsted Regulations. 18+ Transitional Property Only Model Accommodation - there are currently over 450 young adults aged 18+ who are accommodated under this arrangement. It is anticipated that this figure will increase over the course of the contract. The Provider must consistently ensure that demand is always met. For unstaffed accommodation, it is expected that routine and unannounced visits (out of hours) will be undertaken to ensure the safety of our young adults and to prevent anti-social behaviour. On occasions, outreach support may need to be required on a case-by-case basis, as this service is transitional for young adults to then move on into their own independent accommodation. The service will require the provider to source and secure appropriate and affordable accommodation and provide housing management support that will enable eligible young people to enter and maintain their own tenancies and manage their rental payments in community-based properties of bedrooms four or less or purpose built HMOs dispersed across the county. Properties must: • have the correct planning permission in place to be able to deliver this service to this specific cohort. • be located within Kent. • set in a location which will have minimal impact on the local community. • have communal areas, which are available for socialising and support sessions. • have low maintenance costs. • be easy to repair, given propensity for damage. The Council is seeking expressions of interest to participate in early market engagement from suitably experienced providers with the capacity and capability to provide any or all of the services and would be interested in tendering for this opportunity at a later date. We are also looking to understand what the impact of the national standards and Ofsted inspection regime on this sector and how you could manage these services under these new regulations. Ofsted are expected to announce more details by April 2023 at which point we are hoping to be tendering with a contract award date of October 2023 with a mobilisation / transition start 1 April 2024. The responses we receive from the market to the Supported Accommodation Pathway survey, will help to shape not only our specifications but also capture market capability and appetite of these changes. The Supported Accommodation Pathway questionnaire should completed and returned by 27 February 2023 using the link below: https://forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=DaJTMjXH_kuotz5qs39fkOQhB7bc... The specifications for the proposed new services and pathway are currently being developed with key stakeholders and will be shared later. However, the key principles of each of the new services as set out above, we foresee, will remain the same but could be subject to change.

CPV Codes

• 85311000 - Social work services with accommodation
• 85311300 - Welfare services for children and young people

Other Information

** PREVIEW NOTICE, please check Find a Tender for full details. ** The Contract for 16+ Accommodation and Support Pathway Services falls under services to which the Light Touch Regime applies. As such, Kent County Council will use the LTR flexibilities under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015.