Speech and language therapy and occupational therapy services

Concepts

• physiotherapy services
• birmingham
• occupational therapy services
• wider health services
• language therapy
• language
• therapy
• occupational
• speech
• community health

Location

West Midlands England:

Geochart for 1 buyers and 1 suppliers

Birmingham City Council

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Leaflet | Map tiles by Stamen Design, under CC BY 3.0. Data by OpenStreetMap, under ODbL.

Description

The Speech and Language Therapy (SaLT) and Occupational Therapy (OT) service supports SEND Locality teams in providing pupils with additional needs access to an inclusive and well-rounded education that meets their specific requirements. This service enhances practices across educational settings by delivering SALT and OT expertise to teachers and support staff through professional development frameworks. As part of a multi-disciplinary team, SaLT and OT specialists will work collaboratively with schools, early years settings, and families, fostering effective links with wider health services for comprehensive support. The service prioritises strong partnerships with parents, carers, and other stakeholders to ensure cohesive, family-centred support.

Total Quantity or Scope

The Speech and Language Therapy (SaLT) and Occupational Therapy (OT) service supports SEND Locality teams in providing pupils with additional needs access to an inclusive and well-rounded education that meets their specific requirements. This service enhances practices across educational settings by delivering SALT and OT expertise to teachers and support staff through professional development frameworks. As part of a multi-disciplinary team, SaLT and OT specialists will work collaboratively with schools, early years settings, and families, fostering effective links with wider health services for comprehensive support. The service prioritises strong partnerships with parents, carers, and other stakeholders to ensure cohesive, family-centred support. Birmingham City Council wishes to follow the Direct Award Process C to award a contract to the existing provider of speech and language therapy and occupational therapy services whose contract is due to end in March 2025. The proposed contracting arrangements are not changing considerably. BCC is of the view that the existing provider is satisfying the original contract and is likely to satisfy the proposed contract to a sufficient standard. The approximate lifetime value of the contract is £8.1M for a duration of 3 years from 1st April 2025.

Award Detail

Award Criteria

CPV Codes

• 85142100 - Physiotherapy services
• 85323000 - Community health services

Legal Justification

This is a Provider Selection Regime (PSR) intention to award notice. The awarding of this contract is subject to the Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023. For the avoidance of doubt, the provisions of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 do not apply to this award. The publication of this notice marks the start of the standstill period. Representations by providers must be made to the relevant authority by 13th March 2025. This contract has not yet formally been awarded; this notice serves as an intention to award under the PSR.

Other Information

** PREVIEW NOTICE, please check Find a Tender for full details. ** This is a Provider Selection Regime (PSR) intention to award notice. The awarding of this contract is subject to the Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023. For the avoidance of doubt, the provisions of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 do not apply to this award. The publication of this notice marks the start of the standstill period. Representations by providers must be made to decision makers by 13th March 2025. This contract has not yet formally been awarded; this notice serves as an intention to award under the PSR. Written representations should be sent to cps@birmingham.gov.uk Decision makers: Strategic Director of Children and Families in consultation with the Director of Commercial & Procurement, Procurement, Director of Finance (& Section 151 Officer) (or their delegate) and the City Solicitor & Monitoring Officer. The existing provider is satisfying the original contract and are likely to satisfy the proposed contract to a sufficient standard taking into account the key criteria as follows: (a) Quality and innovation. The existing provider has demonstrated innovation through implementing the balanced system approach to build knowledge, understanding and the capacity of schools in meeting the needs of CYP with speech, language and communication difficulties and sensory issues, alongside offering early advice and guidance to parents and carers. The provider has also demonstrated a willingness to undertake change and transformation, working with Birmingham City Council to implement large scale transformation that ushers in innovative practice that will generate gains for this service in the long term. Feedback from education colleagues and families have positively rated the quality of advice and support given. (b) Value. The service has been designed to ensure value by employing staff at appropriate grades, striking a balance between cost efficiency and the expertise required to deliver high-quality support. This strategic allocation of resources enables the service to meet growing demand effectively while maintaining financial sustainability. Wider organisational transformation currently taking place at Birmingham Community Health Care Trust ensures the delivery of good services at good value, achieving efficiencies through a combination of workforce integration, service consolidation and digital innovation. Additionally, while increase in demand for the service has resulted in increases in budget contributions from both Birmingham City Council and the Birmingham Integrated Care Board over the past four years, the service continues to deliver excellent value against demographic growth projections and inflationary pressures. (c) Integration, collaboration and service sustainability. The transformation of SaLT and OT services for children began in 2020 with the implementation of a national evidence-based framework known as The Balanced System. This model provides support for children and young people across all age groups at universal, targeted, and specialist levels. The existing agreement, along with the proposed contract, integrates the role of Locality SaLT and OT practitioners as part of the universal support available to families, schools, and settings and integrates service provision across health, social care and education partners in the city. This approach enhances the capacity of the existing infrastructure, ensuring a more cohesive and effective delivery of services. Birmingham Community Health Care Trust is uniquely positioned to deliver this service in all school settings at the scale required, allowing for additional economies of scale benefits and opportunities for system wide collaboration. (d) Improving access. The Balanced System approach allocates resources based on an analysis of population needs, ensuring that support is targeted where it is most required. This contract would enable an increase in the number of pupils receiving support within educational settings, as well as the number of parents accessing timely advice and assistance. By working in this way, schools are better equipped to identify needs and implement appropriate provisions, thereby improving access to learning and supporting better outcomes for children and young people. By providing a consistent standard of service across all schools in the city, Birmingham Community Health Care Trust delivers on the locality-based model of provision, prioritising right support at the right place and right time with improved access to provision which meets the needs of the families, children and young people in line with the Children and Families Act 2014 and SEND Code of Practice. (e) Social value. The service provides additional social value by addressing the resource market gap, attracting and upskilling local talent to bridge the current demand for SaLT and OT professionals in the city. It complements Birmingham's education offer by enhancing support in schools, enabling better identification and provision for children with additional needs. Additionally, the service strengthens the family-based support model, which is largely recognised as a best practice sector wide. Social value commitments will be obtained from the provider. These will form part of the new contract and will be monitored throughout the contract duration.