Councillors and committees

Agenda item

Contract Award - Countywide Carers Support

Decision:

RESOLVED:

 

That the award of four contracts for the provision of specialist countywide carers support services be approved to the following:

·                Young Carers and Young Adult Carers awarded to Action for Carers Surrey

·                “Giving Carers A Voice” And Multi Agency Awareness Raising awarded to Action for Carers Surrey

·                Back Care Services awarded to Action for Carers Surrey

·                Benefits Advice for Carers awarded to Surrey Welfare Rights Unit.

Each contract is for a period of two years commencing 1 August 2017 with an option to extend on one or more occasions for up to a total period of two years.

Reasons for Decisions:

Local Authorities have a statutory duty to support adult and young carers in case of need, which could be met through a variety of approaches. There are also specific key objectives in the National Carers Strategy to engage with carers and young carers in co-design and to ensure staff are properly briefed about carers needs. Following an assessment of several service delivery and procurement options, it was concluded that a full competitive tender based on subject specific lots was the most appropriate approach. The project is funded from the Better Care Fund and forms part of the Surrey Better Care Plan.

This procurement exercise was carried out in collaboration with Surrey’s six NHS Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs). The objective being to secure the best supplier(s) delivering cost effective, high quality services against agreed specifications that will improve the quality of life for carers.

An open, fair and transparent tender process was undertaken and potential providers were invited to bid for one lot for each service. Following a thorough evaluation process suppliers were selected for each area. 

The recommended bidders have demonstrated that they can deliver high quality services expected by Surrey County Council (SCC) and the CCGs.

There is strong evidence from national cost modelling, that support to carers helps prevent breakdown of caring situations and avoids far greater cost for the provision of more expensive, more intrusive “care packages” or interventions. Although no accurate calculation of the benefits can be made it is estimated £17.2 million of additional care and support costs will be prevented over the life of these contracts.

[The decisions on this item can be called in by the Adults and Health Select Committee]

 

Minutes:

Introducing this report, the Cabinet Member for Adults said that ensuring that there was adequate support for carers was a key priority for both Adult Social Care (ASC) and the Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) in Surrey.

According to the 2011 Census there were 108,433 carers in Surrey and of these, 52,050 carers were providing over 20 hours care a week. Therefore, to ensure its effective delivery, the CCGs and SCC had undertaken joint procurement exercises for four support services for Carers:

·                Specialist Young Carers Service

·                Giving carers a voice and multi-agency awareness raising for carers

·                Back Care Services

·                Welfare Benefits Advice for carers

 

The services were currently being delivered as eight individual grant agreements which would end on 31 July 2017.

    

He said that a procurement exercise had been undertaken but due to the commercial sensitivity involved in the contract award process, the financial details of the successful providers and the scoring summary were detailed in the Part 2 annex to this report.

He also highlighted the financial and value for money implications, as set out in the report, and said that there was strong evidence that supporting carers helped prevent breakdown of caring situations and avoided far greater costs for the provision of more expensive and more intrusive ‘care packages’.

Finally, he drew attention to the comprehensive Equality Impact Assessment attached to the report.

The Cabinet Member for Children said that she was pleased to see that these contracts for Countywide Carers support incorporated young carers and stressed the importance of recognising and identifying them.

RESOLVED:

 

That the award of four contracts for the provision of specialist countywide carers support services be approved to the following:

·                Young Carers and Young Adult Carers awarded to Action for Carers Surrey

·                “Giving Carers A Voice” And Multi Agency Awareness Raising awarded to Action for Carers Surrey

·                Back Care Services awarded to Action for Carers Surrey

·                Benefits Advice for Carers awarded to Surrey Welfare Rights Unit.

Each contract is for a period of two years commencing 1 August 2017 with an option to extend on one or more occasions for up to a total period of two years.

Reasons for Decisions:

Local Authorities have a statutory duty to support adult and young carers in case of need, which could be met through a variety of approaches. There are also specific key objectives in the National Carers Strategy to engage with carers and young carers in co-design and to ensure staff are properly briefed about carers needs. Following an assessment of several service delivery and procurement options, it was concluded that a full competitive tender based on subject specific lots was the most appropriate approach. The project is funded from the Better Care Fund and forms part of the Surrey Better Care Plan.

This procurement exercise was carried out in collaboration with Surrey’s six NHS Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs). The objective being to secure the best supplier(s) delivering cost effective, high quality services against agreed specifications that will improve the quality of life for carers.

An open, fair and transparent tender process was undertaken and potential providers were invited to bid for one lot for each service. Following a thorough evaluation process suppliers were selected for each area. 

The recommended bidders have demonstrated that they can deliver high quality services expected by Surrey County Council (SCC) and the CCGs.

There is strong evidence from national cost modelling, that support to carers helps prevent breakdown of caring situations and avoids far greater cost for the provision of more expensive, more intrusive “care packages” or interventions. Although no accurate calculation of the benefits can be made it is estimated £17.2 million of additional care and support costs will be prevented over the life of these contracts.

 

Supporting documents: