Decisions

Surrey County Council (SCC) has a statutory duty to support disabled children, young people and their families. Personal Support is part of the short breaks offer but is a specialist service and is only available following assessment. 

Personal Support is home-based care, primarily used by SCC’s Children with Disabilities team to provide families with respite care (short break), in accordance with their assessed needs. Personal support may also be used to provide other types of support such as emergency or crisis support and support outside the home for children and young people to access and be included in social and leisure actives in their local communities.

The services provided through the new contract will be available to all of the Children’s Services teams and the procurement value reflects this scope.

The new DPS for Personal Support Services will commence on 1^st April 2024 and it will be in place for 3 years, up to 31^st March 2027. There is also an available extension of 2 years taking this to 31^st March 2029.

It was AGREED that:

1. Surrey County Council will award a DPS to deliver Short Breaks Services (see Procurement Report).
2. Surrey County Council will award Call-Off Contracts to the successful Suppliers (see Procurement Report) to Lots 1-6 as a result of the 1^st Mini-Competition run in parallel to the setup of the DPS
3. All future Call Off-Contracts for individual placements and block contracts via a mini competition made under the DPS will be approved by the Director of Commissioning and/or Head of Service.

This decision record sets out the key information for publication on the decision by the Executive Director for Customer, Digital and Transformation to approve expenditure for a Your Fund Surrey project located in Tandridge. The agreed recommendations are set out below and details of the project are set out in a decision report attached as an annex to this record.

It was AGREED:

(Officer Recommendations in consultation with the Advisory Panel)

1.    To fund project CF333 for the full £99,000 requested, composed of:

·           £99,000 of capital funding towards the groundworks and playground equipment to be paid in staged payments, on evidence of spend.

·           Including £4,950 (5%) to be held by SCC until final evidence of income, expenditure and evaluation is received.

2.      To agree the following conditions for the applicant to be included within the funding agreement:

·         final evidence of all other funding secured to complete the project

·         final evidence of income & expenditure and evaluation prior to release of final payment

·         the applicant uses all possible measures identified to increase sustainability and reduce environmental impact during construction and operation of the facility

3.      To encourage applicant to consider all reasonable measures which could be undertaken to expand the reach and use of the facility.

On 26 May 2022 the government announced, as part of a number of measures to provide help with global inflationary challenges and the significantly rising cost of living, that the £421m Household Support Fund (HSF) would be extended from 01 October 2022 to 31 March 2023. As has been done for previous schemes, the fund will be made available to County Councils and Unitary Authorities in England to support those most in need. Local authorities (LAs) have discretion on exactly how this funding is used within the scope of the grant determination and guidance. Surrey County Council’s allocation of the funding is £5,290,829.72, based on the population of each authority weighted by a function of the English Index of Multiple Deprivation.

The expectation is that The Fund should be used to support households in the most need; particularly those who may not be eligible for the other support government has recently made available but who are nevertheless in need. Energy bills may be of particular concern to low income households during the period of The Fund and LAs should prioritise supporting households with the cost of energy. Authorities should also consider providing support to disabled people in their area. Disabled people in particular may be facing acute challenges due to the disproportionate impact that rising costs bring for the additional services they need in order to manage their conditions, remain independent and avoid becoming socially isolated. Authorities have the ability to deliver the scheme through a variety of routes including providing vouchers to households, making direct provision of food or goods, or issuing grants to third parties (with the exception of grants for advice provision). Every area must operate at least part of their scheme on an application basis.

Payment of the grant allocation is on an arrears basis and is subject to the submission of two Management Information (MI) returns to DWP outlining the authority’s grant spend and the volume of awards for period 1 October – 31 December 2022 (due January ‘23 ) and for the period 1 October – 31 March 2023 (due April ‘23).

It was AGREED that:

The following allocations would be made, to be funded by Surrey County Council’s allocation of the Household Support Grant:

It was AGREED that:

Sponsors in Surrey hosting guest/s under the Homes for Ukraine scheme should be offered an additional £250 payment per month between November 2022 and March 2023.  The additional £250 payment will be top sliced from the £10,500 per guest tariff paid from DLUHC.

The existing school accommodation at the St Matthews CofE Primary School does not enable the provision of a full statutory educational offer that meets the educational needs of Surrey’s most vulnerable learners; therefore, a new block is required. The school is forecast to accommodate an additional 13 primary aged SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) pupils. The places are planned to be phased in over a period of 3-4 years commencing in September 2023. 

This project therefore will involve the design and construction of a new building adjacent the main school which will provide high quality modern accommodation facilitating the best learning environment for the new cohort of 13 SEND pupils.

Following a compliant tender exercise, it is proposed to award the contract to TG Escapes Ltd. The Contract value is £1,180,500.

It was AGREED that:

1.           To direct award a contract to Prosper and Enterprise Ltd for the provision of three block beds at Bransfield Manor residential home.

It was AGREED that: A Contract is awarded to ThamesWey Sustainable Communities Limited following an open procedure.