Decision details

The commissioning of a new sensory service jointly with neighbouring authorities. A sensory service is a group of services to support people with either visual impairment or hearing impairment or both i.e. deaf, hard of hearing, blind, deaf and blind, poor eyesight. etc. and people in danger of developing these conditions.

The Cabinet considered the report of the Head of Adult Social Care which provided details of the proposals for the joint commissioning of a single sensory service in partnership with neighbouring local authorities.

Decision Made: That

1)         approval be given to the joint commissioning of a new service covering both visual and hearing impairments within the reduced funding available;

(2)       the Head of Adult Social Care in consultation with the Cabinet Member – Adult Social Care be granted delegated authority to award the new contract to the highest scoring bidder following the outcome of the joint procurement exercise.

Reasons for Decision:

The Council currently delivers, and/or commissions, a number of services from a variety of providers to support people with hearing and visual impairments. These services had been commissioned on a piecemeal basis and consequently they do not provide an integrated pathway and do not connect well together. The Council provided element of this service is a small isolated part of the overall provision and as a consequence it is disconnected from the other providers. In addition it had been difficult to guarantee a consistently reliable service as there is no cover for holidays and sickness absence. As a result of the lack of continuity and connectedness the Council had attracted criticism from the visually impaired community.

In order to address the concerns raised by the visually impaired community the Council had carried out a review of sensory services. Linked to this the Cabinet meeting held on the 3 July 2015 considered recommendations regarding savings following from the Voluntary, Community and Faith  (VCF) sector review. Members considered and agreed a budget reduction of £152,769 relating to small grants paid by Adult Social Care to the VCF sector. This budget reduction had an impact upon several of the organisations that provide services that support people with a sensory impairment. Thus it was recommended that current services be decommissioned and a single Hearing Impairment/Visual Impairment service be commissioned so that the required savings are realised and the service provided a clearer and more consistent Pathway. In addition it was proposed to commission the service on a Merseyside City Region basis to ensure that by aggregating Council budgets with other neighbouring local authorities, and jointly contracting a single contract to cover all sensory services, and secure a better, more flexible and cost effective service.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected:

Two other options had been considered:

·         Continuing to grant aid existing services at a reduced level of grant – this was not recommended as it would continue the current disconnection in service delivery and the reduced funding would either make services unsustainable or would at least increase the gaps in service delivery.

·         Commission a new single service on a Sefton only footprint – this was not recommended because although this option would address the issue of better joining up services, it was questionable whether a cost-effective, comprehensive and sustainable service would be provided within the reduced Sefton-only funding available.