Decision details

Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council is currently developing a comprehensive Community Adolescence Service with support from the DfE.
This new service will have at its core a commitment to evidence based progressive theory and practice.
As part of this development the Council is seeking a partner from the Independent Sector to provide a dedicated residential care home. For the chosen provider of the residential care home, this represents an exciting opportunity to contribute to a new way of working with a high DfE profile.
A key element of this scheme will be that the provider’s staff team, involved in this project, will receive full training in social Pedagogy and Restorative practice funded by the purchaser.
The scheme will also be externally evaluated for evidence of impact and the results will be of national standing.
The procurement of this residential home will be based on a block contract and represents a guaranteed source of annual income for the successful provider.

The Cabinet considered the report of the Director of Director of Young People and Families which provided details of proposals to invite tenders for a four bedded residential children’s home as part of the Department for Education Innovation Programme to develop an adolescent service to commence in Summer 2015.

Decision Made:

(1)       the tender process for the provision of a four bedded residential children’s home as part of the adolescent service be approved;

(2)       the Director of Young People and Families be authorised to approve the short list of providers for the contract subject to the appropriate review of the Pre- Qualification Questionnaire;

(3)       the tenders  be evaluated using the evaluation criteria set out in paragraph 2.3 of the report; and

(4)       the Director of Young People and Families be authorised to award the contract to the highest scoring tenderer.

Reasons for Decision:

Sefton Council was currently developing a comprehensive Community Adolescence Service with significant financial support from the Department for Education Innovation Programme in the shape of a £1.1m grant.  As part of this development and in keeping with the detail of the grant application the Council was seeking a partner from the Independent Sector to provide a dedicated residential care home. For the chosen provider of the residential care home, this represented an exciting opportunity to contribute to a new way of working with a high DfE profile. 

The successful application by the Council to the Department for Education (DfE) outlined the partnership of the programme across statutory partners, the voluntary and the independent sector.  The application specifically outlined the proposal to engage with an independent children’s home provider for the supply of a four bedded home.  This multi-sector partnership was seen as demonstrating the innovation that the DfE were seeking in making awards.  There were currently 30 children’s homes registered with Ofsted in the Borough, of these 3 (10%) are provided by the Council with the others being provided by the independent sector including some voluntary sector provision.  In total these homes provide more than 130 beds with less than 30 of those beds being occupied by Children “Looked After” by the Council. In 2014/15 the Council spent £4.3m on residential care.  Reducing the high costs of this provision is one of the purposes and success factors of the Innovation Programme.

The average cost of each of these beds was £2,500 per week, therefore the potential gross turnover of this sector, assuming full occupancy, is £16.9 million per annum.

The DfE Innovation Programme was a pilot and if it is not successful in supporting fewer adolescent children coming into care then it would not continue. Partnering with the independent sector was therefore not only innovative but reduced the risk to the Council during and beyond the lifetime of the programme.

There would be no capital costs incurred by the programme. It was expected that the conditions of the contract would achieve a 25% reduction in unit costs due to the “block” nature (4 beds) of the contract as opposed to “spot” purchase (individual beds).

Working in partnership across sectors including the independent sector was a critical element of the successful application for the £1.1m DfE grant.  The partnership minimises the on-going risk to the Council during and beyond the programme lifetime. The contract would deliver improved value for money including reduced unit cost per bed in the residential sector.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected:

The Council could provide this service itself but it was not consistent with the grant and it would be unlikely to be seen as “innovation” and therefore would not attract the grant award (£1.1m). In addition it would place significant recurrent cost to the Council and would not be provided at the projected cost.