Agenda item

Report of the Executive Director - Adult Social Care, Health and Wellbeing (Place Director)

The Cabinet considered the report of the Executive Director - Adult Social Care, Health and Wellbeing (Place Director) outlining the recommended approach to the future commissioning arrangements for all age carers support and advice, currently provided by Sefton Carers Centre. The existing contract would expire in March 2025 and a new arrangement would need to be put in place. The report outlined the estimated number of carers and young carers within the Borough, together with the services offered by the Sefton Carers Centre. The report recommended a procurement exercise to award a 3-year contract award with opportunity to extend the contract subject to a formal review. This would allow support and advice for carers to be aligned to the Carers Strategy for Sefton and would enable the new service to provide longer term continuity to carers and respond to the needs of all carers of both children and adults in theBorough.

Decisions Made:

That

(1)       the commencement of a procurement exercise to extend and develop Sefton’s Carer Service provision in Sefton that will be established for up to, and not more than, a five-year period, commencing in April 2025 (3 years +1 year+1 year), be approved; the total Local Authority budget for the contract from April 2025 to be £990,930 and additional Integrated Care Board (ICB) funding for 25/26 is anticipated to be £132,000;

(2)      decisions on the model for the new Carers Service provision, including the workforce strategy, service specification (including young carers service support and provision), quality and cost threshold, initial procurement and tender evaluation process, and any contract variations throughout the life of the new Carers Service provision to deal with any specific additional service delivery requirements be delegated to the Executive Director - Adult Social Care, Health and Wellbeing (Place Director), and the Executive Director - Children’s Social Care and Education, in consultation with the Cabinet Member – Children, Schools and Families and the Cabinet Member - Adult Social Care and Health,

(3)      contracts be awarded for an initial contract term of three years with the option to further extend for a period of up to two years, (either as a single extension or via two separate twelve-month extensions) subject to satisfactory performance and being able to demonstrate the achievement of value for money of the successful supplier/s and the required budget being available, and that decisions on the awarding of the contracts, and any permitted extensions thereof, be delegated to the Executive Director of Adult Social Care, Health and Wellbeing (Place Director), the Executive Director - Children’s Social Care and Education, and the Cabinet Member – Children, Schools and Families and the Cabinet Member - Adult Social Care and Health;

(4)      should it be identified during the contractual period that the contracts need to be increased in value to reflect increases in demand for carer services and to ensure that Sefton continues to meet its statutory obligations, then delegated authority be granted to the Executive Director of Adult Social Care, Health and Wellbeing (Place Director), in consultation with theExecutive Director - Children’s Social Care and Education, and the and theCabinet Member – Children, Schools and Families and the Cabinet Member - Adult Social Care and Health, to approve any such increases, under the proviso that the additional expenditure can be met within existing budget provision, falls within the associated delegated authority to approve such an increase, and is in line with the applicable procurement regulations;

(5)      throughout the life of the commissioned Carer Support Service provision, delegated authority be granted to the Executive Director of Adult Social Care, Health and Wellbeing (Place Director), alongside the Executive Director - Children’s Social Care and Education and in consultation with theCabinet Member – Children, Schools and Families and the Cabinet Member - Adult Social Care and Health, to make decisions on any amendments to its operation, so as to ensure that such decisions can be implemented in a timely manner and so that the provider is able to operate in a flexible way which addresses any emerging issues and supports wider work such as the further integration of Health and Children Social Care services with Adult Social Care; and

(6)      decisions regarding the pooling of any other funding between Children’s Social Care, Adult Social Care and the Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care Board for Sefton, be delegated to the Executive Director of Adult Social Care, Health and Wellbeing who is also the ICB Place Director for Sefton, in consultation with the Executive Director - Children’s Social Care and Education and the Cabinet Member – Children, Schools and Families and the Cabinet Member - Adult Social Care and Health.

Reasons for the Decisions:

To follow Sefton Council’s procurement cycle to ensure that commissioning arrangements for the provision of a Carer Support and Advisory Service within Sefton were directed by Sefton, to meet its demographic requirements, were in place to meet the assessed needs of Sefton’s residents, so that future decisions on commissioning and market management could be made in a timely manner and to put in place new contractual and service delivery arrangements which both sought to ensure market sustainability and reduced disruption to Service Users.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected:

1.       Maintaining the status quo – The current provider arrangement was an extension of an Agreement, and a new contract was required that was robust and up to date in terms and conditions with defined and agreed contractual lifespan.