Discovery to understand how digital can support foster carers

Tender description

Why the Work is Being Done Hackney Council recruited 18 foster carer in the last year, an increase from 11 last year. The Council looks after 360 children (mostly out of Borough) at a cost of £13m per year. The cost of children fostered through an independent agency is nearly £400 higher per week than those fostered directly through the local authority. We believe a digital service could help improve recruitment and retention of foster carers and want to develop a business case through this phase, and show the benefits of a user-centred, Agile approach to colleagues across children’s services. Problem to Be Solved We currently have 300 expressions of interest to become foster carers which resulted in successful recruitment of 18 foster families last year. We want to identify ways that we might be able to use a digital service to better target, recruit and retain foster carers. The Council competes for recruiting with independent fostering agencies (as well as benefitting from them). These agencies can be better at recruitment but cost the Council more. How might we work differently with independent foster agencies? 16 foster carers de-registered this year, and 11 last year. How might we better support and retain foster carers? Who Are the Users As a child in care I need a stable home so that I can get the support I need to develop as a confident individual. As a citizen I want to understand foster care so that I can contribute to a young person’s development. As a prospective foster carer I want clear advice to help me decide whether foster care is right for me. As a prospective foster career I want the recruitment process to be simple and supportive. As a foster carer I want an easy to use way to support the child so that there is minimal administration. Early Market Engagement Work Already Done We have identified this as a key opportunity to understand how a digital approach can support service redesign. Existing Team Fostering officer, business improvement manager and ICT project manager, developer and applications support teams as required. Current Phase Not started Work Location Hackney Service Centre, 1 Hillman Street, E8 1DY Working Arrangments We would prefer a team onsite for 3 days a week, most weeks in order to engage with fostering and ICT colleagues and build broader engagement with the style of working (eg through show and tells). Security Clearance Additional T&Cs Skills & Experience Have experience of working to the GDS service design manual Blend multi-disciplinary skills, including user research, service design, front-end development and business analysis Have experience of using systems thinking as well as digital development Provide examples of similar projects where they've produced non functional prototypes, supported by user insight to help build a business case Have developed a service which has passed a digital service standard assessment Have some knowledge of user needs, the fostering market, or the surrounding legislation Be willing for their work to be assessed publicly against the local government digital service standard Nice to Haves Be prepared to share risk and/or reward with the council if the service is attractive to other authorities Work directly with looked after children, employ care leavers on the project or foster carers Have some knowledge of user needs, the fostering market and the surrounding legislation No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 3 Proposal Criteria Quality of the technical solution Clarity of approach How the approach or solution meets user needs How the approach or solution meets our goal Estimated timeframes for the work How you've identified risks and dependencies and offered approaches to manage them Team structure, including skills, experiences and relevance of individuals Experience of the method of working from previous projects Cultural Fit Criteria Work as a team with our organisation and other suppliers Be transparent and collaborative when making decisions Have a no-blame culture and encourage people to learn from their mistakes Take responsibility for your work Share knowledge and experience with other team members Work openly Challenge assumptions about what users really need, within the constraints of the legislative boundaries Payment Approach Capped time and materials Assessment Method Written proposal Case study Reference Presentation Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 60% Cultural fit 7% Price 33% Questions from Suppliers Budget range £50,000 - £75,000 for this phase of work