Social work and related services

Tender description

Please note, this is a re-tender of A0415 / OJEU 2017/S 226-471513. The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority seeks to appoint an Independent Provider to establish a Restorative Justice Service. Based on public service reform principles, the provider will deliver the service to users across Greater Manchester through a hub and cluster model. The service will work with offenders to reduce recidivism, and work with the wider criminal justice partners across Greater Manchester to understand offenders needs, identify gaps and help support services to address them. Victims and Offenders must be placed at the heart of service delivery to bring about positive and sustainable outcomes across Greater Manchester. The aim is to provide a seamless Restorative Justice Service to users across Greater Manchester through the provision of a hub and cluster model, fully integrated with local services and community organisations. The Deputy Mayor seeks to appoint an Independent Provider to deliver a service which will ensure that all victims in Greater Manchester have access to a range of restorative approaches that fit with their needs, helping them to cope and recover from the crime or incident they have experienced, and to ensure that all offenders are able to consider restorative approaches to help them understand the consequences of their actions and change their behaviour to prevent re-offending. The Deputy Mayor recognises that to make improved and sustained changes to people’s lives, services need to be putting victims and their families at the centre, an approach which is echoed by the ethos of Public Service Reform. All services users both victims and offenders will need pathways of support to be in place in order to ensure that change is sustained. This specification also seeks to embed a culture of restorative approaches across the partnership agencies and voluntary sector in Greater Manchester through training and workforce development. The Deputy Mayor expects the partner to adopt a flexible approach to ensure services are accessible and adaptable to ensure the needs of individuals are met. This relationship will be tested as part of the procurement process. The aim is to provide a seamless Restorative Justice Service to users across Greater Manchester through the provision of a hub and cluster model, fully integrated with local services and community organisations. The provider will work with GMCA to ensure that appropriate information sharing pathways are in place and obtain needs assessments for service users. For example: if an offender is already subject to a probation services needs assessments then consent should be obtained for sharing of information relating to needs rather than a duplicate assessment taking place and support for the offender will be agreed with that service. Where there is no appropriate needs assessment in place with a partner agency, the provider will carry out needs assessments of service users based on the 8 categories of need and referral to the Hubs in each district, when required and based on needs identified. The Service will work with Victims to improve their experiences with the criminal justice system, increase victim satisfaction and their feelings of closure with regard to their experience. The full Service Specification is available to download, along with the Invitation to Tender, from the Bluelight e-tendering portal at www.bluelight.gov.uk