Social work and related services

Tender description

The London Borough of Newham is inviting bids for its Community Based Domestic and Sexual Violence Support Service. The London Borough of Newham will accept bids from one provider or from consortium bids or those with a sub-contracting arrangement – in either case, the local authority will contract with the lead provider. The service will offer a low to medium risk casework service, a high risk IDSVA Service, a Female Genital Mutilation Support and Prevention Service and an Exiting Sex Work Service. In addition to this, it is expected that the provider will also provide the Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference (MARAC) co-ordination and administration function. Commissioners have undertaken a series of engagement exercises with stakeholders, providers and women with lived experience of domestic and/or sexual violence to seek opinion on what is needed from services in Newham. These opinions have contributed to the development of the specification for the community based domestic and sexual violence support services. The local authority will be: — Reducing our providers from four to one, whilst retaining all four service elements, thus reducing costs associated with management and administration. — Offering the service on a co-location basis, where clients of the service area are likely to present, to increase accessibility and to be responsive to clients rather than requiring clients to seek assistance from a fixed location. The proposed service offer will be the single point of contact for professionals and victims accessing support for Domestic and Sexual Violence, Female Genital Mutilation, Forced Marriage, Honour Based Violence, Stalking, Trafficking and Modern Slavery. It will also provide support to those that are engaged in prostitution to allow exiting from sex work. It is expected that the service will work with people to help them develop appropriate strategies, build self-esteem, and focus on physical and emotional wellbeing. The aim of the service will be to reduce the risks associated with Domestic and Sexual Violence and encourage individuals to take control of their own lives and make positive choices. The service will provide a Coordinator to organise the Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conferences (MARAC) where information will be shared on the highest risk domestic abuse cases between representatives of local police, probation, health, child protection, housing practitioners, Independent Domestic Violence Advisors (IDVAs) and other specialists from the statutory and voluntary sectors. Representatives will discuss options for increasing safety for the victim and turn these options into a co-ordinated action plan. The primary focus of the MARAC is to safeguard the adult victim. The contract will be for an initial period of 2 years from 1.6.2019 which may at the Council's discretion be extended for 2 further periods of 1 year (ie up to 31.5.2023).