Research and development services and related consultancy services

Tender description

The requirement from the contractor is to carry out work to establish the feasibility of a young carers identification scheme. The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is seeking to appoint a contractor with expertise in evaluation and working collaboratively with a contractor that can deliver this project between October 2019 and March 2020. DHSC like the contractor to have some freedom to use their expertise in designing the project, but we propose the project will involve the following stages: Research and stakeholder engagement phase — this will involve engaging with local government, young carers services, experts from within the sector and young carers to gain a greater understanding of what schemes are already available locally and understand what would be needed from such a scheme, — Output: a report will be presented to DHSC at the end of this phase outlining what is offered through different schemes, what young carers might like to gain from the scheme and what the necessary criteria are for the success of a scheme. Carrying out ‘deep dives’ — the second phase would involve carrying out rapid ‘deep dives’ in areas that are already operating identification schemes to understand the benefits of the schemes, threats to success and how to overcome these. Using this knowledge we proposing testing the establishment of a scheme in a local area to gain a deeper insight into the key components and phases of set up, and implementation, highlighting processes, challenges, key contributors, young carers involvement, opportunities and threats to success. This will also include consideration of the value for money to be obtained by the scheme, — Output: a report will also be produced for DHSC which will demonstrate how workable a young carers identification scheme is, any barriers to implementation and how to overcome these. — It is essential that the delivery partner for this work can offer: Exploring potential national partnerships — in parallel to the deep dives we would like the project to explore the feasibility of having national partnerships across transport, leisure and retail to explore concessions for young carers on a large scale, — Output: a report will be produced for DHSC demonstrating how workable a discount element to the scheme is — expertise and wide-ranging knowledge of the existing evidence base relating to carers – with particular expertise around young carers, — contacts and credibility with local authorities, voluntary sector organisations, businesses and young carers, — skills in assessing evidence and drawing out recommendations, — project management and delivery capability including experience in monitoring and evaluating the impact of activities, — analytical and drafting skills to assess the evidence and bring together a finalised recommendation about the workability of a scheme.