Health and social work services

Tender description

Bedford Borough Council is seeking to gauge interest from the market regarding an upcoming procurement for the following services for children looked after and in need of protection: advocacy (to include advocacy within looked after and child protection proceedings and meetings), return home interviews and independent visitors. The purpose of this PIN is for prior information and market engagement purposes only and the Council will competitively tender this opportunity later in the year. Bedford Borough Council Children’s Services vision is to put children, young people and families at the heart of everything we do. We know that some children that the local authority works with and looks after for may need extra help to ensure their voices are heard and that they can participate in the community and decisions about their care. The current contracts for advocacy and return home interviews and independent visitors end in March 2020 and the Council would now like to tender these services as a single contract. We wish to engage with providers who may be interested in delivering this provision holistically, and in working with us to find innovative ways to help children in care achieve better outcomes. The service would include the following elements: — issue-based advocacy, — non-directed advocacy for at least some child protection work (the exact scope of this is still to be defined), — return home interviews for looked after children, — independent visitors. We welcome informal discussions and expressions of interest from providers — please contact Toni Badnall-Neill, Senior Commissioning Officer (Children’s and Public Health) for further details: Toni.badnall@bedford.gov.uk — Tel: 01234276184