Social work and related services

Tender description

Pause is a specialist intervention programme that works directly with women who have had multiple children taken into care. The aim of Northamptonshire ‘Pause for a Fresh Start’ is to reduce the number of women who have already had 1 or more children removed from their care or who are considered to be at risk of a recurrent pregnancy with the same outcome (i.e. having further children removed). Public health Northamptonshire, in partnership with Children’s First Northamptonshire (CFN), commissioned a scoping exercise in September 2019 to fully understand the local picture and to inform the commissioning of an evidence-based, cost effective intervention programme. Pause is a specialist intervention programme which works directly with women who have had multiple children taken into care. The aim of Northamptonshire ‘Pause for a Fresh Start’ (working title), a hybrid of the national Pause programme and local variations of Pause is to reduce the number of women who have already had 1 or more children removed from their care or considered to be at risk of a recurrent pregnancy with the same outcome, having further children removed. The programme will provide a multi-agency approach to support these very vulnerable women, who have complex and often chaotic lifestyles. The programme aims to reduce subsequent care proceedings by supporting these women to take a pause from getting pregnant. Pause National offers the only evidenced-based intervention of this kind. Local authorities do have the option of purchasing a licence from Pause National in order to deliver the programme ‘in house’. However due to the recent changes within CFN’s workforce, this does not appear to be a viable option in Northamptonshire. Northamptonshire County Council therefore intends to direclyt award via a social investor, to enable a licenced provider; Ripplez CiC, to deliver the programme in Northamptonshire. Ripplez CIC is the only independent provider in the region currently licensed by pause national to deliver this programme with access to the Life Chances Fund grant funding.