Social work and related services

Tender description

Hertfordshire County Council (the ‘Council’) is carrying out Pre-Procurement Market Engagement (‘PPME’) in relation to the prevention of crisis support service. The Council will consider the feedback received to help inform the Council’s options and further decision making. For the avoidance of doubt, this stage of the project is not part of a formal procurement process and the Council is not committing, at this stage, to carrying out such a process. Participation or non-participation in the PPME shall not prevent any supplier participating in a potential future procurement, nor is it intended that any information supplied as part of the PPME shall place any supplier at an advantage in a potential procurement process. Participation in the PPME will be at each organisation’s own cost. No expense in responding to this PPME will be reimbursed by the Council. The current countywide crisis intervention service, now in its final year of the current contract (expiry 30.6.2020) provides the learning and evidence that supports the need for this service. A service redesign will ensure that a flexible service is offered that is able to respond to the diverse and often changing circumstances of people reaching crisis point e.g. broken cooker, benefit delays or end of life illness. A focus of the service will be to provide direct support to alleviate immediate crisis and longer term strategies that address underlying causes to prevent repeated use of the service and build resilience. It will also enable greater links to be made across districts and other services to support people in crisis. It is proposed that the Triage and immediate crisis support service will be integrated within the HertsHelp service, and that the crisis prevention service go out to tender with an updated specification to ensure a holistic service for service users in crisis including emotional support. No change is proposed to the complex need and mental health service provided by HCC’s internal money advice unit.