Health and social work services

Tender description

1.2. Nottingham City Council (NCC) has a statutory duty to provide sufficient accommodation for its looked after children and is also required by law to carry out assessments of people who formally express a desire to foster or adopt to ascertain that they are suitable individuals to foster or adopt children. Such assessment must be carried out within specific timescales. NCC is looking for an experienced provider to deliver foster carer, connected persons and SGO assessments on our behalf where we are unable to commit to delivering the assessment ourselves within the required timescales. 1.3. These assessment services will be commissioned via a single-provider framework and in respect of fostering, connected person and SGO assessments the intention is that the following local authorities will be able to access the services via the framework in addition to NCC: Derby City Council, Derbyshire County Council, Nottinghamshire County Council (comprising collectively the ‘D2N2’ area) 1.4. Across the four D2N2 Councils there are approximately 2 800 children in care, of which approximately 1,200 are in Local Authority foster care / connected person’s arrangements. All four authorities aim to care for as many of their children and young people as possible in fostering settings, and are also seeking to continually develop and expand the Local Authority fostering provision. 1.5. All adoption assessments across the D2N2 area are now carried out by Adoption East Midlands (AEM) (hosted by Nottinghamshire County Council) and whilst the agency has its own assessment resource it requires additional resource to address periodic increases in demand and continually ensure assessments are completed in a timely fashion to facilitate adoption within appropriate timescales. The provider will also be expected to deliver assessments of adoptive parents on behalf of AEM where AEM cannot commit to doing so within the required timescales. 1.2. Nottingham City Council (NCC) has a statutory duty to provide sufficient accommodation for its looked after children and is also required by law to carry out assessments of people who formally express a desire to foster or adopt to ascertain that they are suitable individuals to foster or adopt children. Such assessment must be carried out within specific timescales. NCC is looking for an experienced provider to deliver foster carer, connected persons and SGO assessments on our behalf where we are unable to commit to delivering the assessment ourselves within the required timescales. 1.3. These assessment services will be commissioned via a single-provider framework and in respect of fostering, connected person and SGO assessments the intention is that the following Local Authorities will be able to access the services via the framework in addition to NCC: Derby City Council, Derbyshire County Council, Nottinghamshire County Council (comprising collectively the ‘D2N2’ area).