Social Work Assessed and Supported Year in Employment

Tender description

Current contract for Assessed and Supported Year in Employment (ASYE) is due to expire end of March 2022 A market engagement event will be held on Thursday 19 August at 09:00-10:00 via Microsoft Teams to enable interested suppliers to get a clear understanding of the Department's requirements and timeline. To attend please register interest via Jaggaer. https://education.app.jaggaer.com/web/login.html There will be 1-2-1 sessions available to book on Wednesday 1st September (PM) Thursday 2nd September Friday 3rd September (PM) The procurement exercise is to award a single contract to deliver the funding and support for employers to deliver a comprehensive programme for NQSWs that is effective in providing support in their first year of practice and tailored to meet the needs of participants on the programme. This procurement seeks to deliver consistency of the ASYE programme across England. The programme needs to provide meaningful engagement with employers and NQSWs to continue to build on programme strengths and further the impact of improving the quality of social work practice and retention of child and family social workers from all backgrounds. The contract will run over a 2-year period from 1 April 2022 until 31 March 2024, with the option to extend by a further 2 years on the determination of the Department The successful contractor will be required to develop and manage a system to administer payments to employers and associated registration and administration activity. This system should be capable of administering grant funding to employers in an efficient and effective manner and allow employers to register as providers of the ASYE programme. This includes allowing employers to register when individual social workers commence, transfer, withdraw or complete their ASYE. The system must also be capable of transitioning the current database of ASYE candidates and employers as part of any transition, and be capable of making payments to employers with current participants for whom payments are outstanding as at 31 March 2022. The successful contractor will be required to establish and build relationships with the sector and effectively communicate the requirements of the ASYE programme including details of how to participate, access funding and the responsibilities of each party. The successful contractor will also be required to identify and support employers to develop, implement and share best practice, including establishing a best practice quality assurance framework for the ASYE programme for employers to quality assure their own provision, and other resources, tools and guidance that support a high-quality ASYE experience for NQSWs. The contractor will be the public face of the ASYE in the sector and should be seen to be leading the drive for effective delivery