DN569112 SENDIASS Provision

Tender description

This is a statutory Information and Advice Service for families and children with SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities). The contract is in its final year and has exhausted all contract extensions. Work was underway during 2020 to carry out a tender exercise but this was halted due to the recommendations of the internal review as part of the SEND Joint Commissioning Board contract management which concluded that the service failed to meet the minimum standards under the statutory Code of Practice as it was not jointly commissioned. Work was then undertaken with the Department of Education to scope out what was required to make the service compliant. As a result of this work a funding request was submitted to the CCG for an additional contribution of £36,000 per year recurring. This was predicated on an additional casework post of £30,000 plus £6,000 towards the management costs over a contracting period of 3 years plus the option to extend for a further 2 years (at yearly intervals). This would bring the service annual budget for Liverpool to £126,561. The request was approved by the Joint Commissioning Working Group on 15th June 2021 and it is currently being progressed as a priority through the CCG internal business case process in light of the urgent nature. It goes to their planning group on 27th August. Due to the tight timescale now presented to conduct a full tender exercise, this exemption request is for 6 months to enable this process to conclude and have clarity on the funding envelope available. A new timeframe has been identified which needs to include time for Tupe and we believe the exercise can be concluded for a contract start date of 1st March 2022. Children’s Directorate Management Team have approved the request for an exemption period in principle alongside approval of the PPBC.