Social work and related services

Tender description

DfE require a contractor to provide information, coordination and administrative support to local authorities grouped in regional partnerships to assess an anticipated application pool of c.6 000 – 8 000 and recruit 700 applicants to the seventh cohort of the step up to social work programme. The contractor will also support these regional partnerships in planning the recruitment of applicants, designing and hosting IT-based application data capture systems and providing an administrative support and staffing function for both stage one application assessment and stage two regional partnership assessment centres. The contractor will be expected to perform a dual role in respect of applicants to the programme. Firstly, an ongoing quality assurance function to regional partnerships and DfE on applications and applicant tracking at all stages of the process from appointment in October 2020 through to end of contract. Secondly, as a single, accurate and consistent contact point and source of information for applicants at all stages of the assessment process. Tasks will include managing acknowledgements of applications and results promptly (e.g. 95 % of responses to applicant queries/complaints in 24 hours) following both the initial sift and the subsequent assessment process and assessment centre phase. Options for the contractor to provide an applicant satisfaction survey with the admin process will also be explored as part of the role. The DfE requires a fully managed service where: • information, coordination and administrative support will be provided to local authorities grouped in regional partnerships to assess an anticipated application pool of c.6 000 – 8 000 and recruit 700 applicants to the seventh cohort of the step up to social work programme; • support will be provided to regional partnerships in planning the recruitment of applicants, via an IT-based application data capture system that will be designed and hosted, with administrative support and staffing function for both stage one application assessment and stage two regional partnership assessment centres; • the contractor shall perform a dual role in respect of applicants to the programme, namely: — an ongoing quality assurance function to regional partnerships and DfE on applications and applicant tracking at all stages of the process from appointment through to end of contract, — as a single, accurate and consistent contact point and source of information for applicants at all stages of the assessment process, — the contractor is expected to liaise with LAs and regional partnerships across England, in order to coordinate the assessment process and assessment centres. The contractor shall work closely with regional partnerships to provide on-going support before, during and after the assessment process, — provide detailed management information to the Department on a weekly, monthly, and ad-hoc basis.