DRAFT SERVICE SPECIFICATION For Community Support Services for Children, Young People and Adults with Sensory Needs (SC220310)

Tender description

Kent County Council has a responsibility under the Care Act (2014) and Children and Families Act (2014) to meet the needs of people assessed as having eligible care and support needs, including people living with sensory impairments. To help meet some of these responsibilities, the Council currently purchase support services for children, young people, and adults with sensory impairments (hearing/ vision and dual impairments) that assist them to live independently and reduce isolation on an ad-hoc basis. The types of support purchased varies in response the needs of the people being supported and includes (but is not limited to) supporting adults with sensory impairments with finances, correspondence, and accessing services and local facilities, and helping children and young people with sensory impairments with communication skills and accessing wider communities. Following engagement with people with lived experience of sensory needs and providers of support workers to people with all types of sensory needs, as well as key stakeholders from children’s and adults social care, commissioners have produced a draft specification for the service which is attached to this advert. The draft service specification is being shared with the market prior to the tendering process so that providers have the opportunity to comment on whether the requirement is feasible, any areas which may require more clarity, or how it could be improved. For context and information, a presentation and set of question and answers from a market engagement event held earlier this month are also attached to this advert. Commissioners would like to thank in advance all providers who take the time to read and comment on the service specification. Please return any comments via email to communitywellbeing@kent.gov.uk no later than 5pm on the 10th July 2023. Future Procurement Process: Please note that interested parties will not be prejudiced or advantaged by any response or lack thereof to this advert, and a response to this advert does not guarantee any invitation to participate in any future procurement. Kent County Council intend to procure any services commissioned through a tender process and further information relating to this procurement will be published on Contracts Finder and the Kent Business Portal at a future date. Interested providers are advised to create a supplier profile on the Kent Business Portal to receive notifications. Keywords: Sight Support, Support Worker, British Sign Language, Guide Communicator