Regional SEND Mediation Advice, Mediation and Disagreement Resolution Services

Tender description

On behalf of local authorities in the East Midlands, Lincolnshire County Council (LCC) is leading on the procurement of Regional SEND Mediation Services and is seeking engagement from the market to inform the specification and model for the new contract. All local authorities are required to contract an impartial mediation and disagreement resolution service for children and young people with SEND and their families to access mediation advice, mediation services and disagreement resolution services as part of the single route of redress. The East Midlands Region is made up of 10 Local authorities as listed below: • Derby City • Derbyshire • Leicester City • Leicestershire • Lincolnshire • North Northamptonshire • West Northamptonshire • Nottingham City • Nottinghamshire • Rutland Procurement activity will commence, provisionally, on the 17th May 2023 with the new contract starting on the 1st November 2023. Lot 1: Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Mediation and Disagreement Resolution Services for East Midlands Region. On behalf of local authorities in the East Midlands, Lincolnshire County Council (LCC) is leading on the procurement of Regional SEND Mediation Services and is seeking engagement from the market to inform the specification and model for the new contract. All local authorities are required to contract an impartial mediation and disagreement resolution service for children and young people with SEND and their families to access mediation advice, mediation services and disagreement resolution services as part of the single route of redress. The East Midlands Region is made up of 10 Local authorities as listed below: • Derby City • Derbyshire • Leicester City • Leicestershire • Lincolnshire • North Northamptonshire • West Northamptonshire • Nottingham City • Nottinghamshire • Rutland Procurement activity will commence, provisionally, on the 17th May 2023 with the new contract starting on the 1st November 2023. Lincolnshire County Council is seeking to understand the market and how suppliers can best meet the needs of children and young people with SEND and their families within the East Midlands Region. Mediation and Disagreement Resolution Services are in place to allow children and young people with SEND and their families to seek unbiased advice and support with regards to any concerns and/or issues they have with regards to their health and/or education provision or elements of their Education and Health Care (EHC) plan. Mediation Advice must be received before a family can approach the first-tier tribunal with an appeal. Mediation and disagreement resolution services are provided to help children and young people with SEND and their families resolve issues outside of the appeals process. Following Covid the provision of mediation and disagreement resolution services moved largely to a virtual platform, this allowed the services to continue without the need for face-to-face meetings. This has proven to be successful and is likely to be the preferred model going forward. We are preparing a pre-market questionnaire which will be open to any interested Mediation and Disagreement Resolution Service Suppliers. The information received from this survey will feed into the final contract specification to ensure the contract is fit for purpose and achievable. The survey will seek to help us better understand the service area and to potentially remove any possible barriers that would prevent a supplier working in the East Midlands Region. Headlines for the questionnaire will be: • Contract duration • Delivery of service • Financial implications • Capacity • Contract Performance monitoring • Contract Attractiveness • Any Other Information Your organisation does not have to be a provider in Lincolnshire or East Midlands already to participate. You may be looking for opportunities to deliver Mediation and Disagreement Resolution services on a larger scale or expanding to this region. The survey should take no longer than 10 minutes to complete. To participate in the questionnaire, please log into ProContract (https://procontract.due-north.com/) and search for the project reference DN663302. If you currently do not have access to ProContract, you can register for a free account at the same web address The results are for Lincolnshire County Council’s use only. The information you provide will not be shared outside the 10 Local Authorities within the East Midlands Region and will remain strictly commercial in confidence. For more information on the Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014 please visit https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2014/1530/contents/made and for more information from the SEND Code Of Practice please visit https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/send-code-of-practice-0-to-25 Thank you in advance for your time and interest in this information notice.