To approve a procurement exercise for the provision of the Herefordshire intensive placement support service (HIPSS) and therapeutic intervention support service (TISS).

(a)  the commissioning intentions (see paragraphs 9-10) for Herefordshire intensive placement support service (HIPSS) and therapeutic intervention support service (TISS) are approved;

(b)  the Interim Director for Children’s Wellbeing (or the substantive director for Children’s Wellbeing once appointed) be authorised to take all necessary operational decisions to implement the above recommendation, including award of contracts to a maximum value of £2.5m for up to five years, effective from 1 April 2018; and

(c)  The sufficiency of specialist in-house foster carers, who accommodate and support HIPSS children, is monitored alongside the future HIPSS / TISS contract, to be awarded to an external provider

1.    Do nothing. The implication of doing nothing would be that the existing contract would expire on 31 March 2018 and as there is no further option to extend the contract, the service would cease. This would immediately reduce clinical support for complex and challenging looked after children (LAC) and increase the risk of placement disruption among the HIPSS cohort. If these placements are disrupted, the children are at high risk of being placed in residential care at an average weekly cost of £3,345. Assuming that without this support, five HIPSS placements with specialist carers, were to be disrupted, spend on residential provision could increase by £870,000 per year. Whereas the annual cost of the contract is £520,000.

2.    To provide the therapeutic team as a specialist in-house unit from 1 April 2018. This option is not recommended as the council does not currently have the expertise inhouse to deliver this very specialist service, and would have difficulty in recruiting suitably qualified staff at this time. Whilst there may be opportunity for existing staff to transfer into the council under TUPE regulations to provide capacity; these are specialist roles which require clinical management support and supervision, which the in-house fostering service can’t support. It would have to either commission a service to provide this or recruit a suitably qualified and experienced person.

3.    To reduce the value and scope of the contract. This is not recommended due to the ongoing growth of the LAC population and resulting budget pressures. Being in a stable family environment placement is in the best interests of children and mitigates against cost pressures. Widening the scope of the contracted service will support work to avoid placement breakdowns, prevent independent agency placements and ensure our looked after children are receiving the best care to meet their needs.