THAT:

(a)        a contract is awarded to Herefordshire Carers Support (HCS) to provide a hub based support service to carers for a 12 month period from 1 April 2017, with a maximum value of £160k;

(b)        a variation in the current contract with Crossroads Care is approved so as to terminate the contract early on 31 March 2018, and to reduce the contract value for 2017/18 to £223k. This variation has been agreed by Crossroads Care;

(c)        an exemption to paragraph 4.6.13.2 of the council’s contract procedure rules shall be granted to enable the direct award of the hub based support service.