That:

a)    To direct award a contract to Worcestershire County Council to deliver Herefordshire’s children’s social care out of hours Emergency Duty Team (EDT) service for a period of 3 years from 1 April 2026 up to 31 March 2029, with the option to extend up to a further 48 months, initially at an annual cost of £143,170; and

b)    To delegate to the Corporate Director for Children and Young People to take all operational decisions to agree terms and conditions within the contract, including managing the risk of Local Government Reorganisation that may curtail Worcestershire County Council’s ability to deliver their contractual obligations by undertaking, if required, a scoping exercise on potential alternative service providers and their costings (in years 2 to 3)

1.             Herefordshire Council could try to deliver the function from within its own social care resources.  This would require children’s social care to recruit additional social workers and/or change terms and conditions of current children’s social workers to enable them to work the unsociable hours required to deliver an out of hours service. As of September 2025, children’s social care had 15 full time equivalent (FTE) vacant social worker posts, with a further 27 FTE posts filled with agency staff. Therefore, there is a significant risk of being unable to fill the additional vacancies arising from delivering the service in house. This is not recommended. 

2.             Herefordshire Council could delegate the function (under S101(b) of the Local Government Act 1972) to Worcestershire County Council to deliver the service. Although this would negate the need for us to commission Worcestershire County Council directly it is not recommended as it would result in the Council having less control over the service with limited opportunity to shape provision of what is a business-critical service.   

3.             Competitive tender of the service to appoint an external provider. In January 2025, we asked our regional and statistical neighbours how their EDT services are delivered to understand how other authorities deliver their EDTs. Responses received suggest EDT services in other areas have only been commissioned as part of wider restructure of children’s social care services therefore, this suggests there is not a market for the EDT service externally. Additionally, there is no option to extend the current contract.