To approve the award of a contract for a managed service to provide four Child Protection and Court social work teams from 28 November 2022 to 31 March 2023, at a value of up to £1.2m, with potential to extend for up to 12-months if required at a further maximum value of £3.4m subject to appropriate governance, bringing the total potential value to £4.6m should the full extension option be required.

That:

a)    Following the outcome of a competitive procurement exercise, a contract is awarded to the preferred bidder, as set out in Appendix 1, for the provision of four Child Protection and Court Social Work teams from 28 November 2022 to 31 March 2023 at a value not exceeding £1.2m, with an option to extend for up to a further 12-months to 31 March 2024; at a maximum value of £3.4m and

b)    Authority is delegated to the Director for Children and Young People to take a further operational decisions, in consultation with the Cabinet Member and Section 151 Officer, to implement an optional extension period, if required, in line with the council’s standing procurement, financial and governance requirements.

1.             Do nothing. The current interim contract, which provides for 24 social worker and 4 manager roles across four teams, will end on 25 November 2022. The loss of this capacity would cause significant further pressures within children’s social care and mean that c.350 current cases would not have an allocated social worker.

2.             Attempt to re-engage agency workers on an individual basis. With demand for agency support being high across the country there is a risk of an abrupt service disruption if workers were suddenly reallocated by their agency to work elsewhere. The proposed contract for a managed service places the responsibility for delivering the required personnel on the service provider to ensure that operational work is delivered, which minimises the impact in potential turnover of individual agency workers.