UK Public Sector Contracts & Tenders

Birmingham Children's Trust has identified a requirement for Early Help and Support for families affected by domestic abuse or parental conflict within the City. We require a domestic abuse specialist to be based in each of the 10 Family Hubs across Birmingham. They will be the point of contact for agencies in the District providing advice and support to families impacted by domestic abuse or parental conflict. This may involve drop-in sessions, planned group activities, one-to-one sessions or referrals to specialist services for longer term support. They will work alongside, and in partnership with, the relevant Early Help (voluntary sector) agency and Family Hubs staff in each District to be a point of contact, receive support requests and provide information and feedback to partner agencies who contact the District domestic abuse specialist. This includes the commissioned service providing any information known from previous involvement with the family, current risk assessments, safety planning and referrals to specialist services for ongoing work. The commissioned service will also need to provide training and share pathways of support to the service to assist with their knowledge and skills to respond effectively to domestic abuse also. The Trust may provide training on parental conflict alongside a toolkit for direct work. These requirements, and timescales, are subject to change during the planned procurement period.

The Birmingham Safeguarding Children Partnership (BSCP) is seeking to commission a comprehensive programme of multi-agency safeguarding training for professionals and volunteers working with children and families across Birmingham. This procurement will support BSCP's statutory duty to ensure that organisations collaborate effectively to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. BSCP is the statutory safeguarding partnership for Birmingham, comprising Birmingham City Council, Birmingham & Solihull Integrated Care Board, and West Midlands Police. The Partnership sets local safeguarding priorities, coordinates multi-agency arrangements, and ensures learning from audits, reviews, and national guidance is embedded in practice. High-quality training is a critical component of this work, enabling practitioners to maintain and develop the skills required to protect children and young people. The successful provider will deliver/manage a range of training courses and webinars designed to meet the diverse needs of the safeguarding workforce. The programme will include over 50 courses and webinars a year. The provider will be able to proactively source trainers with relevant skills and experience to deliver training in a ever changing environment. Training must: Reflect current legislation, statutory guidance, and local priorities. Incorporate learning from Serious Case Reviews, audits, and thematic reports. Promote multi-agency collaboration, professional curiosity, and effective challenge. Be accessible to a wide audience, including statutory agencies, voluntary sector organisations, and faith groups. Core Training Themes Child Protection Fundamentals: Roles, responsibilities, and thresholds. Specialist Safeguarding Topics: Child exploitation (criminal and sexual). Domestic abuse, coercive control, and perpetrator-focused approaches. Safeguarding disabled children and cultural competence. Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) awareness. Emerging Priorities: Mental health awareness for community and faith organisations. Online safety and radicalisation prevention. Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and trauma-informed practice. Practice Development: Professional curiosity and escalation. Strengthening Families Framework. Learning from local and national reviews. Delivery Model Format: A mix of virtual and face-to-face sessions. Approach: Interactive, discussion-based learning with practical application. Evaluation: The Provider must implement robust feedback mechanisms and report attendance and impact data. Objectives This procurement aims to: Strengthen safeguarding practice across Birmingham. Ensure consistent, high-quality learning opportunities for all agencies. Embed a culture of continuous improvement and shared responsibility for child protection.

LOT 1: Birmingham Children's Trust (The Trust) is looking to commission a domestic abuse service to support victims, perpetrators and children (pre-birth to 18 years). Domestic abuse is the primary reason for engagement with the Trust, prompting the Trust to seek services that offer direct support to families and provide training to enhance staff skills. The Trust is looking to understand what offer is available for local support within the City. The Provider will support in reducing domestic abuse in Birmingham and will ensure that the needs of children are being met in the home. It is important to demonstrate a readiness to take on the role of lead practitioner in alignment with the Children's Social Care National Reforms. LOT 2: Intensive Family Support: the commissioned service will work with families affected by domestic abuse by providing intensive support to a small number of families (at any one time, the Provider will work with five families only) over a period of up to two years. The expectation is that the Provider will work with the whole family including survivors, perpetrators, children and the wider family support network. The Provider will support in reducing domestic abuse in Birmingham and will ensure that the needs of children are being met in the home. It is important to demonstrate a readiness to take on the role of lead practitioner in alignment with the Children's Social Care National Reforms. The Provider is expected to engage in transparent and collaborative discussions with the Trust to determine the appropriate level of support for each family. The work will be evaluated for impact and outcomes for the family.

Section 25 of the Children and Young Persons Act 2008 places a statutory duty on local authorities to provide short breaks for families with disabled children These services aim to enhance the lives of children with disabilities and their families, fostering social inclusion, promoting personal growth, and strengthening family relationships. The Regulations define a short break as: • Day-time care in the homes of disabled children or elsewhere • Overnight care in the homes of disabled children or elsewhere • Educational or leisure activities for disabled children outside their homes • Services available to assist carers in the evenings, at weekends and during the school holidays. We are looking for providers who are passionate about working with disabled children and young people and who have a proven record of accomplishment of delivering high-quality services

Short, medium and long term accommodation & support provision for 5 distinct cohorts of yp including 16-17 yo, vulnerable 18 year olds, UASC 18 year olds, Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking children 16 - 18 - Registered provision and mothers to be who are under 18

The contract will be award to one provider to begin 1st October 2025. The estimated annual value of this contract will be £600,000 (subject to change). The commissioned service will provide direct interventions to children with autism and their families. The specialist interventions will be specifically related to support associated with the child's autism. The brief will also include upskilling practitioners within the Early Help service, offering advice, guidance and training on autism enabling practitioners to respond effectively to families.

Total Facilities management services for the Trust's two main office buildings. Provision for contract to be extended under current agreement or to market. Estimated value - £4,166,000 for a 3 + 2 contract.

Recruitment and Management of Children's Agency Social Workers and non social worker roles. There is provision for current contract to be extended under current agreement as neutral vendor provider or to market - which model to be determined. Estimated value £8,300,000.00 for a 5 year contract.

Birmingham Children's Trust is initiating a market engagement for the upcoming "Counselling and Support Services." This engagement aims to understand the capability and capacity of the market to inform our re-procurement process, which will be conducted in line with the Procurement Act 2023. The contract (Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) is to provide therapeutic services for children and young people impacted by sexual abuse, violence, or exploitation and to their parent(s) or carer(s) to minimise the impact of the abuse on their mental health and emotional wellbeing. The service will: • Provide therapeutic services to children and young people, up to 18 years of age (this may be extended up to 21 years of age for care leavers), who are the victims of sexual abuse, violence or exploitation and to their parent(s) or carer(s) in order to minimise the impact of the abuse on their mental health and emotional wellbeing; • Promote resilience for the child or young person to enhance their prospects of positive outcomes and to enable them to promote their own safety and wellbeing; • Direct service users to specialist services if continuing or other needs are identified and to facilitate access through established processes. In addition to the main contract, there will be a Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) Support Service for Children and young people assessed as Experiencing or Emerging CSE, and their parents/carers/families. The service will be delivered through Independent Sexual Violence Advocacy (ISVA) support, Counselling/therapeutic support and Supporter counselling/therapeutic support: • To provide a child-centred, strengths-based, trauma informed and responsive approach that is both flexible & tailored to meet the needs of children and young people subjected to CSE. • To provide a compassionate and relational approach to each child and young person, which works to acknowledge the systems, contexts and safe, protective relationships around them. • To build the resilience of the protective factors and relationships around children and young people, while working actively to build psychological safety, trust and rapport. • To build ‘wrap around,’ holistic support for the families, parents/carers & professionals supporting children and young people. Referrals will be predominately from BCT, the market engagement event will facilitate question's and answer's and provide an overview of the service.

1. Introduction Birmingham Children's Trust are leading on a project to open a new secure children's home on behalf of the West Midlands Region. There is currently a national shortage of secure children's homes, with no provision in the West Midlands. This means the most vulnerable children from the West Midlands are waiting months for a safe placement and often being placed far from their families and communities. Plans have been developed to build a 20 bedded secure children's home for the West Midlands at a site identified in Birmingham that will be known as the West Midlands Safe Centre (WMSC). It will consist of three residential houses, healthcare and educational facilities, with associated car parking, Multi Use Games Area (MUGA), sports building, and hard and soft landscaping. The construction of WMSC is being funded by the Department for Education. Options on the structure of a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) are currently being considered, once agreed an SPV will be established and up to 14 local authorities across the West Midlands will become members. The SPV will then take on the lease of WMSC and commission a provider to be the operator ahead of its opening in 2028. This early market engagement exercise is intended to test the market's capacity, capability, and appetite to deliver such a service, and to inform the development of any future procurement strategy. This is not a call for competition or a pre-qualification exercise. Participation in this engagement will not prejudice any supplier's ability to participate in a future procurement process, nor will it guarantee inclusion. ________________________________________ 2. West Midlands Safe Centre Some secure children's homes also provide youth custody placements which will not be the case here. WMSC will provide 20 secure welfare only beds and is designed to support children with highly complex needs, often arising from severe trauma. It will operate under Section 25 of the Children Act, offering a legally compliant, therapeutic, and trauma-informed environment. NHS England will commission health services. Whilst this is a national resource which all local authorities across the country can access, priority will be given to West Midlands children and partner members. Initial modelling suggests that staff numbers will be in the region of 180 FTEs, including care, education, and support roles. A phased recruitment strategy is required, starting with senior leadership and building up to full staffing by year three to ensure occupancy levels are safely managed to match children's needs. The operator will be responsible for the full operation of the building which includes both child focused requirements and all property, health & safety and business support services. ________________________________________ 3. Objectives of the Engagement This engagement seeks to: • Understand the level of market interest and capability in operating a Secure Children's Home. • Inform a make vs buy analysis as part of the development of the procurement strategy. ________________________________________ 4. How to Participate Interested providers are invited to: • Complete the short questionnaire in Appendix A. • Submit any supporting information or case studies that demonstrate relevant experience. Responses should be submitted by noon on 27th June to StrategicCommissioning@birminghamchildrenstrust.co.uk. ________________________________________ 5. Confidentiality and Compliance All information provided will be treated in confidence and used solely for the purposes of informing our procurement planning. This engagement is conducted in accordance with the Procurement Act 2023 and relevant guidance on preliminary market engagement Appendix A - Questionnaire 1. Company Name 2. Contact Name 3. Contact Email Address 4. Do you have experience of operating a secure children's home with welfare provision? (Yes/No) If "Yes" please provide details of this including: • Location • Contracting authority • Number of beds • Number of staff • Contract type and duration 5. Do you have capability and capacity to operate WMSC? (Yes/No) 6. What are the main risks and challenges you envisage to operating a secure children's home? 7. Do you have any other comments or observations to raise at this stage?

Purpose We are seeking early market feedback on capacity and capability to deliver a Speech and Language Therapy service for Birmingham Youth Justice Service (BYJS) from April 2026 onwards (the current contract is due to expire at the end of March 2026). This is not a call for competition and participation will not affect future procurement opportunities. About BYJS BYJS, part of Birmingham Children's Trust, is the UK's largest Youth Justice Service, working with around 350 children aged 10-17 at any time. Many have complex needs, including speech, communication and language needs (SCLN). Research suggests up to 60% of our cohort may require SALT support. Service Overview The provider will supply at least 2 FTE Therapists* to: Assess needs and deliver interventions Provide staff training and consultation Support creation of communication-friendly resources Although the services of 2 FTE Therapists are required, the provider must be able to demonstrate sufficient depth of staffing to be able to cover any absences immediately to ensure service continuity and without resorting to a recruitment process which would impact service delivery. Therapists must be suitably qualified, experienced in youth justice settings, and committed to trauma-informed, child-first practice. The service will operate across universal, targeted and specialist levels, in partnership with agencies including health, education, and criminal justice. Confidentiality and Compliance All information provided will be treated in confidence and used solely for the purposes of informing our procurement planning. This engagement is conducted in accordance with the Procurement Act 2023 and relevant guidance on preliminary market engagement.