UK Public Sector Contracts & Tenders

This is a voluntary ex-ante transparency (VEAT) notice to indicate that in light of the recently increased volume of work and the challenges to the recruitment of agency and permanent social workers, the Council now needs to award an interim contract for managed service provider to supply up to three Childrens social care CAST teams for The Children & Families branch, without prior publication of a call for competition. This will be for a maximum of six months due to the urgent nature of this requirement and the importance of Childrens safeguarding

Managed Service Provider (MSP) to supply five Children’s Social Care CAST teams for the Children’s Services department to use in five districts across the county. The number of teams could be increased or reduced over the term of the contract, subject to separate agreement with the supplier. You will be required to have Five teams consisting for 45 workers in the following districts, these will be available, fully compliant and ready to be deployed from the start date of the contract (1st August 2022), without the need of additional recruitment campaigns. Team 1 East Hants – Team of 8 Required Team 2 Hart and Rushmoor – Team of 10 required Team 3 New Forest – Team of 9 Required Team 4 Basingstoke - Team of 9 Required Team 5 Eastleigh Winchester - Team of 9 Required Each team will consist of: TEAM 1: 1 Team Manager, 1 Assistant Team Manager, 5 Social Workers, and 1 Project Support TEAM 2: 1 Team Manager, 1 Assistant Team Manager, 7 Social Workers, 1 project support TEAM 3: 1 Team Manager, 1 Assistant Team Manager, 6 Social Workers, 1 project support TEAM 4: 1 Team Manager, 1 Assistant Team Manager, 6 Social Workers, 1 project support TEAM 5: 1 Team Manager, 1 Assistant Team Manager, 6 Social Workers, 1 project support These teams would be responsible for a total of 600 children (based on five teams) in any given six-month period regardless of Covid impacts. MSP will provide senior management, that will be responsible for audit all the children’s files and will record management oversight including SMART actions. The purpose of this is to ensure management grip for when the Social Workers start and to ensure they have guidance and direction. MSP will have responsibility for the Quality Assurance Framework and will provide Head of Quality Assurance who undertakes regular audit activity via both desktop audit and live audit to ensure we close the loop, complete all remedial actions, and hold reflective learning discussions. The focus of our audit process is to ensure we look at the impact of intervention and the quality of our work to achieve the best outcomes for children and young people. The teams are expected to be integrated into Children’s Services working within Hampshire policies, procedures and thresholds. HCC will undertake its own quality assurance in addition to that provided by MSP