Issue - meetings

To receive a report which sets out information relating to the decision to procure a new Direct Payment Support Service to ensure support continues.

Rachel Britt (Senior Commissioning Manager - Children's Services), Jamie Brooks (Senior Commissioner), Mark Walker (Assistant Director for Disabled Children and Young People) and Shellina Prendergast were in attendance for this item

1.    Mr Gibbens (Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health) read out a statement which explained the reason why the item had been brought to the Adult Social Care Cabinet Committee as opposed to the Children’s, Young People and Education Cabinet Committee.

2.    Rachel Britt introduced the report which set out the option for families with a disabled child to choose to receive a direct payment in lieu of a provided service which was given by The Carers and Disabled Children Act 2000. To support families, children and young people in the management of direct payments, Kent County Council commissioned a Direct Payment Support Service. The service was competitively tendered in 2016.  The contract was due to expire on 31 March 2019 and there was no scope to further extend the contract, there was a need to procure a new service to ensure support continued.

(a)    In response to a question, Rachel Britt said that the previous contract did not include an option to extend and felt it should be an option with the new contract. She said that the contract value had provisionally been set for three years, but this would be reviewed every year and work would be undertaken with the provider to monitor demand, capacity and expenditure through the service.

(b)    In response to a question, Rachel Britt said that the cost of the contract was £342,000 per annum.

(c)    In response to a question, Rachel Britt said that as part of the tendering evaluation, bidders would be evaluated on their plans for mobilising to a new service and would be scored accordingly on the plans that they had put in place. Kent County Council would work with the successful bidder, and if the successful bidder were the current provider, the mobilisation to the service would be much smoother. If the successful bidder was a new provider, transition and mobilisation meetings would take place before the contract went live, the transfer was expected to take place on 1 April 2019.

3.    RESOLVED that the decision proposed to be taken by the Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health, to

(a)   procure a new contract for the Direct Payment Support Service; and

(b)   delegate authority to the Corporate Director of Adult Social Care and Health, or other nominated officer, to undertake the necessary actions to implement the decision,

be endorsed.