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  • Issue
  • Issue details

    22/00034 - External Community Opportunities for People with Learning and Physical Disabilities

    Proposed decision:

    Procurement of External Community Opportunities for People with Learning and Physical Disabilities and delegation of authority to the Corporate Director Adult Social Care and Health and the Corporate Director Children, Young People and Education to take relevant actions, including but not limited to finalising the terms of entering into required contracts of other legal agreements, as necessary to implement the decision.

     

    Reason for the decision:

    The current Community Day Opportunities for Individuals with Disabilities framework contract is due to expire end September 2022, new arrangements need to be in place by 1 October 2022.

     

    The new service specification will be outcome focused, based on the Making a Difference Everyday (MADE) and Provider Services design principles (which have been part of a separate engagement process) and align with a Self-Directed Support approach of Adult Social Care. It is recognised that a traditional approach to ‘day opportunities’ is reducing in demand, however it is still an important provision for some individuals and their families. The support through the new Community Opportunities Offer will be a flexible, adaptable and evolving model to include traditional day opportunities and wider community support outside of traditional times and settings. The future support offer will also align with other Adult Social Care Projects such as the Micro-Enterprises development.

     

    Financial Implications:

    All current external Learning Disability and Physical Disability Day Opportunities are funded through the operational teams.

     

    The total forecast spend (across Adults and Children’s) for 2021-22 is £10,065,200 for service provisions (see table below for split).

     

     

    Forecast 2021/22

    People with a disability (26 and over) – includes Sensory and Autism

    £7,392,400

    Young People (18 – 25)

    £2,672,800

     

    There are associated transport costs which are also funded through the operational teams, the table below outlines the forecast for 2021-22. Again, this is likely to be lower this year due to the pandemic.

     

     

    Forecast 2021/22

    People with a disability (26 and over) – includes Sensory and Autism

    £1,593,900

    Young People (18 – 25)

    £850,200

     

     

    Due to the COVID pandemic, the forecast spend during 2021/22 is lower than the allocated budget. This has been a result of some services being closed for periods of time. Client charging has also been suspended which impacts on this commitment.

     

    Through benchmarking other neighbouring Local Authorities, KCC pay lower day and half day rates. A risk of the new procurement will be providers submitting higher fees for support.  It is proposed to mitigate some of this risk through the procurement, by requesting flexible fees depending on the activity/support delivered and to work with providers and people we support through utilising various methods of payment through a self-directed support approach, such as direct payments and individual service funds.

     

    The Council budget was approved at County Council on 10 February 2022.  It is acknowledged that there are significant pressures on the Adult Social Care and Children and Young People’s budgets.  As such there are identified savings for these budgets. The table below sets out the identified savings.

     

     

    Savings identified

    People with a disability (26 and over) – includes Sensory and Autism

    £1,000,000

     

    The savings will be realised through the offer of support and choice available and will be tracked through a benefits realisation group, as there is a risk the spend on this type of support could move across various budget lines.

     

     

    Decision type: Key

    Reason Key: Expenditure or savings of more than £1m;

    Decision status: Recommendations Approved

    Division affected: (All Division);

    Notice of proposed decision first published: 24/03/2022

    Decision due: Not before 17th May 2022 by Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health

    Lead member: Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health

    Lead director: Richard Smith

    Department: Social Care, Health & Wellbeing

    Contact: Sharon Dene, Senior Commissioning Manager Email: sharon.dene@kent.gov.uk.

    Financial implications: Please refer to 'Financial Implications' section.

    Legal implications: The procurement of new External Community Opportunities will be undertaken in line with the Public Contract Regulations (2015) and legal advice will be sought as necessary regarding contractual terms and conditions. There will need to be resource allocated at the end point contract award for contracts to be sealed. The new contracts will be taken forward in a way which ensures the Council’s statutory responsibilities are discharged accordingly. These services support an individual with an assessed care and support need and therefore fall under the guidance laid out by the Care Act (2014).

    Equalities implications: An Equality Impact Assessment (EqIA) has been carried out. There should be no negative impact on those with protected characteristics as the aim of this tender is to improve on an existing day opportunities contract. The EqIA will be included the decision paperwork. Data Protection implications: A Data Protection Impact Assessment will be required and will been completed once the specification for the contract is finalised.

    Decisions

    Agenda items