Issue details

Proposed Decision:

To commission, via an external provider, Independent Advocacy, Independent Visitors, Independent Persons, Accompanying Adults, Appropriate Adults and Leaving Care Mentoring services to support children and young people.

Reason for decision:

The current service, called Representation, Rights and Advocacy (RRA), is commissioned via an external provider due to the need to have provision independent of the Local Authority. Having used all allowable extensions, the current contract ends in September 2027. This service is required to allow Kent County Council to meet its statutory obligations.

The current service has several service elements:

• Appropriate Adults - Service for young people aged 10 - 17 years and vulnerable adultsdetained at police custody suites who require support.
• Advocacy - Advocacy for Children in Care and for Care Leavers aged 16 – 24. (Must be delivered independently from the Local Authority).
• Independent visitors (IV) -For Children in Care aged 8 – 18 years.
• Independent Person- For Stage 2 complaints. (Must be delivered independently from the Local Authority).
• Accompanying Adults - For the purpose of age assessment interviews for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC).(Best practice suggests independence from the Local Authority).

·   Leaving Care Mentoring – The provision of mentoring for care leavers aged 18–25 who are transitioning to independent living. 

The proposal is to commission an externally delivered service with the six elements together with one provider covering the county.

Using the current cost of the service, £258,800 per annum, for a contract for four years with two, two year extensions would mean that the total value of the contract exceeds £1m and impacts more than two electoral divisions.

Background:

·       Local authorities have statutory duties that underpin the elements of the these services. 

·       This proposal seeks approval to commission a new service that covers all of these elements for an initial term of four years (with two, two year extensions) following a compliant procurement .

·       Commissioning activity includes developing the Specification with professional stakeholders and children and young people.

Options  

In any commissioning activity, the options considered include

1.  Do nothing – KCC would fail to meet its statutory obligations

2.  Creating a new in-house model – Would not meet requirements of some elements to be independent from the Local Authority

3.  Externally commissioning a new service – Would meet statutory requirements for provision

These will be explored in more detail for the Recommendation Report.

Links to the Council’s Strategic Statement

This proposal aligns with Reforming Kent, 2025-2028; Aim three of Reforming Kent “Supporting residents that need help.”

The proposed service will support and empower young people to make informed choices about their care and to feel safe throughout their care journey. It will provide consistent, rights?based support during the custody process and throughout any age assessment, ensuring young people understand what is happening, can express their views, and are actively involved in decisions that affect them.

Financial Implications:

This service is currently budgeted from the Council’s General Fund. Spend is reported within the revenue budget against the Key service line Children in Need – Care and Support (payments and commissioned services).

The current cost of the service is £258,800 per annum which has been held for many years. We are expecting a price negotiation at the point of the agreed extension in September 2026.

Financial modelling is currently being undertaken and will be available at the point of Decision. This is to understand the impact of holding the price of the current contract to todays values along with a model of delivery consistent with market feedback.

The new proposal seeks a contract term of four years with two, two year extensions.

Legal Implications:

As this service has six elements, the legal basis differs, as follows:

The procurement of the services will be conducted in compliance with the Procurement Act 2023.