Decision details

Background:

Adult Social Care has historic grant arrangements in place with voluntary and community sector providers across the county. These grants provide a contribution towards the costs of services that support older people, people living with dementia, people with a physical disability and people with sensory impairments. Services meet the outcomes of the Council and enable people to remain well and living independently.

There are issues related to use of historic grant arrangements including an inconsistency in the type of support and services funded across the county, lack of correlation between spend and demographic factors, limitations in the ability to monitor the performance of services and therefore to understand the impact that services have on people.

Through the development process for the new contract model, it became clear there is no single solution that can address the needs of all client groups.  Therefore, both universal and specialist services contracts are required.  There is also a need to move to an asset-based approach and outcome-based specifications.

The Community Based Wellbeing Service Procurement Programme was paused in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 crisis.  The procurement is restarting in September 2020 and a revised timetable takes the programme to the end of March 2022.

This decision supports KCC’s Strategic Statement through supporting key providers that deliver services to older and vulnerable residents that will ensure they are safe and supported with choices to live independently.  This decision supports the Strategic Reset programme by implementing Asset Based Commissioning.

PROPOSED Decision

EXTEND all required grant arrangements, as detailed in the recommendation report, to cover Phase 2 procurement until 30 September 2021;

EXTEND the existing grant agreements to Edenbridge Voluntary Transport Service, Sevenoaks Volunteer Transport Group, Hospice in the Weald and Heart of Kent Hospice, for the full duration of the procurement programme (to end March 2022);

EXTEND the Carers Short Breaks contract to Crossroads Care Kent, until 31 March 2022;

DELEGATE authority to the Corporate Director of Adult Social Care and Health to take other relevant actions, including but not limited to entering into and finalising the terms of relevant contracts or other legal agreements, as necessary to implement the decision.