Decision details

Decision: To award contracts to provide Care and Support in the Home Phase 2– Supported Living Services to the successful bidders following a procurement exercise and delegate authority to the Corporate Director of Adult Social Care and Health to take relevant actions, including but not limited to finalising the terms of and entering into required contracts or other legal agreements, as necessary to implement the decision.

This Decision is to award contracts to additional providers under the pre-existing Supported Living framework which went live on June 15^th, 2020, and was agreed under decision 20/00031 – Care in the Home Service

Reason(s) for decision: There is a mixed economy of Care in the Home Services across Kent for older and vulnerable residents with assessed needs, predominantly contracted to external providers and spot purchasing arrangements.  The scope of these services includes:

Phase 1 – Home Care Services and Supporting Independence Services (SIS)

The services in scope deliver very similar tasks in people’s homes and there was an opportunity to achieve improved consistency across the market by bringing services together. Additionally, providers delivering services such as SIS are already delivering within an outcomes-focussed approach, whilst the Home Care provision remained time and task focussed.

Phase 2 – Supported Living and Care in the Home Community Vacancies

The contract was retendered in 2019 and was implemented in part in June 2020, a second tender process was opened in March 2021 to add new providers to the contract addressing the market gaps identified since June 2020.

Aligning services under one contractual arrangement has enabled the Council to take a consistent and equitable approach in shaping the market to focus on the personalisation and outcomes agendas and supporting the Council’s strategic outcome that ‘older and vulnerable residents are safe and supported with choices to live independently’.