Issue - meetings

22/00093 - Carers Short Breaks Service - Direct Award

 

 

Meeting: 28/09/2022 - Adult Social Care Cabinet Committee (Item 90)

90 22/00093 - Carers Short Breaks Service - Direct Award pdf icon PDF 344 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Mr Simon Mitchell (Senior Commissioning Manager) was in attendance for this item.

 

  1. Mr Mitchell introduced the report and said a county-wide contract was in place with a single provider and a strategy promoted the importance of breaks for carers. The current contract would expire in March 2024 and a further 1-year extension was requested to allow time for work to be carried out with providers, partners, and carers to codesign and coproduce a new model.

 

  1. Mr Mitchell then responded to questions and comments from the committee, including the following:

 

(a)  Asked why this was the third year running that a 1-year extension was being sought and no optional further extensions were included, Mr Mitchell said a single-year extension had been chosen because of the Covid-19 pandemic and because the Carers’ Strategy would inform the future of carers breaks to make them more secure in the long-term.

 

(b)  Asked about the use of historic data, whether more up-to-date data was available, and would the plan be able to sustain increased demand, Mr Mitchell said that the Carer’s Strategy included the most up-to-date information and moving forward data would be used from provider and contract management data, and better working across adult social care in supporting carers would ensure the necessary level of provision.

 

(c)  Asked if a review could be conducted into the use of 1-year extensions and the effects of them on providers, Mr Mitchell said he would be happy to discuss this further outside of the meeting.

 

RESOLVED that the decision to be taken by the Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health to:

 

(a)  Approve a Direct Award contract for Carers’ Short Breaks for a period of 12 months, from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024; and

(b)  Delegate authority to the Corporate Director 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

 

be endorsed.