Council and democracy

As the current Short Breaks and Support Services for Disabled Children contract would expire in March 2019, the report outlined the procurement of a new contract. A procurement exercise would be undertaken to increase the number of providers as there were currently two delivering the service under the current contract. Quality of the service was the main criteria but savings may be possible due to increased competition. The Contract and Performance Manager explained the report would go to tender, run ideally for 3 years with an additional option to extend to 12 months.

Councillor Hague sought more details on the shortfall of providers and wondered if the service was looking for providers outside of Thurrock. The Contract and Performance Manager explained the service had 4 providers before which had now reduced to 2 which may have been due to the domiciliary care market as it was not as lucrative as it had been. Parents could also choose the personal budget now as it provided more opportunities than Short Breaks services. Councillor Hague went on to ask if more choice meant needing more providers. The Contract and Performance Manager confirmed that was the case and some services such as residential services were expensive which a personal budget could not cover but that option had to be there. By opening the contract up to tender, it would attract more providers.

Youth Cabinet Member 2 also asked how this shortfall of providers could be overcome. The Contract and Performance Manager answered that the issue had been with the previous providers where some had not met the specifications of the service. A lot of the providers had run into problems with the Care Quality Commission in terms of quality and standard. The service would be clear on the specifications required so providers would know what they were buying into. The Youth Cabinet Member 2 questioned whether the £400,000 per annum over the 4 years would be enough to which the Contract and Performance Manager answered it would be as most families could choose the personal budget. Previously, the £700,000 per annum was quite a lot whereas now, there was the community or residential services to choose from in Short Breaks.

The Chair asked if the families could use the personal budget to buy the domiciliary care services to which the Contract and Performance Manager confirmed they could. The Chair went on to query the number of families that used the personal budgets. The Contract and Performance Manager stated that 84 out of the 106 families they currently had were using the personal budget. The service ensured what was booked was used correctly.

The Youth Cabinet Member 3 questioned whether the £400,000 budget equalled out over the 106 families. The Contract and Performance Manager explained that this budget was provided over the cost of the year and that a number or families could access Short Breaks. It covered what families needed.

RESOLVED:

That the Children’s Services Overview and Security Committee agreed to the following recommendations to be made to Cabinet in November 2018:

1.1  That, subject to approval, the tender to provide Short Breaks and Support Services for Disabled Children with a term of 3 years and the option to extend for a period of 12 months.

1.2  That the authority is delegated to the accountable Corporate Director of Children’s Services, in agreement with the Portfolio Holder to award contracts to meet the assessed needs and preferences of children and young people.