CCS011 Provision of Block Contract for Children’s Residential Placements

Derbyshire County Council seeks to commission a small number of residential children’s homes which offer high quality care and excellent outcomes for children in care.

The number of children who live in care is rising nationally, with Derbyshire being no exception, having seen an increase of 25% during the last four years. Rates of children entering care continue to rise year on year, having increased considerably since 2020.

Residential care is not the most appropriate option for many children in care, with fostering and connected care being a better option for most. However, where children’s needs are best met by a residential home it is better if that home is local to them and well connected with the Child’s team of professionals and related networks. There are also high numbers of disabled children who require overnight short breaks in a suitably registered and regulated setting, and the existing service offer is not currently meeting the demand.

The service offer shall include the following requirements:

• Six placements across a service: These placements shall be standard residential placements and are intended to be long-term placements (1 year or more).
• A two or three bed residential home: This is a provision which can be used to place one or more children, to support those with additional needs or to use for shorter-term placements.

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• A two bedded complex children's home: This is a provision placing one child or two children, to support those with complex needs.
• A three-bed residential home to offer short breaks for children with disabilities These placements aim to offer short break accommodation for children. the average usage per child would be 24 nights per year, and this should therefore be able to offer this service for up to 45 children per year.

In addition to the standard delivery model (all requirements) the Council had included within this tender the option for Tenderers to submit variant bids based on Lots. Please see the tender documentation for details.

This contract is being tendered under the light touch regime, utilising a procedure with a combined PQQ and Initial tender stage with options to negotiate subsequent tenders, However, the Council reserves the right to award the contract(s) based on the initial tenders without proceeding to the negotiation stage