Step up to Social Work Post Graduate Diploma

Step Up To Social Work is a Department for Education funded initiative developed in response to recognised recruitment issues, plus concerns that qualifying programmes were not consistently preparing graduates for the realities of practice upon qualification, particularly in front line child care services. The model has at its foundation the notion of Regional Partnerships whereby local authorities work with an academic institution to deliver a course that produces skilled, confident and capable social workers for front line child care teams. The emphasis of the programme is the need for a shared ownership of social work education between employers and education providers. The Council and the academic institute will collaborate at the second stage of recruitment and selection of trainees, curriculum design, assessment plus contribution to teaching, both via placements and within the academic offer.

The tender opportunity will be run through the London Tenders Procurement Portal and you will need to register your company with the portal as soon as possible (if you have not already done so) at www.londontenders.org to ensure that you are able to express your interest in this tender and receive the relevant documents once they are available online.

The tender is being run on behalf of the South East London Partnership which consists of the London Boroughs of Bromley, Bexley, Lewisham and Lambeth, the Royal Borough of Greenwich and Surrey County Council.

It is anticipated that the contract will commence 29.6.2015 (or at any such date as directed by the Council) for at for a period of 22 months followed by the option to extend for a further period of 22 months.

Estimated contract value is 338 000 GBP (676 000 GBP if extension option used) Please refer to Tender Documentation fro clarification.

Please Note: at the time of advertising this Tender, the Council is awaiting confirmation of the draw down of funding for the Programme. The Council reserves the right to withdraw the tender should the funding not be available.

Additional information: Please see OJEU Notice for full details.