IPS Implementation Support Contract PIN

We are seeking to appoint a supplier to provide implementation and technical support, as well as fidelity reviews, to a range of Individual Placement and Support (IPS) services across England. The selected supplier will enable services to deliver high quality, effective IPS employment support to a range of groups, including those with severe mental illness (70 IPS services based in 42 Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships (STPs)), those with drug and alcohol addiction (currently 31 IPS teams covering 46 local authority areas) and those with common mental health and/or physical health conditions. The supplier will have experience and expertise in supporting providers to deliver IPS in alternative settings to meet this requirement. They must be able to demonstrate their ability to expand their support in line with forecasted increases in IPS services across the different cohorts, as well as the roll out of IPS services to new groups.

The supplier will have extensive experience of providing IPS expertise to commissioners and service providers across the NHS and Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise sector. They must also be able to provide at least 7 IPS Expert Implementation Managers to work with NHS England/Innovation (NHSE/I) regional teams, Public Health England and health system/local authority commissioners to guide commissioning and service delivery.

Experience of coordinating and delivering Quality Improvement at a system level within IPS and experience of delivering a national fidelity review programme is essential. The supplier will have an existing profile within the national IPS community and be able to bring together key stakeholders to coordinate and moderate the assessment of services against the IPS fidelity model through the provision of regular fidelity reviews.

The supplier will use existing relationships with Health Education England and IPS services to develop and implement a workforce strategy, including a robust recruitment and training model to increase and strengthen the IPS workforce. This will ensure that the workforce is of a sufficient size and is sufficiently skilled to meet the employment support needs of people accessing IPS services.