Witness Service (2024-2028)

Interested operators must inform the contracting authority of their interest in the contract.

The Ministry of Justice will shortly commence the procurement of a new contract for the Witness Service.

The Witness Service is an existing service, which has operated in all Criminal Courts in England and Wales for the last 25 years. The service is highly valued by stakeholders and partners for the independent, emotional and practical support it has provided witnesses over the last two decades to enable them to give their best evidence. Over the life of the new contract, it will deliver critical benefits including:

Delivering the rights and standards of care for victims and witnesses set out in the Victims Code and Witness Charter.

To significantly increase the proportion of victims and witnesses who receive support when they want it.

Enabling this government's plans for court recovery to be realised.

The future service will be materially similar to the current model of support. However, we will also prioritise delivering essential improvements in value-for-money and quality of service, as well as testing ambitious options to future-proof the design of the service based on lessons learned in recent years.

The Ministry of Justice is seeking a provider to provide support to witnesses, guided by the following principles:

To continue to deliver a service for witnesses attending court - building on the existing model for support and the significant benefits it provides to witnesses.

To improve the service at a detailed level, learning lessons from victim policy in recent years. This will include working to create a more trauma-informed approach, improving the accessibility of the service and improving partnership working with victim advocates.

To learn lessons from delivery of the support for victims and witnesses during the COVID-19 pandemic and test ways to build additional flexibility and resilience into the model for support. This would aim to ensure the service can respond with confidence to future pandemic-like scenarios, use of Nightingale courts, extended operating hours and supporting witnesses in giving remote and pre-recorded evidence.

Indicative project milestones include:

Competition goes live - March 2023

Contract award confirmed and transition commenced - October 2023 Launch of the Future Witness Service (latest) - 1st April 2024

The scope of the service is being finalised and will be confirmed in the Contracts Notice.

This notice is for information only. Its publication does not oblige the MoJ to commence a competitive process. All information, including but not limited to descriptions and classifications of the requirements, procedure, Common Procurement Vocabulary codes and estimated date of publication of the contract notice, is indicative. The MoJ reserves the right to amend information at any time without prior notice.

Additional information:

Please note this potential procurement exercise is still subject to approvals and therefore the MoJ reserves the right not to go ahead with the procurement as it is currently planned and will not accept any liability for any time and resources incurred by potential bidders responding to this notice.

To express an interest in participating in this competition please email: daren.mills@justice.gov.uk where your email will be acknowledged upon receipt.

The form of response should be limited to the provision of a single point of contact (full company name, contact name, job title, e-mail address and telephone number). The Authority will then issue invitations to all interested parties, confirming the timings and location of the events.