£1 million plus contract for social care started on 1st February 2017 – authorised last week
In April 2016, the York Council considered a major shake-up in its housing support programme. The service had been costing York taxpayers over £2.5 million a year.
The users of this support programmes short term services include the homeless, young people at risk (16-25 year olds including care leavers and teenage parents) offenders, mental health, substance misuse and domestic violence.
Long term services support residents with permanent needs including older people; learning disabilities and mental health.
A report to the Council’s Executive last April said,
“The approach is one of “co-design” with the Council setting some minimum requirements but requesting providers to submit proposals that identify the added value that can be provided and setting out a five-year vision for service delivery which will further enhance provision across the City”
It was expected the the new approach would save taxpayers around £750,000 a year. The new approach anticipated an increase in activity by volunteers.
At about the same time the government announced a cap on the total amount of housing benefit payable to social housing tenants. At the time this was expected to impact heavily on supported accommodation services like hostels.
The 2016 report said,
“There is however apprehension amongst providers and partners regarding the significant service change that will take place and any resulting reductions in capacity. Some customers have also expressed anxiety over potential change of providers but this will not be known until after the outcome of the proposed “tender” exercise”.
The services put out to tender were Community Wellbeing and Support Services for:
- Adults (including Mental Health, Homeless, substance misuse, offenders and Young People)
- Older Persons
- Young People – Supported Lodgings
The expected total cost of providing these services was £1.27 million (a saving of £750,000)
It had been anticipated that the contract would be awarded in September 2016 with implementation from 1st February 201
7.
It appears that the contracts have only recently been authorised although they were implemented at the beginning of the month. (There is a suspicion that the responsible Council official actually agreed the contract in December).
Papers were published on the Council’s web site on Friday but reveal very little either about the cost of the new contracts or their specifications (i.e. targets, outcomes).
September 2017 specification promise
There will be a suspicion that these have only been made public as an afterthought and were possibly prompted by last week’s revelations about previous contract failures.
The three contacts awarded were:
- Supported Lodgings – Community Wellbeing Support Service contract to SASH
- Family Support – Community Wellbeing Support Service contract to Community Links *
- Older People and People with Physical Disabilities – Community Wellbeing Support Service contract to Yorkshire Housing Ltd.
So, substantial contracts have been let apparently without the involvement of the responsible Councillors, with no visibility of the “vision”, the number of tenders received haven’t been reported, nor has the value of the individual contracts or the expected outcome specification/targets.
Some further explanations are needed we think!
*Bizarrely the report claims that the specification for this service will not be agreed until “Sept 2017”
Richard Holloway is the former head of the Anglican Church in Scotland who famously stopped believing in God. He is now a popular broadcaster and prolific writer and has frequently spoken about his lifelong struggle to believe.