Compassionate Birmingham Expert Support and Delivery

Birmingham City Council (the Council) is seeking to appoint an organisation for the provision of Compassionate Birmingham workstream, which is a core delivery of the Birmingham Ageing Well Strategy and the continued delivery of our Compassionate Birmingham commitment. Compassionate Birmingham is the umbrella term given to a series of organisations that work to deliver better services and support for people who are dying, bereaved, grieving, or caring.

It follows the ideas laid down by Professor Allan Kellehear in the Compassionate Cities Charter: Compassionate Cities Charter. Examples of work carried out previously has revolved around arts and health approaches to health, supporting people dying alone in hospital, offering training to community organisations, and funding death cafés.

Pre-pandemic, NICE guidance suggested that around 30% of people that experience a close bereavement needed organised support opportunities. Additionally, a further 10% struggled with complex or prolonged grief, needing specialist mental health interventions.

However, figures suggested at this time, 20-30% of bereaved adults were unable to access the support they needed. Left unsupported, bereavement is associated with increased risk to health and wellbeing, including mortality, physical health problems, physical disability, medication usage, hospitalisation, and in some cases more visits to a GP. The pre-pandemic costs of this were estimated to be £8bn annually plus an additional £23bn in lost revenue The contract for the services will commence on 1st November 2026 and will be in place for a period of 3 years.