CYP ADHD/ASD Service – Wait List Initiative (WLI) Urgent Award

In January of this year, regional colleagues contacted Mid and South Essex ICB (now NHS Essex ICB) to advise of a non-recurrent funding for community schemes to tackle long waiting times. Commissioning leads for BCYP, Community services and Adult Mental Health (MH) were asked to consider how best to utilise the 25/26 funding before Q2 2026/27 after which funding would not be available.

Commissioning leads identified a number priority pathways. • Community Paediatrics (Neuro) across MSE – ASD/ADHD assessments • ASD/ADHD assessment Adults Children and Adults awaiting assessment for ASD and ADHD are subject to significant waiting times for assessment and treatment where applicable. While 52-week waits are significant, commissioning leads wish to transfer the longest waiters on the pathways to accredited providers on the CYP and Adult frameworks who would be better placed to mobilise the additional capacity required on a temporary basis and hold the funding into the new financial year.Independent and NHS providers are aware of this opportunity and are scoping activity to facilitate transfer.

Based on local risks relating to a national issue, and the short notice given to commissioners regarding the release of funding, Mid and South Essex ICB can demonstrate that delaying the award or modification of the contract would adversely impact or pose a risk to patients or the public, or that a new service needs to be mobilised rapidly to meet local or national requirements. In these circumstances, the ICB can rely on Regulations 14(1), 14(2) and 14(3) to enact an urgent award or urgent contract modifications.

For an urgent award to be valid, all the following conditions must be met: • the award or modification must be made urgently. • the reason for the urgency was not foreseeable by, and is not attributable to, the ICB. • delaying the award to undertake a full application of the regime would likely pose a risk to patient or public safety. The situation described above meets the criteria for an Urgent Award.

The contract as a limited terms of 2 months & 16 days Commencing 23rd March 2026 ending 30th June 2026. The budget allocation is £915,250 and expected number of transfers are 429.