Packages of Care and Support for Children with a Disability

Essex County Council is seeking a range of agencies that are able to support the delivery of care for children with a disability within their own home and in the community. Agencies will be required to allocate carers that support families to meet the care needs of Children and Young People age (0 – 25) with a range of disabilities and complexities.

A maximum of 3 contracts are available for each area of the County Mid (Braintree, Chelmsford, Maldon) North (Colchester, Tendring) South (Basildon, Castle Point, Rochford) West (Brentwood, Epping, Harlow, Uttlesford) to provide individual packages to those children and young people with a disability either referred through Essex County Council Social Care Teams or via a Self Referral route. Agencies will be required to provide sufficient numbers of carers, who are appropriately experienced, trained, qualified and supported to meet the full requirements of the specification which ranges from the provision of short term ‘light touch’ services that are able to be directly accessed by families without the need for a Social Care assessment, to awake night sitting services for highly complex children and young people, who will be referred by a Social Worker.

Individual care packages shall be awarded as and when required, dependent on need and complexity. The three (3) highest scoring bids to the tender response for each quadrant area will be awarded contracts and will form a ranked list for that quadrant.

Individual packages will be referred to the highest tendered bidder in the first instance, and then passed to the second and third in the event that the first is unable to meet the requirement. Bidders should note that parental/user choice will take precedent over this stated process.

The contract will be for three (3) years with a one (1) year extension option at the Authority's discretion, with annual contract reviews. The anticipated start date for these services is 1st October 2015.