Preliminary Market Engagement - Digital Pocket Money Solution (Children's Homes)

Warwickshire County Council ("the Council") is undertaking Preliminary Market Engagement (PME) to explore the provision of a digital pocket money solution to support children and young people in its care, including those placed in residential children's homes.

The Council currently operates a range of locally managed, predominantly cash-based processes to administer pocket money and personal funds. While these arrangements are functional, they present challenges in relation to financial control, auditability, safeguarding oversight, and administrative efficiency, as well as consistency of practice across different settings.

As part of its wider finance transformation and digitalisation agenda, the Council is seeking to understand the market for secure, user-friendly solutions that can:

• Improve financial governance and transparency, including full audit trails and reporting
• Strengthen safeguarding arrangements, ensuring appropriate use of funds and oversight by carers and the corporate parent
• Reduce manual administration and cash handling risks
• Provide a simple, accessible user experience for children, young people, and staff
• Enable scalable, standardised processes across multiple homes and cohorts

The Council is particularly interested in solutions such as prepaid cards, digital wallets, or app-based platforms that are suitable for use in regulated care environments and can operate within a local authority control framework.

This PME exercise is intended to

• Understand available solutions, delivery models, and levels of market maturity
• Inform the Council's requirements, specification, and procurement strategy
• Identify potential risks, implementation considerations, and dependencies
• Assess supplier appetite and innovation opportunities

This exercise does not represent a commitment to procure any solution at this stage. However, the information gathered will directly inform a future business case and any subsequent procurement activity, with a focus on achieving best value, compliance, and improved outcomes for children and young people.