ST HELENS COUNCIL EMPLOYMENT SUPPORT PROGRAMME

ST HELENS COUNCIL EMPLOYMENT SUPPORT PROGRAMME (PART OF ESF WAYS TO WORK PROGRAMME St Helens Council is seeking a supplier to provide a comprehensive employment support and skills development programme for Adults and Young People who reside in St Helens (the ?Programme?), which includes delivery of Phase 2(b) of the Youth Employment Gateway (YEG) Programme in St Helens. The Programme forms part of the wider ?St Helens Ways to Work Programme?, which is funded by the European Social Fund (ESF) and Youth Employment Initiative (YEI).

The Programme intends to work with Adults (ESF Strand 1.1), Young People (ESF Strand 1.3) and those eligible for support through the YEG Delivery (Phase 2(b) YEG Programme) to improve personal resilience, assist participants into employment and sustain this employment. The Programme will involve working with three distinct cohorts of eligible participants, these being ?ESF Participants?, ?YEG Participants? and ?YEI Participants?, who will each have their own eligibility criteria for support.

The opportunity has been advertised as a combined service in order to avoid potential conflicts of interest which would be detrimental to the performance of the contract. The contract is for a maximum period of 31 months June 2016 to Dec 2018 St Helens is located in North West England between the major conurbations of Liverpool (19 km to the west) and Manchester (36 km to the east).

It has a population of over 176,000 people (ONS Mid-year Population Estimates, 2012) and covers a total of 135 km², of which approximately half is urban and half is rural. Further information about St Helens is available on our website (www.sthelens.gov.uk Additional information: The Council is seeking to procure a supplier in accordance with the open procedure as set out in The Public Contracts Regulations 2015, Part 2, Section 3, Regulation 27 (the ?Regulations?).

No tender documents will be sent to you ? you need to navigate to the ?my opportunities? section and download the documents from the Chest website. If you have any questions regarding this opportunity ? please post them on the ?discussions? facility on the Chest.

Messages sent outside of the Chest will not be responded to. ALL SUBMISSIONS MUST BE SENT THROUGH THE CHEST.

Submissions sent via any other method will not be accepted. Please ensure that you leave enough time to upload your documents before the closing date/time, as late submissions may not be accepted Details are included in the ITT document