Request for approval to waive contract procedure rules to award a new contract to KeyRing Living Support Networks.

Transcription

1 CABINET Request for approval to waive contract procedure rules to award a new contract to KeyRing Living Support Networks. Executive Director: Commissioning Portfolio Holder: Cabinet Member for Social Care and Public Health 29 th July 2013 Officer Contacts: Lynda Megram & Mark Noble Ext & 8919 Purpose of Report This report requests approval to waive the Councils contract procedure rules to award a new contract to KeyRing Living Support Networks Ltd. This organisation provides support across Oldham to vulnerable adults including FACS eligible clients under Adult Social Care. The report demonstrates the benefits to the Council of this unique delivery model and that awarding a further contract would ensure that vulnerable people within Oldham are able to receive appropriate housing support services to enable them to live independently and contribute positively to the wider community. Recommendations To waive the Councils contract procedure rules and award a new contract to KeyRing Living Support Networks Ltd for 2 years from September 2013 with an option to extend by 1+1 years. The annual (block) contract value will be 322,400 in 2013/14 and 260,416 from April 2014.

2 CABINET 29 th July 2013 Request for approval to waive the Councils contract procedure rules to award a new contract to KeyRing Living Support Networks Ltd. 1. Background 1.1 This report presents the case and benefits to the Council of waiving the Councils contract procedure rules to award a 2 year contract to KeyRing Living Support Networks Ltd (KeyRing). The current value of the contract is 469,260 of which 322,400 is a block payment, with the balance funded via Individual Budgets (IBs) from service users who are eligible under the Councils Fair Access to Care criteria. If the recommendation was approved, the block element would reduce in 2014/15 to 260,416 with any further income at KeyRings risk, i.e. via individuals holding IBs making their own purchasing decisions in terms of take up of the service KeyRing is a registered charity and provides a unique service delivery model to support vulnerable individuals to access and sustain independent living: their work assists the Council to manage demand away from statutory services by optimising service users independence. The service has a strong ethos of fostering independence, social inclusion, and peer support amongst their service users ( members ). The origins of the service lie in providing support to people with learning disabilities but this has broadened to include households with mental health issues and a range of other vulnerabilities Their service delivery model includes a volunteer support worker who lives within the KeyRing area or network : they provide a specified amount of flexible support for around nine KeyRing members, living within walking distance. Additional full time staff provide specialised casework support and manage additional volunteers who also provide support. There are 12 Networks across Oldham providing support to 126 people with support needs that the more commonly available floating support services cannot adequately address. 1.4 In September 2012 an EDRS report to extend the contract was approved as this was permitted under the contract terms. That report outlined the development of the service in Oldham, the very high performance and quality of service delivery including the high satisfaction rating from service users, and the endorsements from care managers in adult social care outlining how the work of the service relieved pressure on statutory interventions. The report also outlined the negotiated savings that had been achieved over the previous years. 1.5 The approved contract extension included proposals to increase value for money from the contract by increasing front line delivery, reduce the contract value and modernise the service delivery model. From April 2013 the reconfigured service introduced a two-tier delivery mechanism to reflect different levels of Page 2 of 8 Request for Approval to award Keyring contract July 2013

3 intervention: a time restricted intensive intervention focused around tenancy setup or rescue, and a lower level intervention focused on maintenance of independence in the community for individuals with enduring support needs. The staffing model was also revised to better target the interventions of higher skilled staff. The previous report is attached as Appendix 2 and so the full detail is not repeated here. 2. Current Position 2.1 The September 2012 edrs report included a recommendation to provide a further report asking Cabinet to approve a tender waiver allowing a contract extension of 7 months, to 31 st March 2014, assuming that the service transformation was successful. 2.2 Council officers from the Commissioning Hub, together with Heads of Service from Adult Social Care, have met regularly with KeyRing to oversee the implementation to the new service model. This was to ensure that agreed changes have not negatively impacted on front-line service delivery, and it continues to provide consistency of support to the service users. Service performance and service user feedback indicates that the transformation is being delivered successfully. 2.3 The changes agreed in September involved some transfer of risk from the Council to KeyRing in that the block element of funding within the contract was reduced, with the intention that KeyRing would be able to grow the Individual Budget (IB) element of the service to offset this reduction, if service users considered this a service they needed and wanted to purchase. 2.4 The success of the new service model, coupled with new opportunities to further improve value for money and increase added value to the Borough, lead us to revise the previous proposal and to suggest the award of a new contract for two years from September Contract renewal proposal 3.1 The Councils new commissioning model has been applied to ensure the proposal supports this new approach. The challenge posed is how can we ensure that vulnerable people sustain independent living in the community in a way that reduces demand on higher cost/statutory interventions? The solutions KeyRing offer are based on a sound understanding of their members (service users), with an equal attention paid to their strengths as to their needs, plus staff and volunteers knowledge of the local community. The network living volunteers (who live within walking distance of the members in the ring ) are recruited for their local knowledge and connections and all the wider support staff are also Oldham residents, as KeyRings recruitment policy specifies that they recruit staff and volunteers close to the service location. Page 3 of 8 Request for Approval to award Keyring contract July 2013

4 3.2 Outcomes and ambition: the outcomes achieved by the service have consistently been excellent in terms of maintaining people within the community: the changes made from April are also having a positive impact in terms of increased numbers of people moving through the intensive part of the service and is a useful point for care managers to re-assess any FACS eligible service users so that they receive just enough support from any further intervention offered. Keyring are also seeing increased take up by individuals with Individual Budgets, which has encouraged them to accept greater risk in terms of a further reduction in the block element of the funding from April 2014 (from 322,400 to 260,416) if the contract award is approved: this would still guarantee the availability of the 12 networks, supporting a minimum of 126 individuals. More people may benefit if they decide to maintain KeyRing as their support provider via an Individual Budget outside of a network place. 3.3 KeyRing has been awarded new funding ( 210,000) over three years as a result of a successful bid to the DoH Innovation, Excellence and Strategic Development fund which will extend the service model and reach in new directions. They have decided to utilise this funding in Oldham and have met with commissioners from the Drug and Alcohol Team (DAAT) to develop an additional network focused on supporting people with mental health and substance misuse problems: this will include therapeutic interventions to sustain recovery, designed in collaboration with Network members and the DAAT expert group. This added income also affords KeyRing the opportunity to further reduce their overhead costs in Oldham. 3.4 Market position: other providers offer parts of the model that KeyRing provides, but there appear to be no others that offer all the elements. The key differences which set this model apart are: Location: sited because of access to housing, local community facilities and transport, not location to an office etc. Mutual Support: the members supporting each other and considering themselves the first layer of support. An ethos of community connections : promoting active membership of the locality. The use of a volunteer at the heart of a Network: their role is to be an enabler, a good neighbour, someone living in and sharing local experiences & issues, makes use of the same facilities etc. Flexible support: support is negotiated with the Volunteer, putting its members in control. 3.5 Implementation and impact:: the existing service is monitored against service and individual outcomes and this would be enhanced by DoH evaluation of the new network. Page 4 of 8 Request for Approval to award Keyring contract July 2013

5 4. Options/Alternatives 4.1 Allow the contract to expire on 31 st August This is not regarded as a viable option given the degree of vulnerability that the people accessing the service have and the potentially negative impact on statutory services and the wider community if their housing and support needs are not met. 4.2 Request a tender waiver to extend the contract by a further 7 months to 31 st March 2014 at a continuation of the maximum contract value of 469,260 per annum. This would not provide a sound basis for KeyrRng to continue with the transformation plan in the way the Council envisages and may affect the added value brought to the Borough via the DoH funding. 4.3 Tender the service. This is not regarded as a beneficial option for the Council given that: the service successfully manages demand away from higher cost interventions, KeyRings delivery model is so bespoke and there are few if any organisations that deliver in this way, the added value from aligned DoH funding, the social return on their investment via their commitment to local recruitment. In addition we have been unable to identify any other provider for this model of service delivery. 4.4 The Oldham network was Keyring s first network in the North West which accounts for 17% of Keyring s business nationally and Keyring has been operating in Oldham more than 12 years. Keyring has built strong working relationships with other local providers including housing, health and the Council. 4.5 The Winterbourne View Review: Good Practice Examples refers to Keyring as follows: KeyRing ( is a community based approach which supports people in Living Support Networks. In a KeyRing Network, people with support needs (Members) live in properties (from all types of tenure) in close proximity to each other. Each Member has their own tenancy, so if they move on from KeyRing support they do not have to move out of their home. Some Members already have somewhere to live when they join, but KeyRing supports most new Members to find a property. The Network size can vary but there are usually nine people who receive support from a locally based Community Living Volunteer, who is usually housed in the Network area. Support from the volunteer is flexible and they provide support with things like helping the Member maintain their tenancy, dealing with letters and bills, and budgeting. Because they live in the Network, they are best placed to facilitate mutual (Member to Member) support, and help people to build links with the local community. They can be the first port of call for any Member with a problem, and this often stops things escalating into a crisis. Members also come to support each other, as they get to know people and share their skills. KeyRing supports over 900 people in around 105 Networks across 43 Local Authority areas. 4.6 To waive contract procedure rules to award a new contract for 2 years from September 2013 with an option to extend by 1+1 years. The annual (block) contract value will be 322,400 in 213/14 and 260,416 from April Page 5 of 8 Request for Approval to award Keyring contract July 2013

6 5 Preferred Option 5.1 To waive the Councils contract procedure rules and award a new contract to KeyRing for 2 years from September 2013 with an option to extend by 1+1 years. The annual (block) contract value will be 322,400 in 213/14 and 260,416 from April Consultation 6.1 Council officers from the Commissioning hub and heads of service of adult social care have met regularly with Keyring to ensure that the new service model maintains high quality front-line service delivery and offers greater flexibility to meet different levels of need. 6.2 KeyRing undertake regular satisfaction surveys of their members and the latest survey maintains the positive response to their support: of a 62% questionnaire return, 24 out of 70 people saying that having a someone locally (the network volunteer) who was flexible about when they could see people and was there when needed was the best thing about the support offered. 93% of respondents said their life was better since being supported by KeyRing. 7 Financial Implications 7.1 The Budget and expenditure information is summarised in the table below: 2012/ / / /16 Budget 530, , , ,290 Forecast Expenditure 12/13 531,650 Forecast Expenditure (Block) 13/14 onwards 322, , ,416 Forecast Expenditure (IB's) 13/14 onwards 145, , ,424 To be funded from existing IB's (5,824) (5,824) Variance 1,360 (62,290) (124,274) (124,274) 7.2 The Keyring Service is funded via 3 main elements: Block funding IB funding Additional support hours funded via IBs This contract refers to the block element only with the agreement that a minimum level of activity will be provided as mentioned in paragraph 3.2 Page 6 of 8 Request for Approval to award Keyring contract July 2013

7 7.3 The budget figure shown in the above table initially included both Block funded and IB funded activity and so this has been continued above for comparison purposes. 7.4 The proposed contract involves reducing the block funding and increasing the IB funding. It is assumed that in doing this the increase in the use of IB s for this service will result in no increased cost to the council as this will be funded through IB s allocated to existing service users. 7.5 The projected underspend in 2013/14 ( 62,290) is due to a previous contract reduction and the 2014/15 onwards projected underspend of 124,274 is a cumulative saving of the 2013/14 contract reduction plus the reduction in the block contract of 61,984 in 2014/15 onwards. Paul Clarke Finance Manager 4 July Legal Services Comments 8.1 This report demonstrates compliance with the Council s Contract Procedure Rules on the assumption that the relevant Services are Part B Services for the purposes of the Public Contracts Regulations It appears this report is addressed to Cabinet, who (under section of the Contract Procedure Rules) have the right to grant this waiver under its delegated powers. (Michael Lennox) 9. Cooperative Agenda 9.1 This service fully supports the Council s cooperative agenda as it assists Oldham residents to achieve their full potential. It encourages a culture of selfhelp as well as giving something back to the community through peer mentoring and volunteering. The service emphasises the need for people to set their own goals towards independence and these are evidenced through an outcomes framework. 10 Human Resources Comments 10.1 N/A 11 Risk Assessments 11.1 N/A 12 IT Implications 12.1 None 13 Property Implications Page 7 of 8 Request for Approval to award Keyring contract July 2013

8 13.1 None 14 Procurement Implications 14.1 Procurement agree with the recommendations to waiver the Contract Procedure rules on the basis that the service is a unique/bespoke delivery model which would render procurement impractical. From a commercial perspective there is a business case to support an exemption under the Contract Procedure Rules on the basis of a reduced block contract price and the new commissioning model with the award of the new bid from DOH to Keyring which will offset overhead costs (Diana Nuttall) 15 Environmental and Health & Safety Implications 15.1 The service has a positive impact on environmental and health and safety issues for both the people receiving the services and the wider community. The service helps to ensure people who are at risk of social exclusion are able to remain safe and independent within the community. 16 Equality, community cohesion and crime implications 16.1 The service has a positive impact on community cohesion and crime prevention as it is targeted at socially excluded people and supports them to address issues such as worklessness, disability and mental ill health. The service is accessible to all sections of the community who may need the support. 17 Equality Impact Assessment Completed? 17.1 Yes 18 Key Decision 18.1 Yes 19 Forward Plan Reference 19.1 COMM Background Papers 20.1 N/A 21 Appendices 21.1 Appendix 1 - Equality Impact Assessment Appendix 2 EDRS report September 2012 Page 8 of 8 Request for Approval to award Keyring contract July 2013