18 052 Care At Home (Domiciliary Care)

Location

Cheshire East:

Description

The Council has previously awarded agreements to a number of Providers to deliver Care at Home Services (formerly known as domiciliary care), this is a voluntary ex ante transparency (VEAT) notice being used to extend the current agreements beyond their expiry dates. This is to ensure continuous operation of the providers during re-commissioning of this area, which is necessary due to a shortfall in provision, when compared with market demand for services. Providers will be expected to provide support to a full range of Service Users including those with complex health needs and end of life support at a level set out within this specification. As such, the Service is being jointly commissioned by Cheshire East Council, Eastern Cheshire Clinical Commissioning Group and South Cheshire Clinical Commissioning Group; known know as the ICB. The principle objective of the service is to enable Service Users to remain in their own homes wherever possible, whilst preserving maximum independence, minimising risks, achieving outcomes and promoting quality of life. Provision is expected to complement and support informal carers where appropriate. The Council are proposing to extend current agreements by a period of 12 months until 3rd September 2024, with an anticipated additional spend in total of 15,696,067 GBP being added to the contract value across all lots and providers, taking it to approximately 81,881,100 GBP this allows for some growth in the market and a fee increase, due to wage increases.

Lot Division

Award Detail

CPV Codes

• 85000000 - Health and social work services

Legal Justification

The Council is applying regulation 32 (2) (c) of the Public Contract Regulations 2015, due to the current situation in the care at home market this is classed as extreme urgency brought about by unforeseen events. Providers are under significant pressure, some have exited the market and others are unable to recruit care workers. Effectively extending the current agreements that the Council has in place with providers and converting the current prime to framework contracts will ensure that the Council is taking every possible action to meet its statutory duty under the Care Act 2014; the intention being to enable providers greater flexibility to work across the borough's geographical areas, hence the new agreements will all be akin to the current framework agreements. The Council intends to re-open the care at home framework to allow new providers to join in January 2023; upon successful evaluation, care packages may be awarded to new providers. It should be noted that this framework was originally procured under the light touch regime with a voluntary 10 days standstill period effected. The original agreements have previously been modified to add a total spending of £11,000,000 across all providers and to extend the end date to 3rd September 2023. This VEAT notice is being published to show the Council's intention to award further business to the current providers and to effectively extend the current agreements by 12 months from 4th September 2023 to 3rd September 2024, at an anticipated cost of approximately £15,696,067 in total across all lots and all of the providers. Note the award values provided in this notice are the expected spend for the new 12 month period, a 10 day standstill period will now be applied from the publication date of this notice.

Other Information

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