Officer Key Decision - Wednesday 14th August 2024

August 14, 2024 View on council website
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Summary

The meeting decided to award a contract for Advocacy Services to VoiceAbility.1 The decision was made because VoiceAbility was judged to have submitted the most economically advantageous tender. The total value of the two year contract is £915,000.

Advocacy Services

Jason Strelitz, Corporate Director of Adults, Health and Communities, agreed to award a contract for Advocacy Services to VoiceAbility.

The Advocacy Service will support the council to meet its statutory duties under The Care Act 20142, The Mental Capacity Act 20053, and The Mental Health Act 19834. It will operate a core and flex model costing £305,000 per year, and will be broken down into three tiers:

  • Tier 1: Statutory Advocacy - Care Act Advocacy, Independent Mental Capacity Advocacy (IMCA) (including in-borough Rule 1.2 and Relevant Persons Representative (RPR)); and Independent Mental Health Advocacy (IMHA)
  • Tier 2: Statutory Advocacy - out of borough Rule 1.2 and RPR
  • Tier 3: Non-Statutory Advocacy

The meeting heard that:

The proposal to include out-of-borough Rule 1.2 and RPR advocacy within the core, at no additional cost, will also provide savings of approximately £31,000 within the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards Team. The current spot purchase rate on average costs the Council £45/hour. Under the new contract this will decrease to £35.96.

It was decided that the new contract should also include non-statutory advocacy work because:

Although non-statutory advocacy is covered as part of this contract, associated costs are nominal and its removal would not materially affect the contract value.

The report argued that a ‘do nothing’ approach to the Advocacy service would be inappropriate as the council is legally obliged to provide the service:

Do Nothing - this option has been discounted, as the Council has a statutory duty to provide independent Advocacy Services.

  1. VoiceAbility is a national charity that provides advocacy and support services to people who face disability, disadvantage or social exclusion. ↩

  2. The Care Act 2014 is a law that reforms the law relating to care and support for adults and the responsibilities of local authorities in England.  ↩

  3. The Mental Capacity Act 2005 is a law that protects people who may lack capacity to make certain decisions for themselves, and it sets out a framework for making decisions on their behalf.  ↩

  4. The Mental Health Act 1983 is a law that sets out when someone can be detained, or 'sectioned', in hospital against their wishes and what safeguards need to be in place. ↩

Attendees

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