In a brief meeting, Councillor Tim Bearder, Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care, approved the recommendation to contract with Enterprise Oxfordshire to deliver the Independent Placement Support (IPS) pathway for Oxfordshire’s Connect to Work programme. Councillor Tim Bearder also delegated the pathway design and award of contracts decision to the Director of Adult Social Care, in consultation with the Section 151 Officer¹ and Head of Legal and Governance.

Connect to Work Programme

The Cabinet Member approved the recommendation of Option 2 – Enterprise Oxfordshire as the provider of the Independent Placement Support pathway for Oxfordshire’s Connect to Work programme. He also delegated the pathway design and award of contracts decision to the Director of Adult Social Care, the latter in consultation with the Section 151 Officer and Head of Legal and Governance.

The Connect to Work (CtW) programme is a nationally prescribed and locally commissioned supported employment programme, funded by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) through grant funding. Oxfordshire County Council is designated as the Accountable Body responsible for designing Oxfordshire’s offer and delivering the programme for the initial five-year duration (2025 – 2030).

The programme aims to help disabled people, those with health conditions, and people with complex barriers to employment, to find sustainable work. It is a voluntary programme connecting work, health, and skills support.

Connect to Work will be delivered through two models of employment support:

• Supported Employment 5 Stage Model
• Individual Placement Support Model (IPS).

Indicative figures suggest that 2,000 participants will access the programme over four years, with 20-30% supported through the 5 Stage Model and 70-80% through IPS provision. The DWP funding for Oxfordshire is advised as £4200.00 per participant giving an indicative programme cost of circa £8.4 million.

The report considered three options for the IPS pathway:

• Option 1: Do not deliver the Individual Placement and Support (IPS) pathway.
• Option 2: Contract with Enterprise Oxfordshire to deliver the Individual Placement and Support pathway.
• Option 3: Take the Individual Placement and Support pathway to the open market and procure a provider.

The report recommended Option 2, contracting with Enterprise Oxfordshire, a company wholly owned and controlled by the Council. As a Local Authority trading company (also known as a Teckal company²), it benefits from an exemption under which the parent local authority is allowed to enter into a contract without the need for a competitive tender process.

The report argued that contracting with Enterprise Oxfordshire:

• Would deliver a programme to support local people into employment.
• Enterprise Oxfordshire has committed to completing the fidelity self-assessment process in the implementation stage of the programme.
• Enterprise Oxfordshire shares the ambitions of the Council, including those within the Oxfordshire Way.
• Enterprise Oxfordshire has excellent local links with local organisations.
• Enterprise Oxfordshire has indicated that they are able to work closely with the project team timetable for implementation and delivery.

The report argued against tendering the IPS to procure a provider because:

• National organisations operating in this space are likely to have their own ambitions and a mission created by their own corporate priorities.
• Ambitions around co-production would not be fully met in this option.
• This would not have the desired outcome of building the capacity of local organisations and ensuring the model can achieve a local / hyper local outcome.
• The timetable for design and implementation would likely not be met given the time to commission an external provider.

The report also recommended continuing design reviews with Enterprise Oxfordshire and building in contract milestones including:

• Completing a self-assessment of the fidelity 25-item scale in 2025-26 to identify areas for improvement.
• Completing the formal assessment of the fidelity 25-item scale in 2026-27.
• Achieving a ‘good’ rating within the first 3-years of the programme.

Approval of Previous Minutes

The minutes of the previous meeting held on 25 February 2025 were approved as an accurate record of proceedings.