Purpose

This report seeks
approval for taking up a second permitted extension period for the
Adventure Play For All (AP4A) Community and Specialist Play
services contract, with a variation to reduce the number of
contracted after school Children in Need (CIN) places as endorsed
by the Commissioning and Procurement Board on the
10th June
2025.
 
The Council
commissions eight local play providers to deliver an agreed number
of free after school and holiday spaces for children in need and
disabled children, and to ensure sufficiency of affordable
childcare for working parents across the
borough.   The service was
recommissioned on 5th September
2019 and the Executive Director Supporting People, in consultation
with the Cabinet Member for Best Start in Life, awarded a five-year
contract as two Lots, with two possible extensions of two years
each. Lot 1 comprised four community-based play providers - PACE,
Coram’s Fields, Hampstead Community Centre, and the AP4A
consortium, which consists of four long-established local voluntary
and community sector (VCS) providers.
 
In June 2024, the
first two-year contract extension was taken up for PACE,
Coram’s Fields and Hampstead Community Centre, extending
their contracts until August 2026. A different approach was taken
for the extension of the AP4A consortium contract, due to concerns
regarding the performance of one organisation within that group,
Talacre Action Group (TAG).
 
In August 2024 the
Executive Director Adults and Health approved an extension of one
year for AP4A with the possibility of a further one-year extension,
to enable the consortium to address the performance
concerns.
 
An action plan for
required improvements was put in place with enhanced monitoring by
Children’s Commissioning of outcomes against agreed targets.
Over the course of the initial one-year extension, TAG has made the
improvements required for a further one-year extension of the AP4A
contract. However, officers have assessed that TAG will be unable
to meet one of their contracted output targets due to changes in
the level of local need for CIN places after school.
 
This report seeks
endorsement for a further one-year extension and variation to the
AP4A contract, with a reduction in the number of contracted after
school CIN places and the reallocation of the associated funding
for objectives aimed at increasing sustainability and quality of
the provision at TAG.
 

Content

THAT the Executive
Director Adults and Health:
 

1.                 
Notes the performance of the contract.

2.                 
Approves the variation to the AP4A element of the Lot 1
contract, with a one-year contract extension, for the sum of
£468,433.

3.                 
Notes that an uplift of £16,395 from within the
parameters of existing budgets to support the charities increase in
National Insurance contributions and other inflationary cost
pressures has been requested separately within the CYP Uplifts
Report.