Purpose

Proposed decision:
Extend the current contract for Wellbeing Services
in the Community for People with Sensory Impairments, for a period
of one year from 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027
 
Reason for the
decision:
The
Care Act sets out local authorities’ adult social care
responsibilities under law. These include promoting individual
wellbeing, preventing needs for care and support, providing
information and advice, assessing needs, meeting needs, charging,
safeguarding, and care market development. 

 

Kent County Council (KCC) has statutory
obligations regarding preventing, delaying, and reducing needs for
care and support of adults and carers in Kent. It fulfils these
obligations through a wide range of interventions which are not
limited to Wellbeing Services in the Community, Community
Navigation, and other initiatives funded and delivered by adult
social care. Health and other partners in Kent also deliver
services which contribute to the achievement of the same
objectives. KCC will continue to discharge its statutory functions
through a wide variety of approaches and initiatives. KCC is,
furthermore, undertaking a longer-term, system-wide review of its
approach to prevention.
 
Background – Provide brief additional context

Officers have undertaken a review of
certain adult social care preventative services, namely the
Wellbeing Services in the Community, and Community Navigation
Services, funded by KCC and delivered through contractual
arrangements with partners in the voluntary, community, and social
enterprise (VCSE) sector. KCC arranges for the delivery of a wide
range of Wellbeing Services in the Community.

 

The purpose of the review was to refocus
and redesign the delivery of Wellbeing Services in the Community
with a view to achieving four strategic objectives:

Removing elements of duplication within KCC’s current
prevention approach.
Ensuring prevention services are more efficient, targeted and
making best use of limited resources.
Focusing on the areas and people with greatest need.
Contributing towards savings that deliver a balanced budget for
KCC.

 

However, certain Wellbeing Services in
the Community were not included, particularly those which support
people with specific needs such as dementia, physical disabilities,
sensory impairments, and mental health needs, as they already met
elements of the strategic objectives and to minimise any
deterioration of health or disability.

 
The
prevention landscape in Kent is multi-faceted, in that
manyKCC services and activities that contribute to
prevention sit outside adult social care, and include the involvement of public health, children’s
services, leisure, transport, housing services, and
libraries.

 
The
Wellbeing Services in the Community for People with Sensory
Impairments support people who are aged 18 and over with a sensory
impairment, such as people who are blind and/or deaf, including
people that use British Sign Language (BSL), providing support with
information and advice, equipment and training and
rehabilitation.

 

Kent Association for the Blind (KAB)
delivers this on behalf of KCC in partnership with Hi Kent and
British Sign Language Community CIC (Community Interest Company).
22,834 people accessed these services in the 2024/25 and the annual
budget
£1.06million. The current contract is due to end on 31
March 2026, with no further extensions available.

 
Extending the Wellbeing Services in the Community for People
with Sensory Impairments contract for a further year, and aligning
the end of the contract with other Wellbeing Services that were out
of scope of the Proposed Changes to Wellbeing Services in the
Community, will allow a full review and redesign of services to
take place should the Prevention Framework be adopted.

 

When setting up the Wellbeing and
Community Navigation contracts, the focus was on whole population,
providing preventative support to people across the county with
different levels of need. This approach was taken to support as
many people as possible. However, since these contracts started the
support offer has developed and there needs to be a focus and
response to individual needs and those of diverse communities,
areas
 
Options (other options considered but discarded)
Do
nothing. stop
funding for the Wellbeing Services in the
Communityfor those with Sensory
Impairments.  This option was not
taken forward as this will not achieve the strategic objectives
(set out above).
 
How the proposed decision supports the

Framing Kent's Future - Our Council
Strategy 2022-2026
The proposed decision
supports Priority 4 New Models of Care and Support ensuring a
strong focus on preventative services.
 
How the
proposed decision supports Securing Kent’s Future 2022
-2026:
Securing Kents Future - Budget Recovery
Strategy.pdf
The proposed decision
supports the Adult Social Care Prevention activity as detailed in
Securing Kent’s Future.
 

Financial Implications

The table below shows the current contract
value.
 

Service

Annual contract value

Wellbeing Services in the Community for people with Sensory
Impairments

£1,030,000

 
The service budget allocation covers the contract
value included above.
 
Legal
Implications
KCC has
statutory obligations regarding preventing, delaying, and reducing
needs for care and support of adults and carers in Kent. It fulfils
these obligations through a wide range of interventions which are
not limited to Wellbeing Services in the Community, Community
Navigation, and other initiatives funded and delivered by adult
social care.
 
The
initial notice (i.e. Notice No: 2020/S 025-058108) advertised in EU
Tenders Electronic Daily (TED) stated that contract would be for a
duration of five years, comprising an initial three year term of
the contract from 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2024 followed by two 12
month extensions.

 
The
extension of the contract for a further period of 12 months, from 1
April 2026 to 31st March 2027, is permissible, under Schedule 8 (1)
(Additional Goods, Services or Works) of the Procurement Act 2023,
which provides what is set out in Appendix 1.

 
The
modification of the contract will result in the extension of
service provision beyond the original contract term and therefore
constitutes the supply of services in addition to the services
provided for in the contract.

 
The use
of a different provider to deliver the service for a further period
of twelve months, would result in the provision of services which
are different or incompatible with those already provided in the
contract, as a new provider may have to deliver the service from a
new location/premises, systems and approaches.

 
Given
the cohort of people who draw on care and support involved, i.e.
people with sensory impairment, the Council considers that the
difference or incompatibility that a new provider may bring, may
cause significant inconvenience to people and may result in a
substantial duplication of costs for the authority, where people
are not confident in using a service provided by a new
provider.

 
The
proposed additional 12 months will not increase the overall value
of the contract by more than 50%. The original contract value over
all years, was £5,251,532. The additional 12 months contract
is £1,030,000, which is 19.61% of the original contract
value.

 
Therefore, in the opinion of the Commercial and Procurement
Division, Regulation 8 (1) (a) to (d) is satisfied.

 
As the
modification would increase the value of the contract by 19.61
percent and would increase the term of the contract by 20 percent,
a contract change notice must be published setting out that the
Council intends to modify the contract
 

Decision

As Cabinet Member
for Adult Social Care and Public Health I agree to:
 
A)
EXTEND the current contract for Wellbeing Services in the
Community for Adults with Sensory Impairments, for a period of one
year from 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027; and
 
B)
DELEGATE authority to the Corporate Director Adult Social
Care and Health to take other relevant actions, including but not
limited to finalising the terms of and entering into required
contracts or other legal agreements, as necessary to implement the
decision.