Decision

Salford City Council – Record of Decision

I Councillor Youd, Lead Member for Finance and Support Services and chairman of the Procurement Board, accept the recommendation of the Procurement Board and in exercise of the powers contained within the Council Constitution do hereby approve:

·     an exception to Contractual Standing Orders as permitted within the City Council Constitution for the reasons highlighted in the table below and award the Contract for Domestic Abuse – Additional Staff for housing support, as detailed in the table below:

Detail required

Answers

Title/Description of Contracted Service/Supply/Project

Domestic Abuse - Additional Staff for housing support

Procurement Reference Number (DN and CR, supplied by Procurement)

DN558827

Name of Successful Contractor

Safe In Salford

Supplier Registration Number

(to be supplied by Procurement)

2472369

Proclass Classification No.

(to be completed by procurement)

Type of organisation

(to be supplied by Procurement)

Registered Charity

Status of Organisation

(to be supplied by  Procurement)

SME

Contract Value (£)

£221,318 Additional staff to support housing strategy

£46,974 Resettlement high needs support inclusive of uplift per annum

Total Contract Value including extensions (£)

£268,292 Total project

Contract Duration

12 months

Contract Start Date

01/04/2025

Contract End Date

31/03/2026

Optional Extension Period 1

months

Optional Extension Period 2

months

Who will approve each Extension Period?

Procurement Board (extension > £150k)

Contact Officer (Name & number)

Jennifer Cawdron Children Commissioning

Julie Craik Housing Strategy and Homelessness

Lead Service Group

Children's Services

Reason for CSO Exception: The goods / services / works are only obtainable from one provider and there is no other provider available to allow genuine competition

Tick if it applies ?

Reason for CSO Exception: The execution of works or the supply of goods or services is controlled by a statutory body

Tick if it applies ?

Reason for CSO Exception: Delivers Best Value to the Council

Tick if it applies ?

Reason for CSO Exception: Special education, health or social care contracts, if it is considered in the

Council’s best interests and to meet the Council’s obligations under relevant legislation

Tick if it applies ?

Reason for CSO Exception: The execution of works or the supply of goods and services is required so urgently as not to permit compliance with the requirements of competition

Tick if it applies ?

Reason for CSO Exception: Security works where the publication of documents or details in the tendering process could prejudice the security of SCC and Salford residents

Tick if it applies ?

Reason for CSO Exception: Procurements made through, or on behalf of, any consortium, local authority, statutory or similar body, provided that tenders or quotations are invited and contracts placed in accordance with national or EU legislation.

Tick if it applies ?

Funding Source

Grant

Ethical Contractor (EC): Mayor’s Employment Charter

Yes

EC: Committed to sign up to the Mayor’s Employment Charter

Yes

EC: Committed to the principles outlined in the Mayor’s Employment charter

Yes

EC: Accredited Living Wage Employer

Yes

EC: Committed to becoming Accredited Living Wage Employer

Choose an item.

The reasons are:

Considering the existing contract with Salford Foundation and partners to provide an integrated domestic abuse service, this additional specialist support is best delivered as part of the existing service via a contract variation. Housing is a generic need of most domestic abuse clients. It therefore makes sense to build additional capacity holistically to the whole model, rather than creating bespoke domestic abuse housing posts.

Options considered and rejected were:

Open market tender process was rejected due to time constraints on the grant funding, costs were ringfenced to staffing only, and to be additional capacity within the existing service.

Assessment of risk:

Without this grant being awarded Salford we not meet our legislative requirements and vulnerable victims of domestic abuse could suffer.

The source of funding is: Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government.

Legal advice obtained:

Salford City Council has been awarded £221,318 to deliver specialist IDVA (independent domestic violence advisor) from Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (ring fenced) grant funding for the 2025-2026 Financial Year.

Salford City Council will ensure that its allocation of this grant funding to Salford Foundation is made in accordance with all relevant legislation (including, where applicable, the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 and the Subsidy Control Act 2022), and in accordance with Salford City Council’s Constitution (including Salford City Council’s Contractual Standing Orders).

It is an established principle that an existing public contract is capable of being varied or modified providing any modification does not affect the overall nature of the contract. The Public Contract Regulations 2015 allow for modifications to be made to existing contracts without requiring further procurement exercise. Such modification (here a variation to the amount of funding payable by SCC for provision of services, and adding specialist service provision) may be made where the following cumulative conditions are fulfilled:

Reg 72 (1)(b) for additional works, services or supplies by the original contractor that have become necessary and were not included in the original procurement where a change of contractor:

a.  cannot be made for economic or technical reasons such as interchangeability or interoperability with existing services; and

b.  would cause significant inconvenience or substantial duplication of costs for the contracting authority, provided that any increase in price does not exceed 50% of the value of the original contract.

Or in any event where the variation (irrespective of its value) is not considered substantial.

The information in the report suggests that Regulation 72 can be relied upon here on the basis that the proposed scope and value does not appear to amount to a substantial variation which exceeds 50% of the original contract value. Shared Legal Services would be happy to support with any documentation in respect of the funding or addressing the variation to the existing services agreement, which will set out the additional funding and the purpose which it is being made available for.

Financial advice obtained: Grant Funding Department of Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government.

Procurement advice obtained: Yes.

HR advice obtained: N/A.

Climate change implications obtained: N/A.

Documents used:

·     Domestic Abuse Safe Accommodation Strategy 2022 to 2026, Salford City Council.

·     Salford Domestic Abuse Commissioning Strategy•Salford City Council

·     Salford’s commissioning plan to receive this funding for 2024/25, by the Domestic Abuse Housing Advisory Group (a statutory group), which was approved by Cabinet on 23 January 2024.

Contact details:

Contact Officer: Jennifer Cawdron.

Please delete from the bullets below any which are not relevant:

·     The Lead Member has been consulted and is supportive of the proposed contract.

Signed:     Cllr J Youd        Dated:    10 November 2025.

              Lead Member

FOR DEMOCRATIC SERVICES USE ONLY:

• This decision was published on 11 November 2025
• This decision will come in force at 4pm on 18 November 2025 unless it is called-in in accordance with the Decision Making Process Rules.