Content

Salford City Council – Record of
Decision
 
I Paul Dennett, City Mayor,
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 reason(s)
highlighted in the table below and to the award of the Contract for
General and Specialist Information and Advice Services Options
Appraisal, as detailed in the table below:
 

Detail required

Answers

 

 

Title/Description of Contracted
Service/Supply/Project

General and Specialist Information and Advice
Services

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

DN793403

Name of Successful
Contractor

Citizens Advice Salford

Supplier Registration Number

(to be supplied by
Procurement)

701559

Proclass Classification No.

(to be completed by
procurement)

111230
 

Type of organisation

(to be supplied by
Procurement)

Charitable Trust

Status of Organisation

(to be supplied by  Procurement)

SME

Contract Value (£)

£576,792 per annum

Total Contract Value including extensions
(£)

£2,883,960

Contract Duration

3 YEARS with an annual review of
performance

Contract Start Date

01/04/2026

Contract End Date

31/03/2029

Optional Extension Period 1

12 months with an annual review of
performance

Optional Extension Period 2

12 Months

Who will approve each Extension
Period?

Procurement Board (extension >
£150k)

Contact Officer (Name &
number)

Lauren Fairey
(l.fairey@salford.gov.uk)

Lead Service Group

Adult, Social Care & Health
Partnerships

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 ?

 
 
The reasons are:
An exception to Contractual
Standing Orders and giving approval to direct award the General and
Specialist Information and Advice Contract to CAS
because:

·    
Continuing a
well-respected service that support to 21,224 people accessing
General and Specialist Information and Advice service.

·    
Offers value to money
as bringing in £16,160,168 in benefit gains into Salford,
which is a 2,856% return on investment. CAS brings an additional
£673,262 worth of services into Salford that compliments
General and Specialist Information and Advice service.

·    
Following the most
recent market engagement exercises in October 2025  only one provider (CAS) was able to demonstrate
that they were able to deliver General and Specialist Information
and Advice Services in Salford. A direct award avoids a time
consuming and costly tendering exercise.

·    
Aligns with strategic
priorities in redesigning the Adult Social Care Front Door and CAS
Care Act General and Specialist Advice and Information service
being an element of this alongside the other services that CAS
provide that supports prevent, reduce and delay.

·    
CAS are already signed up to the Mayors Employment
Charter and they are accredited as a Living Wage
Employer.

·    
CAS have demonstrated
commitment to social value through their volunteering programme and
will continue to do so through the new contract.

·    
The new service will
be co-designed with CAS and relevant partners to improve the
service and better align it to Salford City Council’s
strategic requirements.

·    
A direct award gives us the flexibility and agility
to drive continuous service improvements throughout the contract
period, ensuring that the service evolves to meet the needs of
those who use it.
 
Options considered and rejected were:

·    
Go to the market for a General and
Specialist Information and Advice Service

·    
Develop a Salford City Council delivered General and
Specialist Information and Advice service
 
Assessment of risk:
Risk relates to the
implications if the scheme does not happen or any risk if there is
a potential delay in making the award. See also legal, finance and
procurement sections of the document.
 
The source of funding is:
Revenue Budget.
 
Legal advice obtained:
Supplied by Shared Legal Service:
This
report sets out three prospective options for recommissioning the
redesigned service, with option 2 (direct award to the incumbent
provider). The contract value exceeds the financial statutory
services procurement threshold, therefore the contract would need
to be let in compliance with the Procurement Act 2023 (as well as
the Council’s Contractual standing orders).
 
As
set out in the procurement comment below, there are certain grounds
under section 41 and Schedule 5 of the Procurement Act 2023 which
permit direct award. The report details a recent market engagement
in which only the incumbent responded, and it suggests that whilst
this result is not conclusive evidence that Citizens Advice Salford
is the only provider on the market able to deliver the service, it
is evidence of a limited number of market operators who can provide
the redesigned specification thereby supporting reliance on this
direct award ground.
 
Reliance on any direct
award grounds under the Procurement Act 2023 poses a potential risk
of challenge if there were to be any other alternative market
operators who for example may not have seen the early market
engagement exercise.
 
Legal Services is
happy to support with the drafting and finalisation of the contract
terms.
 
Financial advice obtained: Supplied by Salford City Council Finance
Team:
This report looks at the
commissioning intentions for the General and Specialist Advice
service currently delivered by Citizens Advice Salford. The value
of the current contract is £565,726 and is funded
by:
·    
Salford City Council - £310,146 – of
which £116,941 is in the Integrated Fund and £193,205
outside the Integrated Fund
·    
GM ICB - £255,580 – all in the
Integrated Fund
 
Included within the
£255,580 funded by the GM ICB is funding of £55,928 in
relation to the Mental Health element of the service. This is to be
excluded from this decision and will be dealt with in a separate
paper. Leaving an existing contract value of
£509,728.
 
It was initially proposed that
the contract was uplifted by £124,072 to £633,870 per
annum as no inflationary uplifts have been applied to this contact
since 2016.
 
A proposed funding split of the
increase between the Council and GM ICB has been calculated based
on the existing contributions by each partner. This indicates SCC
would be asked to fund £66,994 of the increase and GM ICB
£57,078.
 
GM ICB is has confirmed that it
does not have financial provision to fund the additional
£57,078 for the Health, Palliative Care, Expectant Families
and Disabled Children due to:
·    
The budget being discretionary spend from the NHS
perspective and the statutory responsibility for the entirety of
the service including any health elements rests with the
council.
·    
There is no additional funding available to
contribute without decommissioning another service to release the
funds.
 
There is however the potential
for a discretionary annual inflationary uplift to the GM ICB
elements of the contract. This will be considered annually by GM
ICB.
 
As a result the proposed
contract value is £576,792 per annum taking into account an
increase for inflation of £66,994 which is to be fully funded
by Salford City Council. If this contract is agreed this increase
will be funded from a corporately held budget to meet inflationary
pressures and will be applied after the Council’s budget has
been set in February.
 
There is a risk that this award
does not consider future inflationary pressures for the provider
and this will be mitigated by a financial review of the new
contract (if approved) at the end of year 2.
 
It is also recommended for the
future delivery of the Greater Manchester Citizens Advice Out of
Hours service that the Council SCC fund the £3,000 per annum
for the service which will also need to be met from the corporately
held inflation budget.
 
Funding included within the
Integrated Fund will need confirmation by ICPC.
 
Procurement advice obtained: Supplied by Salford City Council
Corporate Procurement Team:
The
Commissioner’s preferred option (option 2) which is to
directly award a contract to Citizen’s Advice Salford is
supported by a recent market engagement process carried via The
Chest.
 
The
total contract value necessitates compliance with Salford City
Council’s Contractual Standing Orders and the Procurement Act
2023 (PA23).
 
The
proposed award meets the criteria for a direct award under Section
41, Schedule 5 of the Procurement Act 2023.
 
Citizen’s Advice Salford, the incumbent appears to be the
sole potential provider of this specialist service and this is
supported by recent formal market engagement process where despite
a number of organisations having viewed the market engagement
document and service specification, only one organisation
(Citizen’s Advice Salford) submitted a market engagement
return.
 
Should Procurement Board approve Option 2 (Direct Award), the
Council is required to publish a formal transparency notice on the
Central Digital Platform (a government portal) prior to formalising
the award and executing the contract.
 
HR advice obtained: N/A.
 
Climate change implications obtained: N/A.
 
The following documents have
been used to assist the decision process:
·    
proc-brd-report-exception-to-csos-and-awarding-the-contract-General
and Specialist Information and Advice Options Appraisal
v3.
 
Contact
details
Contact Officer:  Lauren
Fairey   
Telephone number: l.fairey@salford.gov.uk
 
Please delete from the bullets
below any which are not relevant:
·    
This matter is also subject to consider by the Lead
Member for Adult, Social Care and Health Partnerships
·    
The Lead Member has been consulted and is supportive
of the proposed contract.
 
 

Signed:   Paul
Dennett       Dated:   23 February 2026.
         
      City
Mayor
 

FOR DEMOCRATIC SERVICES USE
ONLY
 

This decision was published on
24 February 2026
This decision will come in force
at 4pm on 3 March 2026 unless it
is called-in in accordance with the Decision Making Process
Rules.