Purpose

Approval of direct award of contracts to four patch home care providers in Westminster until November 2024.

Decision

Summary of Decision

The Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care Public Health and Voluntary Sector has authorised:

(i)          the direct award of contracts to four patch home care providers in Westminster for a for total contract period covering dates and costs associated with each contract are set out in table 1 below.

(ii)         a waiver of the Contract Regulations from the requirement to undertake a competitive tendering exercise in order to directly award the above contracts.

Reasons for Decision

The Council has a statutory duty under the Care Act 2014 to:

·     Ensure appropriate personalised care and support to meet the individual assessed needs of Service Users

·     Maximise independence, focusing on choice and control for people in receipt of Home Care

·     Ensure consistency and continuity of care, minimising service disruption for vulnerable adults and younger adults with disabilities receiving home care.

Over the last year commissioning has been working on developing the new model for home care and the transformational strategy. As these are some of the most significant social care contracts that the Council lets, sufficient time has been needed to develop a new, innovative, and sustainable home care model. In the short term it provides consistency of providers and carers to ensure the continuation of positive outcomes for people in receipt of home care and offer stability to a volatile market during a period of extreme unrest due to the pandemic.

The transformation strategy for homecare is a five - seven year plan with ambitions to radically change all aspects associated with care in the home including the way the provider market is structured offering a wider choice of providers including commissioned, personal assistants, self-employed and micro organisations; a new onboarding processes for vetting and setting up suppliers quickly; a tiered approach to the types of interventions being delivered  so the complexity of the activity delivered is paid accordingly and staff have the right training and skills; and new arrangement and payment of care and support and a greater use of digital technologies.