Decision Maker: Cabinet Procurement and Insourcing Committee

Outcome: Implemented

Is Key Decision?: Yes

Is Callable In?: Yes

Date of Decision: April 29, 2025

Purpose:

Content: RESOLVED:   1.  To approve the award of a contract for the Provision of Family Time Services for Looked After Children, to Provider C, for a maximum period of five years (3+1+1 years) at a cost of up to £3,333,989.   Reasons For Decision   This report provides the Cabinet Procurement Committee with the outcome of the procurement of a contract for the Provision of Family Time Services for Looked After Children in Hackney.   On 19th October 2023 the Council was notified that the original provider had gone into administration. A new provider was appointed and the service has continued to be delivered without disruption. However, it was necessary to bring forward the re-procurement of the service as set out in the Business Case report previously agreed at Hackney Procurement Board (Key Decision CE S399). The procurement process has now been completed and the award of a contract is recommended as detailed in this report.   Following the approval of the contract award, Officers will proceed with the Implementation of the new contract to commence operation by 1st September 2025.   The current outsourced service has continued to demonstrate an ability to respond efficiently and effectively to the demands on the service. At present the current provision is contracted to deliver 14,000 hours of contact per year, however in reality it is often 10-20% more. Therefore the new contact service provision will be expected to deliver a minimum of 14,500 hours per annum. The majority of the service will be delivered from the Ferncliff Centre, with a small amount held out of the borough if that is appropriate for the child.    The provider will work with the Hackney Children’s Services management team to ensure that demand is met, quality remains high and that contact is managed in the best interests of children.   The current provider has indicated that TUPE may apply to up to 18 permanent members of staff and 27 sessional workers that may have acquired employment rights due to their length of service. This will be further ratified during the contract mobilisation stage.     Alternative Options Considered and Rejected   The options considered and rejected for this procurement included:   1.  Do nothing. 2.  To procure a Framework Agreement. 3.  Insourcing.   Option 1 - Do nothing: This option is unacceptable as the local authority has a statutory duty to promote contact between children looked after and their parents, carers, siblings and extended family members.   Option 2 - To procure a Framework Agreement: This option involves outsourcing the Family Time Service to a number of providers via framework agreement; this option may provide a competitive market for service delivery but carries a risk of inconsistent service delivery, additional administration from liaising with multiple suppliers and additional contract management obligations to the Council. This approach would also fail to achieve the same economies of scale as a single supplier contract.   Option 3 - Insourcing: This option entails integrating all Family Time Services, by bringing the provision back in-house. This would require the Council to TUPE the existing provider’s staff, align their wage/salary structure to Council pay scales with associated on-costs and provide training on an on-going basis to ensure staff are kept abreast of the developments in the industry. The Council would need to recruit a pool of sessional staff to deliver the service under the supervision of an on-site manager. Given that staff will always have an option of accepting individual sessional assignments, the Council would need to recruit, train and maintain a much larger pool of staff than the number for whom regular work could be offered in order to ensure that staff would always be available when family time is scheduled. This option would therefore increase costs and management time, including for example additional HR support to manage the needs of the new workers. The Council would incur an additional estimated cost of £269k per annum which represents a 40% increase to the current cost of the service.   An in-house service also lacks the independence of an external provider which can be beneficial when cases are considered in court and evidence around contact is required.   A detailed report on the opportunities and challenges for insourcing was completed and is provided as Exempt Appendix 1.