Download Foster Care Placements Case study

Case Study
Sub-regional Commissioning of Foster Care
Placements (South West)
Overview
Short profile of the area
The South West of England is now home to 5 million people, which represents an
increase of 3.9% in the total population since 1991 outstripping the 2.5% rate for Britain
as a whole. Much of the growth is due to migration into the region from elsewhere in the
UK. Much of the South West is very rural and has the lowest population density in the
English regions. The South West is geographically the largest of the English regions.
Spend on Children’s Services across the region is about £600m per annum including
Social Care and Special Educational Needs.
This case study specifically relates to six local authorities in the South West region
including Gloucestershire, Bath and North East Somerset, North Somerset, Dorset,
Somerset and Wiltshire. These local authorities encompass a range of both urban and
rural areas.
Service area
Looked After Children (LAC), particularly foster care placements. Specifically moving
towards using a select list of foster care providers which could provide a better range of
choices for foster care placements.
Key features of the case study
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Focuses on the procurement stage of the commissioning cycle
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The benefits of partnership working between different local authorities
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Applying a common contract (based on the Independent Fostering Agency’s
(IFA) national contract) to save time and effort in implementing competitive
tendering for the provision of foster placements across six local authorities
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Outcomes-based commissioning
Why change was needed
To rationalise the provision of fostering placements so procurement would be
systematic and based upon delivering specific outcomes for the children involved. It was
also recognised that specialist placements were required for particular groups of
children. There was also a need to reduce the cost of foster provision and meet
European Union regulations on procurement.
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What was the situation originally?
Typically, placements with independent foster care providers within the six local
authorities were costing between £532 and £1487 per week with an average cost of
around £825. Before this project to initiate competitive tendering for foster placements
was set up, 32 independent foster care providers supplied foster care placements within
the six local authority areas with 40% of the total spend being with two national agencies.
There was no systematic way of allocating placements with independent foster care
providers so they were spot purchased. This meant that placements were purchased as
and when they were needed (often in an emergency and without any detailed information
about the needs of the child and intended outcomes to be delivered), usually after inhouse provision had failed to meet the child’s needs. Spot purchasing in this way was
costly and was based on limited knowledge of a limited provider market, rather than on
the child’s needs and outcomes.
What did we do?
The South West Regional Improvement and Efficiency Partnership (RIEP) saw great
advantages in local authorities working together to develop common contracts for the
procurement of services such as foster care placements. As part of this work, six local
authorities in the south west were interested in implementing a process of competitive
tendering to provide foster care in the area and Gloucestershire agreed to lead the group.
A project launch meeting was held and representatives from the six local authorities
agreed upon the basic parameters of the process. These consisted of moving towards
competitive tendering, with a common contract based on the Independent Fostering
Agency’s (IFA) national contract. Although incomplete at this point, the IFA contract
provided a strong basis that reduced the time, effort and cost involved in creating an
entirely new contract.
Project governance was quite informal with meetings roughly every month. As
Gloucestershire led the project, the tender documentation was drawn up under their rules
and at the end of the process a document was agreed upon by all of the six participating
authorities setting out the details of the tender process. The aim of the project was to
create a select list of pre-qualified suppliers (the ‘tendered list’) from which the authorities
could procure foster placements through ‘mini-tenders’. The select list was also aimed at
engendering better relationships between suppliers and the local authorities. The
tendered list and mini-tendering process has now been implemented. Therefore, when a
child is identified as needing a foster placement a ‘needs and outcomes based profile’ is
drawn up based on historical records of the child. This is then sent to all of the providers
on the tendered list who respond with proposals of what they would provide for that child.
The local authority in question can then choose the best proposal, judging submissions
against the needs and outcomes statement, specified priorities (e.g. location) and value
for money.
The development of the tendering process was informed by a needs analysis and a
market survey which were carried out by local authority commissioners in partnership with
the South West RIEP. They also carried out some qualitative research into the fostering
needs of particular groups such as asylum seekers, siblings and those with complex
needs. This highlighted the need for specialist placements for these categories of children,
which was taken into account when drawing up the tendered list.
The tendering process had to conform to the council’s regulations as well as EU law but
Gloucestershire Council had a good knowledge of these rules which benefitted all of the
participating authorities. One of the major tasks within the whole initiative involved drawing
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up an Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) tender, encompassing the setting up
of the tendered list and the mini-tendering process. This is required for us to conform to
EU procurement law.
Who was involved?
The six participating local authorities were: Bath & North East Somerset, Dorset,
Gloucestershire, South Gloucestershire, North Somerset and Wiltshire. Additionally, John
Lees, Programme Manager at the South West RIEP, led the project, attended all relevant
meetings and provided guidance throughout. Gloucestershire Council also used a
children’s panel to evaluate the different providers’ responses to the tender specification.
What was the impact?
Partnership working
The overarching outcome of this project has been to make the commissioning of foster
placements more systematic. There have also been significant savings through
partnership working. For example, only one tender had to be created for all six authorities.
It costs around £30,000 to create a tender so the savings of doing a single combined
tender rather than six individual ones has been around £150,000. On top of these financial
benefits, this project has encouraged joint working between local authorities and they now
meet every six months to share experiences and practice. Furthermore, the increased
purchasing power of the combined authorities means that they can negotiate better
arrangements with providers and can gain a better understanding of the market.
Outcomes-based commissioning
The use of competitive tendering has increased the choice of placements available which
means placements are procured on the basis of their appropriateness to delivering
specific outcomes, rather than the ad-hoc approach of spot purchasing. This also means
that the need for specialist provision for certain children can be better provided as there is
a greater range of providers than before. Such categories of children and young people
include those with disabilities, siblings, teenagers with challenging & complex needs,
remand placements, asylum seekers and those who require emergency placements
(required within 48 hours).
The process of commissioning placements provides
information to providers which previously was rarely available about the emerging needs
of young people requiring services. This enables providers to develop their services to
meet these needs more effectively.
Longer term
In the longer term the local authorities will move towards an integrated placement process
for all looked after children (LAC) guided by the South West RIEP. This will incorporate
placements in residential homes, schools and foster placements into a select list from
which the best choice out of all types of provision can be chosen. This means that that
commissioning will be based much more around desired outcomes for LAC rather than
simply being based on what is available at a given time.
Next steps and Learning
Now that the new tendering process is in place and has been successful it will be selfsustaining. The Collaborative Commissioning Support Unit, supported by 15 directors of
children’s services in the South West, will help to hold this process together. Recently the
six participating authorities have started to encourage providers to evaluate their
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placements using the IFA national contract. An important next step is to build upon this so
that all providers evaluate their placements against desired outcomes on an ongoing
basis. Also, one local authority is looking at developing a sub-list of top providers
consisting of those who most thoroughly meet their needs.
The act of drawing up a tender helps commissioners learn how to phrase questions which
encourage providers to offer the information required to evaluate them. Another key piece
of learning is that it is only possible to work with ‘coalitions of the willing’. All parties must
be enthusiastic for the project to be successful.
To find out more
This case study is based on an interview with John Lees, Programme Manager, South
West RIEP. For more information please contact Shamala Govindasamy at:
Email: [email protected] Tel No: 01823 270101
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