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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 - Focuses on the procurement stage of the commissioning cycle - The benefits of partnership working between different local authorities - 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 - 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. Commissioning Support Programme 99 Waterloo Road London SE1 8XP Error! No text of specified style in document. 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 Commissioning Support Programme 2 Error! No text of specified style in document. 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 Commissioning Support Programme 3 Error! No text of specified style in document. 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 Commissioning Support Programme 4