Agenda item - Permission to Tender for Home Care

Report of the Statutory Director for Adult Services (copy attached).

56a.1  RESOLVED: That the Board agreed that –

1)     To recommend to Policy & Resources Committee to agree to commence a tender process leading to the award of home care contracts to suitably qualified providers who are able to demonstrate that they can provide  value for money, effective from September 2016 for a duration of five years, with provision for a further extension of up to two years, as outlined in this Paper;

2)     To recommend to Policy & Resources Committee to grant delegated authority to the Executive Director of Adult Services to approve the award of contracts, following the conclusion of the procurement process;

56a.1  The Board considered the report of Ms J Macdonald, Commissioning and Performance Manager, Brighton & Hove City Council, and Mr Barfoot, Adult Social Care Category Specialist Procurement, Brighton & Hove City Council. The report outlined the recommendations for the new home care (domiciliary) contract, which was a joint contract between the Council and the NHS Brighton and Hove Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG). The report was introduced by Ms D D’Souza, Executive Director Adult Services and Ms Macdonald. The Executive Director Adult Services apologised that the report was late.

56a.2  The solicitor advised the Board that Recommendations 1 and 2 should be amended to include the following wording, ‘To recommend to Policy & Resources Committee’. The recommendations would therefore be:

1)     To recommend to Policy & Resources Committee to agree to commence a tender process leading to the award of home care contracts to suitably qualified providers who are able to demonstrate that they can provide  value for money, effective from September 2016 for a duration of five years, with provision for a further extension of up to two years, as outlined in this Paper;

2)     To recommend to Policy & Resources Committee to grant delegated authority to the Executive Director of Adult Services to approve the award of contracts, following the conclusion of the procurement process;

56a.4  Ms McCabe referred to paragraph 4.8, regarding the consistency of care workers visiting service users, and asked whether the entry and exit times would give an indicator on whether there was a regularity of workers, and how the organisation responded to things going wrong and asked if something more specific could be included. The Commissioning and Performance Manager said that the consistency of workers was being looked at, and the provision would be carefully monitored and included in the tender process.

56a.5  Councillor Mac Cafferty referred to New Larchwood and said that the unions continued to be concerned about the level of care provision and the impact on staff and conditions of employment. The Commissioning and Performance Manager said that there would be a TUPE for all staff working there, and whoever won the contract would be expected to adhere to the Unison Ethical Charter and payment of the national living wage and agree to new requirements in our Home Care specifications. The Executive Director Adult Services said that there were 19 staff at New Larchwood, and it should be remembered that the unit cost of in house service was considerably more than the rate paid to independent providers.

56a.6  Councillor Penn asked for reassurance that continuity of care for residents would continue. The Commissioning and Performance Manager said that there wouldn’t be any break in care provision, and in the tender process the bidders would be asked to be explicit in what they would provide.

56a.7  Councillor Barford welcomed the tender, and asked for reassurance the Home Care providers would be monitored. Councillor Barford wanted to confirm that the living wage would be that set by Living Wage Foundation, rather than that set by the government.

56a.8  Ms P Ford welcomed the report and was pleased that the new model was being jointly modelled between the CCG and the Council. She asked that the issue of responsiveness for starting and restarting care packages at weekends was picked up and, with regard to training of staff, she suggested that it would be useful to include rehabilitative training for delivering care in the home. The Commissioning and Performance Manager said that there were a number of Key Performance Indicators and one of them was how quick parties could respond.

56a.9  Ms C Holloway said it was important that this tender went ahead, as good care packages were important. She said that continuity of carers was important and asked how that would be built into the contract and evaluated. The Commissioning and Performance Manager said that Key Performance Indicators related to continuity and consistency of the care. 

56a.10 RESOLVED: That the Board agreed that –

          1.To recommend to Policy & Resources Committee to agree to commence a tender process leading to the award of home care contracts to suitably qualified providers who are able to demonstrate that they can provide  value for money, effective from September 2016 for a duration of five years, with provision for a further extension of up to two years, as outlined in this Paper;

2.To recommend to Policy & Resources Committee to grant delegated  authority to the Executive Director of Adult Services to approve the award of contracts, following the conclusion of the procurement process;

3.That the above agreed recommendations be presented to the Council’s Policy & Resources Committee on 17 March 2016.