Scope
Description
Home Based Care consists of a range of care packages, provided by carers, which are tailored to the specific needs of eligible families of SEND children and young people both in their homes and the community.
The aim is to ensure that families of Children with Disabilities (CwD) and Special Education Needs and Disabilities (SEND) who require more intensive or specialist care can access high quality support, and make our internal systems for finding this support more efficient.
Commercial tool
Establishes a framework
Contract dates (estimated)
- 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2029
- 3 years
Main procurement category
Services
CPV classifications
- 85000000 - Health and social work services
Contract locations
- UKH3 - Essex
Engagement
Engagement deadline
18 July 2025
Engagement process description
ESSEX COUNTY COUNCIL - MARKET ENGAGEMENT BRIEF
Children with Disabilities Home Based Care
The survey link is in section 4 below.
1. INTRODUCTION & BACKGROUND
We are reviewing our approach to our commissioning of children with disabilities home-based care provision. The aim is to reduce our spot placement provision, and develop a contractual model which will enable us to build stronger relationships with the care market. We have a responsibility to ensure council funds are used in the best way, while also ensuring care is of the highest standard.
Essex County Council (ECC) is committed to ensuring the delivery of the most effective services for the residents of Essex, which improve outcomes and maximises opportunities, whilst ensuring best value for money for taxpayers.
Essex County Council is the second largest local authority in the United Kingdom, serving a population of over 1.5 million residents. The Council spends in excess of £1bn with external suppliers to deliver services.
The Services
The Children with Disabilities Home Based Care service supports families of Children (aged 0-18) with Disabilities (CWD) and Special Education Needs and Disabilities (SEND).
The service consists of a range of care packages:
• Accessing the community
• Community-based activities (CWD)
• Personal care (CWD)
• Day to day support (CWD)
• Welfare checks (incl for safeguarding concerns)
• Nursing (CWD)
• Manual Handling (CWD)
• Respite
• Support for Parent / foster carer (SEND)
Packages are provided by carers and tailored to the specific needs of eligible families of SEND children and young people both in their homes and the community.
New Contract
The Council are examining opportunities to introduce a new contractual model for this service. This document provides a broad overview of the current position and requirements.
Please note that this Market Engagement Briefing is not a Tender Specification nor is it an exhaustive list of service requirements. The purposes of this document/process are:
- To solicit interest in this service requirement and determine, with the assistance of suppliers, the trajectory of the sourcing project.
- To inform the final specification for the tender/contract to ensure compatibility with market capability.
2. FUTURE MARKET/CONTRACT CONSIDERATIONS
Essex County Council are working with partners to develop the specification for a future tender and/or contract for the provision of CWD Home-Based care. The key areas for consideration are:
• Essex Specific Demands - What issues exist within the Essex social care and health systems that are specific to the county
• Transformation - Including potential digital efficiencies and value/savings that could be achieved.
• Reporting and Data Transparency - Including shared access to data, information systems and reporting clarity.
• Engagement and Performance - Building strategic relationships and the development of trusted partnerships.
• Right First Time - Developing an ethos of right service in the right place, at right time.
• Innovation - Seeking continual improvement, through mutual service development and the early adoption of new technology and processes.
• Flexibility - Service that can evolve and adapt within a changing health and social care landscape with varying demands, predicted growth and pressures over the next few years.
3. FUTURE SERVICE DEMANDS
You are reminded that this Market Engagement Briefing is not a Tender Specification nor is it an exhaustive list of service requirements and it is not intended to issue a comprehensive specification at this stage. Essex County Council are seeking feedback on the following potential aspects of the future CWD home based care contract:
Service
- See list of services in Section 1 for core services
- Delivered to children and young people aged 0-18
- Day & Night support at home
- A service to support children & their families
- Emergency response service
- Specialist service provision
- Right service in the right place, at the right time
Days and coverage
- A seven-day-a-week, 365 days a year (including bank holidays) service across the county
- Management of the geography and the opportunities for operating the service across the 1,420 square miles of the county, covering:
- North Essex (Colchester and Tendring)
- West Essex (Harlow, Epping and Uttlesford)
- South Essex (Rochford, Castle Point, Brentwood, Basildon)
- Mid Essex (Chelmsford, Braintree, Maldon)
Quality
- High quality support available when needed
- Training available to enable specialist provision
Contract
- Contract type and placement mechanisms
- Service levels and performance standards against which performance can be monitored.
- Relationship building / formation of strategic providers
Supplier expectations
- Effective record keeping and reporting
- Effective recruitment and retention of staff
- Effective risk management
- Collaboration and engagement
- Partnership working
- Engagement and co-producing with people with lived experience.
- Continuous improvement
4. QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER/RESPONSE REQUIREMENT
In accordance with the information provided in this engagement briefing, participants to this engagement briefing are asked to provide responses to the questions in the online survey:
Online survey: The questions are available via an online survey - answer the questions here: https://consultations.essex.gov.uk/commissioning-delivery/home-based-care-provider-engagement-survey/
Participants should be aware that any information provided as part of this engagement process will be treated with confidentiality and will only be used to inform the final specification and to improve the subjectivity of any decision-making processes between the Council and its partners.
Although full support from market participants is appreciated, participants will not be bound by their responses and any information provided will not form part of any future procurement evaluation processes.
5. NEXT STAGES
This market engagement document has been formally released on 18 June 2025
Participants are requested to submit any responses by close-of-business on 18 July 2025
Responses are to be submitted either by email to email or via the online survey
Please include contact details for those submitting a response to this engagement process. Should Essex County Council need to clarify any elements of your response, a representative of the project team will use this information for contact purposes.
Essex County Council may seek to engage directly with any/all participants in order to clarify information provided and to ensure any tender/contract specification is optimised in accordance with service provider input.
Contracting authority
Essex County Council
- Public Procurement Organisation Number: PWVM-4844-NRQH
County Hall, Market Road
Chelmsford
CM1 1QH
United Kingdom
Email: shortbreaks@essex.gov.uk
Region: UKH36 - Heart of Essex
Organisation type: Public authority - sub-central government