Decision Maker: Corporate Director of Health and Adult Services
Decision status: Recommendations Approved
Is Key decision?: Yes
Is subject to call in?: Yes
The authority will be extending the existing
contract with Avalon for the period of the 1st November 2023 - 31
January 2024. A re-procurement exercise is currently underway and a
new contract will commence 1st February 2024.
To extend the notice period for the current
North Yorkshire Shared Lives Scheme by 3 months
Shared Lives is a scheme whereby an adult or
young person from the age of 16, who needs long-term support,
spends time with a host family and shares family life. It offers an
effective alternative to traditional care options, such as
residential or domiciliary care.
A decision was taken at North Yorkshire County Council Executive in
July 2022 to re-procure the Shared Lives Scheme. Further detail
regarding the new operating model (including changes to the
payments made to Shared Lives Carers) was agreed by Health and
Adult
Services Executive (HASEX) on 10th March 2023. Notice has been
served to the incumbent scheme provider and the current service is
due to end on 31st October 2023.
Due to the complexity of the service, and the need to incorporate
the changes to the Shared Lives Carer payment model, a longer
procurement timetable is proposed to ensure the market has
sufficient time to take account of the proposed service delivery
model - and we
achieve optimum quality tenders. In addition, a 4 month
implementation period is recommended given the complexity of
service change if a new provider was successful in the
re-procurement.
It is therefore recommended that the notice period for the existing
Shared Lives Scheme is extended for a further 3 months only
Retain existing notice period: The current
notice period issued to the incumbent provider expires on 31st
October 2023. To re-procure the service within the timeframe
originally proposed would mean that providers would have the
minimum 30 day window in which to prepare tender submissions, and
the contract handover period would be little over two months. This
would be unattractive to the market in terms of both preparing and
submitting tenders, and the risks associated with such a short
handover timeframe (potential TUPE, establishing an operating base
etc) are significant.
Extend the provider notice period for two months: Whilst it would
be possible to complete the re-procurement exercise by extending
the incumbent provider’s notice period for only two months,
this would make the tender submission and implementation period
more rushed. It would also mean that contract handover (if a
different provider was successful) would need to be finalised over
the busy Christmas weeks with a commencement date of 1 January
which is a bank holiday. This could also prove to be challenging
for existing Carers in terms of transfer of their agreements and
working arrangements to a new provider
Publication date: 25/07/2023
Date of decision: 21/07/2023
Effective from: 02/08/2023
Accompanying Documents: