Decision details

To seek approval for the re-procurement of Advocacy services across North Yorkshire, including adult advocacy services and independent health complaints advocacy.

To proceed with the procurement process for the adult’s advocacy service as a joint procurement alongside NHS complaints and children’s advocacy.

There are currently three main independent advocacy services that are commissioned by NYCC; adults’ advocacy, NHS Complaints advocacy and children’s advocacy. These contracts allow NYCC to fulfil their statutory roles as set out in a range of legislation including Care Act (2014) and Mental Capacity Amendment Act (2019). The current contracts are countywide and come to an end in March 2022. It is proposed that a single procurement process is undertaken for all three services, with organisations being able to respond to one or more of the services as appropriate.

This service is not currently provided in house. A key component of the adults advocacy service is that it is independent of the Local Authority and the NHS. This is so the service can advocate on behalf of individuals without having a conflicting agendas.

In addition, the requisite skills required to undertake and provide this specialist service and support are not available in-house.

The cost to implement an in-house service together with all the set up costs involved is also likely to be greater than the preferred option available. The current providers are charities who are able to utilise volunteers.