Essex County Council Essex All Age Advocacy Services

Essex County Council Essex All Age Advocacy Services Market Engagement 5 th February 2018

Advocacy Market Engagement – Aims and Information • • • Today’s session aims to give the market the opportunity to help develop ECC’s plans for the procurement of a new contract for advocacy services Providers will be given the opportunity to ask questions regarding any of the content of this presentation The format for the session today is as follows: Task Time Presentation 30 mins Group Discussion 60 mins Session Summary 5 mins

Introduction • Essex County Council (ECC) is undertaking a procurement process to appoint a provider for statutory and non-statutory advocacy services • The following services will be required: – Independent Mental Health Advocates – Independent Mental Capacity Advocates – Paid Representative – Care Act Advocacy – NHS Complaints Advocacy – Citizen and Voluntary Advocacy – Statutory Children’s Advocacy – Non-Statutory Children’s Advocacy • Existing contracts are due to expire in June 2018 • Market engagement was carried out in August and September 2017

Advocacy provides the support that enables an individual, usually a vulnerable person, to understand communicate their choice or express their views on issues, and participate in making decisions which affect them. There are different types of advocacy including: • Family, friends or someone else in the support network speaking on behalf of an individual or supporting them to speak for themselves; • Forming long term advocacy partnerships with peers or volunteers (peer or citizen advocacy); • Developing ‘speaking up skills’ in a facilitated group situation (selfadvocacy); • Formal ‘one to one’ provided on a paid basis with a qualified advocate. Under the Children’s Act, Care Act and National Health Service Act, ECC has a statutory duty to ensure that some form of independently-led support is available.

Background – Advocacy in Essex • Essex currently commissions a total of 5 different advocacy contracts across Adults and Children’s services • These contracts have traditionally been procured independently of each other • ECC has a statutory duty to ensure delivery of the majority of advocacy services; a number of non-statutory services are also delivered presently • In addition, Mid and West CCG’s currently commission 2 separate contracts for non-statutory MH advocacy for children.

Current Contracts Contract For ADULTS’ ADVOCACY CONTRACTS COMMISSIONED BY ECC Independent Mental Health 1 individuals detained under the Mental Health Act Advocacy - IMHA Independent Mental Capacity 2 individuals who are considered to lack mental capacity Advocacy, IMCA 3 Citizen Advocacy Formal 1: 1 Independent Health Service those that need formal advocacy support to make a 4 Advocacy, IHSA complaint against NHS services Independent Care Act Advocacy those eligible for support during a Care Act Assessment - ICAA CHILDREN’S STATUTORY ADVOCACY COMMISSIONED BY ECC Children and young people who are in care, leaving care or assessed as in need or who are receiving Social Care 5 Statutory Independent Advocacy Services who wish to make a complaint or have their views heard in decision making CHILDREN’S NON-STATUTORY ADVOCACY COMMISSIONED BY MID AND WEST CCG Independent MH Advocacy 6 YP receiving community MH services or have been (West) admitted to a T 4 in-patient unit 7 Independent MH Advocacy (Mid) • • Statutory children’s, plus statutory and non-statutory adults’ services commissioned by ECC Non statutory children’s community MH services commissioned by Mid & West CCGs 7 separate contracts, 5 different providers Current contracts all brought into line to expire end of June Stat Yes No Both Yes Yes No

Adults Advocacy Services • • • ECC currently commission 4 separate advocacy contracts that provide statutory and non-statutory services and enable vulnerable adults to build their own resilience, support others within their own networks and communities and reduce their reliance upon paid services. These also deliver our well-being responsibilities under the Care Act. This includes contracts for: • Independent Mental Health Advocacy • Independent Mental Capacity Advocacy • Citizen Advocacy • Independent Care Act Advocacy • Independent Health Service Advocacy • Formal 1: 1 Advocacy The current model is for fixed price contracts for each of the services with agreed additional case rates for IMCA, IMHA and Formal 1: 1 (which includes NHS complaints and Care Act Advocacy) once the maximum contracted case numbers are exceeded.

Children’s Advocacy Services • ECC currently commission one statutory Independent Advocacy service for children and young people who are in care, leaving care or have been assessed as in need (including children with disabilities) or are receiving Social Care Services and which is available when they wish to make a complaint or representation, or to have their views heard in decision making in line with the new responsibilities of the Children and Social Care Act to support care leavers up to age 25. • West and Mid Essex Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCG) commission one non-statutory Independent Advocacy Service for young people with mental health problems who are receiving Community Mental Health Services or who have been admitted to a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service Tier 4 in-patient unit. • The current model for all 3 Children’s Contracts is a fixed price model with fixed volumes.

Comparison of existing and proposed models for Advocacy services Family /friends Self help/Voluntary sector help Citizen – self/ peer Existing model - the majority of advocacy is provided by paid advocates. The current arrangements of a block volume with additional case rates when the block capacity is reached encourages high volumes of paid advocacy and no development of other models. Paid Independent Paid specialist Paid Specialist Paid Independent New model – the provider manages a single budget and must meet all advocacy requirements. Provider will be incentivised to develop, qualityassure and promote self-help, peer and citizen advocacy, while ensuring that paid independent and paid specialist advocates are available for those who need them Citizen – self/peer advocacy Self help / Voluntary services Family/Friends

Existing Advocacy Contract Model Children’s Advocacy Services Referrals are made directly to the provider of the relevant services WECCGA ICYPA Adults Advocacy Services Referrals are made directly to the provider of the relevant services Citizen Advocacy IMCA Referrals are triaged to determine the individual’s eligibility and how best to support them IMHA Formal 1: 1 ICHA ICAA

Previous Market Engagement A market engagement questionnaire was issued to the market in August 2017 focussing on key areas for the proposed advocacy contract models Feedback from this engagement included: • • • There is good experience in the market for delivery of an integrated hub model This model is utilised by a number of other Local Authorities There is a strong partnership culture in the market to enable delivery of the model The best provision is delivered in partnership with local organisations delivering specialist and localised provision Providers are confident that they can deliver pan-Essex Block payment and surety of funds is a preferred payment model and allows providers to better plan for delivery of services

Contract Model • ECC is proposing to procure an All-age Advocacy Hub covering all requirements • This will be procured using a ‘lead provider’ model with a single provider appointed to lead and co-ordinate the delivery of all services • The lead provider will be responsible for development of a triaging service and ongoing management of all referrals for advocacy in Essex • The lead provider will not have to self-deliver all of the advocacy services and partnership approaches to delivery are encouraged • The contract will operate on the basis of a managed budget with the lead provider awarded the entire ECC budget. The lead provider will manage delivery on behalf of the Council for these services • Contract will be for 5 years with break clauses at the end of years 2 and 3, and rolling 6 month break clauses in years 4 and 5.

The proposed model • Single ‘front door’ for referrals • Development of non-statutory advocacy services to stop people falling through the gaps, making better use of resources, better outcomes for vulnerable people who would otherwise not have their voice heard • Advantage of advocates supporting young people through to adulthood in certain circumstances • Advocates will be able to support the whole family • Better routing of referrals to the most appropriate support • All services to be provided within the budget envelope • Annual delivery plan enables flexibility

Proposed Approach Referrals into Advocacy Hub from various sources Type of advocacy Eligibility/type of support Referrals are triaged to determine the individual’s eligibility and how best to support them Child or young person eligible for statutory or non-statutory advocacy Adult eligible for statutory support under the Mental Health or Mental Capacity Act CHILDREN’S STAT ADULTS STATUTORY NON STAT IMCA IMHA Adult eligible for statutory support for Care Act or NHS complaints, or requires general non statutory Advocacy support ADULTS STATUTORY ADULTS NON STAT ICAA ICHA Other Care Act Advocacy Health Complaint s General Advocacy Continuum of Advocacy for adults from self-help to formal, paid advocates SPECIFICALLY QUALIFIED ADVOCATES FAMILY /FRIENDS SELF-HELP SIGNPOSTING SELF-HELP / VOLUNTARY SECTOR SELF/PEER ADVOCATES (Trained Volunteers) NB: Services to be commissioned as part of this procurement are outlined in RED PAID, INDEPENDENT ADVOCATES

Current and Anticipated Volumes Bidders will be asked to bid against the current volumes of cases within Essex and their own data on anticipated future demand. Currently ECC spend an estimated £ 1. 1 m on adult’s advocacy, and £ 150 k on children’s advocacy. The data provided is indicative only and is from the period 1 st December 2016 and 30 th November 2017. Advocacy Type Case No. IMCA 404 Paid Representative 283 Care Act Advocacy 768 Health Complaints 287 Signpostings 678 Non-statutory Advocacy 937 IMHA 700 Children’s Statutory 1, 002 Children’s Non-Statutory 230

Procurement Approach • The procurement process will be a single stage ‘Open’ procedure carried out in compliance with the Public Contract Regulations 2015 • Bidders will be required to complete a Standard Selection Questionnaire (SSQ) to ensure they meet minimum criteria set out by ECC • The winning bid will be selected on the basis of 70% quality criteria, and 30% cost criteria • Cost criteria will be based on the maximum budget requested by the provider based on the estimated volumes. • Quality criteria will be assessed based on the response to the technical questions included within the ITT documents

Contract Information • The winning bidder will be awarded the contract for a period of 5 years with break clauses at the end of years 2 and 3 of the contract and a rolling 6 month break clause for the final 24 months of the contract • ECC will only formally contract with the lead provider – any sub-contractors or partners utilised will be managed directly by the lead provider • New contract will commence on 28 th June 2018

What Quality Looks Like Quality is assessed on response to technical questions covering key areas • Key areas for Essex County Council will include (but not be limited to): – Development and ongoing management of the triage service – Development and management of high quality voluntary and low cost services – Partnership approaches to deliver the best outcomes for the users of the services, across all advocacy services to be commissioned – Demand management of the budget to ensure flexibility and delivery of all services – Data collection and management reporting to quickly identify trends and assure delivery of the highest quality services • Demonstrable past experience in advocacy services • Case studies for specific circumstances showing how services would be proposed to be delivered

Quality Requirements Bidders will be required to demonstrate the quality of their proposed service by answering a number of technical questions at Invitation to Tender stage • The score awarded for quality will be a maximum of 70% of the final score • This score will be based entirely on response to technical questions issued as part of the ITT documents – it will not include for previous experience or services delivered • Questions will contain specific evaluation criteria which the bidder will have to ensure is covered within the answer • All answers will be scored by a team of evaluators, on a scale of 0 to 5. • Answers that score below a 2 on any single question will be deemed to have failed to meet the requirements, and the entire bid will be rejected • Questions will be weighted and some responses will be worth more in terms of final score than others – these weightings will be made clear in the tender documents

Commercial Requirements • Bidders are to be assessed against commercial criteria as part of this process with a total score of 30% available based on the response to this • Bidders will be required to provide a maximum budget for each of the 5 years of the contract that they will require to deliver the services; this will be scored with the lowest budget over the 5 year period scoring the highest score • A delivery plan will also be provided to evidence how the maximum budget had been arrived at including anticipated volumes based on market intelligence, staff pay rates, and linked to development of alternative solutions; this business case will be assessed on a pass/fail basis in terms of feasibility and content (in line with requirements)

Performance Management Providers will be required to demonstrate good performance of the services post-award, and the following KPIs were identified by providers during engagement: • • Response time to referrals Timescales met after referral (e. g. contact made with SU etc. ) Satisfaction surveys, and service user satisfaction Reporting against outcome measurement tools for service users Additionally, ECC requires management information be held and tracked to allow for analysis of the service delivery. This will include (but not be limited to): • • Number of referrals Referrals accepted / refused Outcome of referrals Source of referral Contact time Gender, age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religious beliefs Complaints received

Timescales Activity Date Tender Released 26 th February 2018 Tender Closes 6 th April 2018 Evaluation Complete 20 th April 2018 Contract Award 27 th April 2018 Standstill Period Complete 7 th May 2018 Contract Commencement 1 st July 2018 Please note this timescale is estimated and may be subject to change.

Q&A

Session Summary • Thank you for attending the session • Slides and notes from the session will be shared with all attendees • Further questions related to the procurement can be sent to Nick. Green@Essex. gov. uk • Responses to questions may be shared with all providers to ensure fair spread of information

Registering for opportunities • • Essex County Council is adopting a new widely used e-sourcing platform, Bi. P Delta, to conduct future procurement activities. The new platform is designed to improve accessibility to the authority’s procurement opportunities and enhance the experience of participating in procurement opportunities. This portal will enable providers to: – Register for a free account – Locate the Council’s current tender opportunities – Express interest in relevant procurements – Administer clarifications and submit tender responses electronically • If your organisation is not currently registered with Bi. P Delta, it would be advisable to register for an account via the following link in order to gain access to potential business opportunities as they arise and engage in forthcoming procurements: https: //www. delta-esourcing. com/ • Bi. P Registration Guidance is available containing screenshots to support your registration. Please email amy. wilson 2@essex. gov. uk for a copy