ASC25086 Advocacy Services for Adults - Preliminary Market Engagement

Worcestershire County Council (the Council) would like to invite interested organisations to attend a virtual engagement session around the possible future delivery of a Advocacy service across the County. The Council, with its colleagues at the NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire Integrated Care Board (ICB), has been reviewing its position on future commissioning intentions for advocacy services. An initial market engagement event for this service was held back in March 2024 with the intention that the service would be procured in year (24-25) in accordance with the Public Contract Regulations 2015. At this event, the following group discussion and learning took place: - It was noted that there appears to be a move towards local authorities commissioning Advocacy services that are delivering “Whole Life” – combination of Children’s and Adult services. Is that something WCC have considered? - No WCC do not have any plans to combine. Children’s have already commissioned their own service. It was discussed that there are pros and cons to having a combined service delivery and in the main it is key that the core skills of service staff are good and can work across both if needs be. It can get complex working with the differing sets of legislation. - There was a discussion about the Government’s proposed LPS (Liberty Protection Safeguards) development and the impact that could have on future contracts being commissioned. WCC have been working in the background, planning for LPS, and if legislation does come into place during the lifetime of any new contract then that can be addressed with the provider of services at the time. There will be budgetary considerations as the forecast of demand for LPS looks significant. - The question was asked if there would be any annual review of services and price during the contract. WCC will insert a clause into the contract paperwork to reflect the importance of reviewing services on an annual basis at the very least. This would need to be agreed across all partners involved bearing in mind pooled funding. - As everyone is fully aware budgets are tight so it could be a consideration at point of review when statutory and non-statutory work is prioritised. Interested organisations are now invited to attend a supplementary market engagement on Thursday 5th June 2025 in light of the new Procurement Act 2023 (PA23) regulations. In accordance with the PA23, an alternative procurement process has been designed to the one previously detailed in March 2024. The Council would therefore like, at this tentative stage in the development of proposals, and prior to formulating of any formal opportunities, to inform the market of the procurement process, our commissioning intentions and to consult on the content of the service specification.