Tower Hamlets Mental Health Supported Employment Service

NHS Tower Hamlets Clinical Commissioning Group (THCCG) are keen to test the potential provider market for provision a specialist Mental Health Supported Employment Service.

The Contract is likely to be co-commissioned between NHS Tower Hamlets CCG and an independent commissioner funded through the Cabinet Office. A payment by outcomes element will be included in the contracting model.

The new contract would commence from 1st April 2016.

This service will provide an intensive, personalised supported employment service to people in contact with secondary mental health services within Tower Hamlets.

The service will be expected to maintain high fidelity to the principles of Individual Placement and Support (IPS), an evidence-based model promoted by the Centre for Mental Health in the UK. The principles of IPS include, but are not limited, to: • Focus on paid, competitive employment • Employment specialists embedded in clinical mental health teams, with service users receiving employment advice alongside ongoing mental health support • Rapid job search, followed by extended in-work support • Low caseloads (typically 20-25)

Further information on IPS can be found at the Centre for Mental Health’s website: http://www.centreformentalhealth.org.uk/individual-placement-and-support

We would look for providers to aim to become part of the Centre for Mental Health’s Centres of Excellence programme over the course of the contract.

Additional information: THCCG key requirements for suppliers of this service are:

• Knowledge, understanding, and – where possible – experience of delivering high-fidelity Individual Placement and Support (IPS) services. Note: Where suppliers have not delivered high-fidelity IPS previously, they may reference past experience of delivering other employment- or mental health-related services. In these cases, suppliers should carefully explain how the experience of delivering these services would enable them to deliver high-fidelity IPS. They should also demonstrate an understanding of how these services differed from IPS, for example because of higher caseloads or the use of a “train then place” approach that starts with work preparation activities before job search. • Experience working with people in contact with secondary mental health services • Capability and capacity to: hire and train employment specialists in a short period of time; manage staff working from multiple locations, ensuring that they deliver high-fidelity IPS to their service users; and implement high-quality performance monitoring systems to enable relevant data collection • Experience and/or capability to work in close collaboration with an NHS Foundation Trust, including co-locating staff • Appropriate financial management and governance structures in place

Suppliers are advised to express an interest if they meet the criteria identified above and would consider bidding for this service should the CCG opt to carry out a procurement.

You can express an interest by sending a brief e-mail to Jacqueline Chambers - Procurement Manager at [email protected]

The deadline for submitting a response for this market testing exercise is at 7th August 2015 at 12pm. Your e-mail should include:

• Name of organisation • Organisation type and legal form (charity, social enterprise, private company, etc.) • Name and contact details of a lead contact • Brief (max 100 word) description of experience working with people in contact with secondary mental health services • Brief (max 100 word) description of experience providing IPS or other employment or vocational services • Any critical questions that you need to answer to determine whether to continue to be interested in this procurement process. Please note there will be further opportunities to ask questions both prior to and during the process.

Please note that this is a market testing exercise to inform the CCGs’ decision making process. This does not commit the CCG to carrying out a procurement process. A response to this notice places no obligation on the responding organisation to proceed with any subsequent procurement process.