Management of the Adoption Support Fund (ASF)

***New on 17th October 2017 - Please note that this tender scheduled for release w/c 16 October 2017 has been delayed. We will notify you through an update to Contracts Finder when it is rescheduled with a revised timeline including a new date for the bidder event.*** See 'Attachments' for a Word version of the description. Many adopted children have experienced early abuse, neglect and trauma and consequently have complex needs. A significant proportion of adoptive parents report challenges in parenting adopted children. The ASF was introduced to improve outcomes for young people and families through improving the quality of adoption support assessments; speeding up access to therapeutic services for adoptive children and improving the quality and availability of services across the country. The Adoption Support Fund (ASF) funds local authorities to provide therapeutic interventions to support adoptive and eligible special guardianship families. The ASF was rolled out across England in May 2015 following a successful prototype. As at the end of August 2017, the ASF had provided over £55m towards to supporting 19,000 families across all local authority areas, with an average of 200 applications to the Fund totalling on average £500k per week. The current contract to deliver the ASF expires at the end of March 2018. We wish to procure a delivery partner to manage the ASF for two years (from 1 April 2018-31 March 2020), with the option to extend for a further two years subject to decisions about the future of the Fund beyond 2020 (subject to Spending Review decisions). The delivery partner's role will be to: - set up and manage a digital platform to process up to 10,000 applications per year; - provide ongoing helpline support and other relevant guidance on making applications to the Fund to local authorities; - assess and approve up to 10,000 applications a year according to published scope and criteria; - manage payments to local authorities; - respond to complaints; - develop and implement ideas to make best use of the learning from the take up of ASF to date; - provide detailed management information to the Department on a weekly, monthly and annual basis; - provide targeted support to local authorities and regional adoption agencies on a range of policy areas including developing the provider market and piloting the regionalisation of the ASF; - work effectively with any contractor appointed to carry out the evaluation of the implementation of the Fund; and - ensure there is a smooth transition or closure at the end of the contract.

Additional information: The contract notice will be published wc 16 October 2017. A supplier meeting is planned for w/c 23 October. We hope to appoint in December 2017 to enable a period of transition planning between January and March 2018. START AND END DATES OF THE CONTRACT: 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2020 with the possibility of a further two years subject to Spending Review decisions about the future of the Fund beyond 2020. ESTIMATED VALUE: up to £2m each year for two financial years (2018-20)