Care and Support at Home Services Contract Re-open January 2026

The Council intends to appoint additional Individual Home Care providers into existing Alliances to mitigate the current capacity shortfall within Lots 9 & 10. A capacity shortfall means the current Home Care providers within the existing alliance do not have sufficient capacity to meet demand in that geographical area. This procurement is therefore being initiated only when and where extra capacity is needed, rather than to replace existing providers.

The successful provider(s) will complement the current alliance by delivering care where demand exceeds the capacity of existing providers. The current model sees the Services delivered through eleven (11) placed-based alliances. Each Alliance is formed of a number of service providers who collaborate to optimise the delivery of the Services within a specific Geographical Zone.

Each Alliance is led by a Strategic Provider who manages the performance of the Services, administers the Alliance, coordinates capacity optimisation activities and acts as the Operational Provider of Last Resort (see the Strategic Provider Specification for more details) alongside multiple Individual Providers who directly deliver Home Care services. The principal aim of the Services is to ensure people have access to the right care, in the right place, at the right time, enabling them to stay well, safe and independent at home for longer. The Services primarily address the needs of older people and people with physical disabilities who require assistance with their personal care, daily living activities and accessing the community.

They may also be used by people with learning disabilities, autism, mental health support needs, sensory loss and other conditions where this type of provision best meets their individual needs. The Services include:

• Regulated 'personal care' tasks including but not limited to getting in and out of bed, washing and dressing, going to the toilet and taking medication;
• Non-regulated tasks including shopping, cleaning, going out into the community and other activities that enable the Person to meet their assessed social care needs, usually in exceptional circumstances;
• Night-time care, which may be used to meet a Person's needs in exceptional circumstances to prevent use of a residential care placement;
• Clustering of home care services in specific locations, for example in a sheltered housing scheme, to enhance the offer available to people living in these settings and to optimise the available capacity; and
• Alliance Providers working collaboratively in each Geographical Zone to optimise service delivery and support each other with market fragility including prevention and management of local provider failure. The procurement was divided into eleven (11) Lots which are aligned to eleven (11) Geographical Zones. The Contract for each Lot commenced on the 19 October 2024, for a maximum term of eight (8) years, broken down as follows:
• An initial period of three (3) years commencing