Issue - meetings

Cabinet Member: Cabinet Member for Families, Health & Social Care, Councillor Janet Campbell

Officer: Director of Operations – Health, Wellbeing and Adults, Annette McPartland

Key decision: yes

The Leader of the Council delegated authority to the Cabinet to make the following decisions:

RESOLVED: To

1.   Approve the extension and variation of the contract for the provision of care services with Care UK in accordance with Regulation 30 of the Tenders and Contracts Regulations for an additional period of 21 months until 31 March 2023 for an additional value of £10,700,000.

2.    Note that the Contracts and Commissioning Board has endorsed the above recommendation.

3.    Note that the total value of the extension (£10,700,000) will take the overall value of the contract to approx. £72m. This figure is £3m below the original estimated award value of £75m.

The Cabinet Member for Resources & Financial Governance (Councillor Callton Young) informed Cabinet that it was being asked to approve the extension and variation to the existing contract for the provision of care services in accordance with Regulation 30 of the Tenders and Contracts Regulations for a period of 21 months until 31 March 2023. This contract extension would be at a value of £10.7 million.

Members were informed that the service related to the outsourcing of care services. Three schemes had been developed as part of the Homes for the Future PFI scheme; Heavers Resource Centre with 60 beds had opened in 2008, Addington Heights with 50 beds had opened in June 2010, and Langley Oaks with 40 beds had opened in July 2010. The Cabinet Member highlighted that the current contract for the provision of care services was due to end on 26 June 2021 and the three homes were rated as Good by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

In addition to the ongoing impact of Covid-19 on the market and levels of demand for services; the report proposes an additional month variation to allow the market to return to pre-Covid-19 levels. This would allow time for analysis to be undertaken to understand future demand. It was highlighted by the Cabinet Member that this analysis was an important part of the council’s cost saving strategy so as to enable evaluation of the full market. A further report would be taken to Cabinet in January 2022 which would set out the option for future delivery.  

The Cabinet Member for Families, Health & Social Care noted that the commissioning team had spoken to several other providers prior to going back to Care UK and recommending an extension to the contact. It was highlighted that there were 286 care homes in Croydon with 1396 residential beds and 1376 nursing home beds and that the market was changing. It was stated that it was important that time was taken to enable the council to fully understand the future care market and provision would be required from March 2023.

It was noted by the Shadow Cabinet Member for Families, Health & Social Care (Councillor Yvette Hopley) that the contract was an important one as it looked after the borough’s vulnerable elderly residents, however concerns were raised that the previous Cabinet Member for Families, Health & Social Care had announced that the Care UK contract had not been fit for purpose and the service would be brought in house. In light of this, the Shadow Cabinet Member queried why the contract extension was now viewed as the best option.

In response, the Cabinet Member for Families, Health & Social Care stated that the council was doing good business and were ensuring the safety of elderly and vulnerable residents. Furthermore, it was noted that CQC had rated the service as Good. The Cabinet Member for Resources & Financial Governance further added that a new approach to commissioning and procurement was being introduced in Croydon as it was recognised that there was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 64