Official UK procurement notice
Black Country Advocacy for Children and Young People
Authority: Wolverhampton City Council (Local council)·Consortium: 3 public authorities
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe service provides an advocacy service for children and young people in receipt of social care services, no matter the type of setting in which they are placed, that empowers them to make sure that their rights are respected, and their views and wishes are heard at all times.
The provision provides advocacy service to:
Children and Young People in Care
- Care Leavers
- Children subject to a Child Protection Conference
- Family Help (including all children, Early Help and Children In Need)
- Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children who require an age assessment
- Children and Young People with disabilities
The service operates in line with the Effective Advocacy for Looked-After Children, Children in Need and Care Leavers Statutory guidance for local authorities September 2023 and the National Standards for the Provision of Children and Young People's Advocacy Services September 2023.
Referrals to the Service are made to the Service Provider by:
- Children or young people themselves if they are in receipt of social care services, or by children and young people with a disability receiving short breaks living with special educational needs and disability (SEND), or by any other person who does so with the knowledge and consent of the child or young person in care,
- Carer or professional in contact with child or young person meeting the children and young people in care criteria,
- Telephone, letter or personal contact.
The contract commenced November 1st 2025.
CPV: Social work and related services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1AwardedRenewalPublished value£945,000
What it takes to wini
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
Evaluation split and conditions of participation as published; the tender pack may add morei
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
Published sub-criteria (1)
- Quality Questions including EDI and Social Value: 100%
Published award criteria (1)
- Quality Questions including EDI and Social Value
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Procedure method
- Open procedure
- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Awarded
- Procurement threshold
- Above threshold (FTS publication)
- Regulatory regime
- Light touch regime
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 2 Apr 2025, 17:08 BST
- Last source update
- 1 Dec 2025, 14:13 GMT
- Award evaluation window
- Submission end – 11 Jul 2025
- Authority reference
CWC23108- FTS notice number
2025/S 000-018121- Latest notice
- Contract details notice (UK7)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-04fc43Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Requests to participate (first stage)
- 29 May 2025, 12:00 BST
- Submission deadline
- 29 May 2025, 12:00 BST
- Clarification deadline
- 20 May 2025, 12:00 BST
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
- Accepted languages
- en
www.wolverhamptontenders.com ↗
Appendix A - Our Council Our Plan
Appendix B - Black Country Advocacy for CYP Service Specification
Appendix C - ITT Instructions
Appendix D - CWC23108 - Contract Terms and Conditions
CWC23108 - Invitation to Tender
CWC23108 - Market Engagement Pack
CWC23108 - Black Country Advocacy Market Warming Event Presentation PowerPoint.
Timeline
2 Apr 2025 → 1 Dec 2025 · 10 dates- Planning notice published2 Apr 2025, 17:08 BST
- Tender notice published30 Apr 2025, 15:53 BST
- Clarification questions by20 May 2025, 12:00 BST
- Submission deadline29 May 2025, 12:00 BST
- Market engagement1 Jul 2025, 00:59 BST
Please contact - [email protected] To receive the link to the Market Warming Event.
The event will be Virtual Online Market Event (Through MS Teams) on Tuesday 08th April 2025
Session 1: 10:00 to 11:00
Session 2: 13:00 to 14:00
We would like to share with you our vision and priorities for the development of a Black country Advocacy service for children and young people. This service shall provide advocacy on behalf of City of Wolverhampton Council, Walsall MBC and Sandwell Children’s trust to the following criteria:
- Children and young people in receipt of social care services: Children and Young People in Care, children in need and care leavers.
- Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children (UASC) in receipt of social care services who require to complete age assessments.
- Children and young people in Children’s homes who qualify for advice and assistance: this includes those in residential special schools.
- Children and young people in safe settings who qualify for advice and assistance: this includes those children placed by the youth custody service in safe children’s homes, safe training centres, youth offending institutions and safe schools (when open).
- Children and young people requiring support into adulthood who qualify for advice and assistance: this includes those children needing continuing care and support in adulthood, as well as young carers.
This contract will be utilised by the 3 following authorities:
City of Wolverhampton Council Civic Centre,
St. Peter's Square, Wolverhampton
WV1 1SH
Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council
Sandwell Council House,
Freeth Street,
Oldbury B69 3DE
Walsall Council, Civic Centre,
Darwall Street,
Walsall WS1 1TP
- Award decision expected by11 Jul 2025, 00:59 BST
- Assessment summaries sent11 Aug 2025, 00:00 BST
- Standstill ends21 Aug 2025, 23:59 BST
- Contract starts380 days ago1 Oct 2025
- Latest notice published319 days ago1 Dec 2025, 14:13 GMT
Notice history
9 events · 4 releases on Find a Tender · since 2 Apr 2025- Preliminary market engagement notice published2 Apr 2025, 17:08 BSTUK2
- Tender notice published30 Apr 2025, 15:53 BSTUK4
- Published value published: £945,00030 Apr 2025, 15:53 BST
- Status changed to active30 Apr 2025, 15:53 BST
- Procurement method changed30 Apr 2025, 15:53 BST
- Contract award notice published12 Aug 2025, 14:32 BSTUK6
- Status changed to complete12 Aug 2025, 14:32 BST
- Contract signature expected29 Aug 2025, 23:59 BSTscheduled
- Contract details notice published1 Dec 2025, 14:13 GMTUK7
Routine re-releases (4)
- 2025-04: 1 release · 2 Apr 2025
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast| Awarded to | Value | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coram VoiceSME1 Oct 2025 – 30 Sept 2030 · up to 30 Sept 2032Extensions: The contract has a built in extension period of up to 2(two) years. The Council may, by giving written notice to the Supplier not less than six (6) Month(s) prior to the last day of the Initial Contract Period, extend this Contract on the same terms for a further period or further periods of up to a maximum of 2 (two) years in total. | £945,000 | 11 Aug 2025 | Awarded |
Contracts
BLACK COUNTRY ADVOCACY SERVICE FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE · Coram VoiceSME
- Signed
- 6 Nov 2025
- Value
- £945,000
- Period
- 6 Nov 2025 – 31 Oct 2030 · up to 31 Oct 2032 with extensions
- Status
- active
- Extensions
- The contract has a built in extension period of up to 2(two) years. The Council may, by giving written notice to the Supplier not less than six (6) Month(s) prior to the last day of the Initial Contract Period, extend this Contract on the same terms for a further period or further periods of up to a maximum of 2 (two) years in total.
Bid statistics published by the authority
| Bids | SME | VCSE | Valid bid range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5final-stage tenders | 3 | 4 | — |
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
3 public bodies on the noticeConsortium members and other public bodies
- Sandwell Metropolitan Borough CouncilContracting authorityPublic authority - central government
- Walsall CouncilContracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government
Bidders & participating suppliers
1 commercial party on the notice- Coram VoiceAwarded supplier
Official documents & specifications (4)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Contract details notice Contract details notice on Find a Tender
- Contract award notice Contract award notice on Find a Tender
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender