Care at Home · Cheshire East Council (Apr 2026)

Cheshire East Council (CEC) is recommissioning their Care at Home services. This is known as "Care at Home" or "Domiciliary Care".

Care at Home services provide personalised care, enabling support to help people remain living safely and independently in their own homes. Services include assistance with daily activities, personal care, and practical tasks, enabling individuals to maintain their wellbeing, autonomy and quality of life without needing to move into residential care.

CEC intends to direct award contracts to existing Care at Home providers currently delivering services under the Care at Home Framework to a new Care at Home closed framework (Framework). This direct award will be made in accordance with Section 41 of the Procurement Act 2023 and Schedule 5, Paragraph 7.

Contracts awarded under the new Framework will be for a period of two years, with the option to extend up to a further 12 months at the sole discretion of CEC. This approach is intended to provide short term stability, enabling continuity of care for vulnerable residents while CEC undertakes a wider reorganisation towards a borough wide Neighbourhood Model (Neighbourhood Model).

The direct award under the new Framework will provide CEC with critical time to plan and implement this transformational approach, ensuring that future mobilisation of the Neighbourhood Model can be undertaken in a managed way that allows providers sufficient time to prepare for, and adapt to, the new service model.

This direct award justification is relied upon because the services being procured constitute repeat services, and transferring vulnerable individuals to alternative providers at the point of recommissioning would create disproportionate technical and operational difficulties, including the following:

1. Continuity of Care: There is a risk of avoidable disruption to continuity of care for individuals currently in receipt of services. Maintaining continuity is essential to safeguard vulnerable people and to support CEC in meeting its statutory duties to provide appropriate care and support.
2. Market Continuity: CEC is committed to the successful development and implementation of the Neighbourhood Model and considers it important to provide the existing provider market with sufficient continuity and stability while this work progresses. This approach enables providers to plan effectively for future changes while continuing to deliver essential care services, supporting both business sustainability and uninterrupted service delivery.
3. Workforce Pressures: The adult social care sector continues to experience significant workforce pressures at a national level. Recent changes to immigration policy and sponsorship arrangements, alongside wider labour market challenges, have increased uncertainty for care providers in relation to recruitment and retention.

These factors have contributed to constraints on workforce capacity and resilience across the sector. Introducing additional market disruption at the point of recommissioning, through a full competitive procurement, may reasonably risk reduced workforce stability and service continuity, thereby impacting CEC's ability to meet its statutory care obligations.

The proposed direct award provides necessary short term stability, enabling providers to maintain safe staffing levels while CEC progresses the implementation of the Neighbourhood Model.

4. Neighbourhood Model: CEC fully intends to undertake a comprehensive procurement exercise within the next two years which will:

a. Incorporate lessons learned from the past procurement (2018) and the interim period, to inform and strengthen the design and delivery of the future procurement process, allowing providers sufficient time to prepare;

b. Be further informed by market engagement and intensive coproduction; and

c. Incorporate service specifications that are shaped by the views and experiences of people who receive care and support.

5. Existing Care Arrangements: A further procurement exercise at this stage could destabilise existing care arrangements that are currently assessed as safe and of acceptable quality, and which enable CEC to meet its statutory obligations under the Care Act 2014

Using this justification ensures that vulnerable individuals remain safely supported within their current care arrangements and do not experience unnecessary changes where the incumbent provider is delivering appropriate quality care.

This approach supports continuity of care for people using services and maintains fair and transparent access to opportunities for all existing providers. It also provides essential time for both CEC and providers to support the effective implementation of the Neighbourhood Model.