Children's Residential Assessment Unit

Medway Council is proposing to procure a Children’s Residential Assessment Unit for 14 to 17 year olds.

The aim of the Assessment Unit is to ensure that a young person’s chances of returning to the care of their family are maximised, or where this is not possible, to undertake holistic assessment of the young person’s needs to engage the correct follow-on support. The Unit will be supported by an Outreach Team.

The Council is proposing to commission a provider to undertake two projects with us. The procurement will be managed through a Competitive Dialogue process.

• Project 1 – Unit 1: to set up and deliver as soon as practicable, a four-bed assessment unit children’s home from the site of the Old Vicarage in Upnor previously a children’s home. The provider will be experienced in running a children’s home, registering and maintaining an Ofsted registration and working with complex young people. The provider will provide short term residential assessment placements underpinned by an evidence-based methodology and supported by an outreach team.
• Project 2 – Future Units: the provider will also work with the Council to scope out and establish two other four-bed assessment units to be delivered with a more specific eligibility than Unit 1 and from different sites. The data gathered during Project 1 will inform the specific nature of the two future units to be established.