CS21004 Employee Assistance Programme

To enable UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and UK Shared Business Services (UK SBS) to fulfil their obligations to employees, and to assist with each party's Employee Benefit and Wellbeing Programmes UKRI and UK SBS are seeking an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) Service for all staff across multiple locations.

It is UKRI and UK SBS' policy to provide and look after the emotional wellbeing of their employees and family members and to employ best practice to ensure the health, safety and welfare its employees.

In addition, the supplier will be required to work with HR Teams in UKRI and UK SBS to help promote and raise awareness of the range of support mechanisms effectively to ensure value for money in this contract.

It should be noted that UK SBS and UKRI are to be noted separately in this arrangement.

The Contracting Authorities also requires coverage including access to counselling services for overseas employees working for UKRI.

Core and on demand services include:

Direct staff access to on-line, telephonic and face-to-face counselling - undertaken by fully trained and appropriately qualified professionals holding accreditations as noted below - and a range of advisory services via a free phone national telephone helpline manned 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

The Supplier shall be accredited by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP).

In addition to BACP accreditation, Supplier organisations and Supplier Personnel shall hold accreditation from one or more of the following recognised bodies:

• British Psychological Society;
• British Confederation of Psychotherapists;
• British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Therapies (BABCP);
• UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP);
• Health and Care Professionals Council (HCPC);
• Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC);
• General Medical Council (GMC); and
• COSCA (Counselling & Psychotherapy in Scotland)

The service must be fully accessible for all UKRI and UK SBS employees (and family members following HMRC guidance) and provide accessible alternatives in provision of services, including alternative delivery formats and languages. This service must be accessible from UK landlines, mobile telephones and overseas, via a UK dialling code and be able to accept calls from outside the UK.

The initial point of contact shall be able to triage the incoming call to the best professional support offered for the nature of the caller's query, including at risk 'red flag' cases and those presenting with neuro-diverse conditions.

Provide and maintain a web based accredited secure portal to be available to all employees 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The design and content of the website will be agreed with the Contracting Authorities in advance and be branded appropriately. The website must conform to the Contract Authorities' Accessibility Standards and Password Policies, and be compliant to the Cloud Security Principles and the Equality Act 2010.

The website and links to related sites, e.g. HSE management standards, NHS, will as a minimum, provide an online resource for employees offering comprehensive materials on the services available and how to access them.

It is anticipated that as a minimum, the website will contain self-help guides, fact sheets and leaflets, as well as details on national and international health and wellbeing awareness events and campaigns, in a fully downloadable format.

The service should provide tailored support for specific issues from a diverse range of backgrounds to cater to different groups of employees, such as BAME LGBTQ+, etc.

The supplier shall ensure that counsellors taking calls at the Initial Contact Point have access to data bases of credible recognised agencies, e.g. Citizens Advice Bureaux, Samaritans, NHS, Gov.UK etc.

The supplier will provide counselling support to employees or managers experiencing bullying and harassment in the workplace including those involved in formal action. If an employee requires counselling as a consequence of bullying and harassment in the workplace but has already received the maximum number of counselling sessions for an unrelated reason, then the Contracting Authority may approve a second counselling referral and approve a further 6 sessions in that contract year. The supplier will not give advice on the individual Contracting Authorities' policies and procedures but will be expected to signpost employees and managers to their whereabouts. The supplier will not act as an advocate in grievance cases connected with harassment and bullying.

Provision of up to 6 counselling sessions per individual following initial contact.

Once the case has been closed down, if a user has cause to require support for a different reason, subsequent contact is permissible and again 6 sessions are available. In exceptional circumstances permission may be sought from the Contracting Authority to authorise additional sessions on a case-by-case basis, and permission should be sought by a key contact/s which will be provided by the contracting authority. The Supplier shall:

• Ensure the employee understands all methods of counselling / coaching available to them; the expectations and limitations of each, and work together to choose the most clinically effective method;
• Provide short-term focussed face to face counselling in all circumstances where this will provide the best outcome for the employee or where the employee states this as their preference;
• All counselling sessions are arranged within 48 hours of first referral;
• Ensure the first session of counselling takes place within 5 days of first referral;
• Counselling sessions should normally last 1 hour;
• Ensure that all face to face counselling sessions take place within 30 minutes by car or and no more than an hour by public transport, of the employees' home or place of work or via zoom or similar due to any restrictions related to the Pandemic;
• Those presenting at risk i.e. 'red flag' should be …