Fully integrated and managed Educational Psychology team/service

The purpose of this Preliminary market engagement notice is to test the market for potential suppliers who would be wiling to participate in a full tender process. Previously this would have been referred to as a PIN (prior information notice).

Interested providers must respond to [email protected] no later than Friday, 9th January at 12pm noon with sufficient information to demonstrate their suitability to meet the requirements set out below (ie your Expression of Interest).

The service will provide specialist support to our Educational Psychology team. Specifically, the Council is seeking a service to outsource Educational Psychology assessments for children and young people undergoing a statutory assessment under the provisions of the Children & Families Act (2014).

The Provider would need to:

• Provide a fully integrated and managed service which manages the end-to-end process for achieving the agreed deliverables to statutory timescales, quality standards and target milestones. The Provide will need to have the necessary infrastructure, governance, professional expertise and insurance to offer this service sustainably.
• Have responsibility for all allocation responsibilities and associated communications with and outside of RBG in relation their role, considering cultural competence, equal opportunities, and diversity.
• Provide a single point of contact
• Provide a stable group of HCPC registered educational psychologists who can provide psychological advice for EHC needs assessments within statutory time-frames and to a high standard.
• Deliver work to timescale, managing workloads and 'scaffolding' EPs with time management, troubleshooting threats to time-frames and offer positive solutions
• Provide wraparound support: consultancy that can highlight, audit, and promote positive solutions, as required and will communicate and support Educational Psychologists to navigate the required diversifications to role.
• To capture data that is gathered, record, share and present as required with the Council i.e. in real-time.
• Provide experienced Educational Psychologists/ Senior Educational Psychologists/ Principal Educational Psychologists to quality assure all reports against specified service standards.
• A service which can undertake SEN consultancy and appeals - a service provider who can offer supervision e.g., for Educational Psychologists and SEND caseworkers, panel membership, consultancy, mediation, and participation in tribunal proceedings, as required.
• Deliver the required quality assurance, offering completed reports that our Quality Assurance criteria.
• Provide administrative support around the allocation of assessments, sharing of relevant information and submitting advice to the relevant RBG teams.
• Operate a clear pricing structure with a set cost per completed report.
• Provide regular performance data, including information about reports completed and the timeliness of completion.

It is anticipated that most assessments will be completed by the council's in-house Educational Psychology Team. This contract would however provide flexibility and support the council to meet statutory deadlines on occasions where demand outstrips capacity. For this reason there will be no guarantee of any minimum volumes.