Functional Assessment Services (FAS) 2023 – Lot 5

Contracts

• Contract 018066-2025-ecm_11583-1 · Capita Business Services Ltd

  Signed

  19 Sept 2023

  Value

  £165,836,271

  Period

  19 Sept 2023 – 6 Sept 2031

  Status

  active

  • Change This notice is in relation to modification of an existing Contract, pursuant to regulation 72(1)(b) of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (“PCR 2015”) and is published for transparency purposes. The Functional Health Assessments (“FAS”) contracts were signed in September 2023 and included an assessment of supplier capacity as of November 2021 (the launch of the procurement). In the intervening period demand for Personal Independence Payment (“PIP”) assessments has continued to rise whilst the Authority has worked with incumbent suppliers to successfully recruit and retain a higher number of Health Professionals (“HPs”) which has enabled the highest ever volume delivery of PIP assessments. The increased number of HPs helps the Authority better meet the demand for assessments across PIP and Work Capability Assessment (“WCA”) (as well as other benefits), and better protects the delivery of the service. Retention of the HP’s into FAS ensured that capacity for assessments will meet the current levels of PIP, WCA and other benefits. Collectively, this helps by reducing the length of a customer's journey and minimise the backlog of claims. In addition to the increased clinical staffing, there were changes to supplier costs to reflect IT solution changes to address technical constraints and levels of integration. Pursuant to regulation 72(1)(b) of the PCR 2015, the Authority agreed a Side Letter with the FAS supplier to vary the FAS contract, and then an extension to the Side Letter, to cover the increased clinical staffing which leads to the provisions of additional services, in addition to the additional costs to reflect the changes to the IT solution to address various technical constraints. The additional services are required to address an increase in the number of FAS assessments over the number initially envisaged during the procurement. Given that the FAS contract was entered into in September 2023 and the FAS supplier completed a lengthy hand over period prior to commencing operational services commencement in September 2024, it would not have been possible to appoint a new supplier to deal with the additional services outlined in this modification notice, as the new supplier would not have had the benefit of the handover period., Need for additional works, services or supplies by the original contractor/concessionaire: Appointing a new supplier to address the additional services would have also led to a significant duplication of costs, particularly as during the handover period the Department was paying incumbent suppliers to deliver the assessment services. There would be interchangeability issues with a new supplier which would negatively impact the delivery of key services. A change in supplier without the lengthy handover period would risk the delivery of the services which provide critical statutory benefits to vulnerable claimants. The increase in price does not exceed 50% of the value of the original contract.

Dispute resolution & review bodies

• Department for Work and PensionsReview body Sheffield