Residential and Home-based Replacement Care Services for People with Learning Disabilities

For the avoidance of doubt this is not a Call for Competition, this is to initiate a soft market testing process. The Covid-19 pandemic has meant that Staffordshire County Council has had to look at different ways of offering services to adults with a learning disability. Replacement care services had previously been reviewed in 2019, but with the Covid-19 pandemic affecting how many people can access building-based services at any one time, the Council has explored other options to ensure services can be offered in different ways. Now the Council wants to look again at these services to understand how the changes that have been made can be embraced, and make sure the services are fit for the future. Replacement care, commonly referred to as 'Respite' by people who use these services and their carers, give carers of adults with a learning disability a break from their caring role and can be delivered in a residential setting, or can take place in the home. The Council have launched a public engagement and would like to hear from people with learning disabilities who use services, their carers, professionals and Providers who offer replacement care services before a number of options are put before the Council's Cabinet later this year. The Council therefore wish to invite Providers to an engagement event to outline the need, scope, principles and aspiration of our future service whilst seeking feedback from Providers of these services to refine our thinking prior to a possible future tender. The Market Development Provider Event will take place from 10am to 1130am on the 2nd September 2021 via Microsoft Teams. By attending Providers will have the opportunity to be part of: • shaping the vision for the future service, • and contributing to early thinking of new commissioning arrangements. If you are interested in attending this event please confirm your attendance to wholelifedisability@staffordshire.gov.uk, we will then share the Microsoft teams link with you in readiness for the event on the 2nd September 2021. In addition to the virtual market engagement event, the Council have also launched online surveys, one for carers and another for professionals and other stakeholders, including Providers of replacement care services, which will close on the 15th September 2021. The Council will also be holding eight face-to-face sessions across the county running throughout September, all designed to capture people's views on what they want from replacement care services and how they think it should be delivered. The links to the online surveys and details of the face to face sessions are available at https://www.staffordshire.gov.uk/Care-for-all-ages/Carers/How-we-design-our-services.aspx We also recommend you register on the Council's e-tendering system https://supplierlive.proactisp2p.com/Account/Login