Support short breaks for children and young people

The Suffolk and North East Essex Integrated Care Board are inviting Providers to apply to deliver services to support children & young people with a diagnosis of a learning disability and/or who are autistic with coexisting significant mental health needs to access a short break.

The short breaks offer for children & young people with a diagnosis of a learning disability and/or who are autistic with coexisting significant mental health needs, funded by the SNEE ICB, is designed to provide additionality to existing short breaks or to provide bespoke short breaks that provide additional support for the child or young person's mental health needs that will ensure they remain safe and well in their community. The service specification outlines a variety of ways in which Providers could support this service, including but not limited to:

• Additional support to allow children and/or young people to access a short break without having to rely on their family to support their mental health needs.
• An assessment short break
• Additional intermittent support to ensure that children and young people can continue to access short breaks when their mental health needs increase.
• Bespoke packages that deliver short breaks in a completely different way to allow some of the most vulnerable children and young people with a diagnosis of a learning disability and/or who are autistic and with a coexisting complex mental health need to access a short break of sorts.

The procurement process is looking to accredit a number of Providers to support provision of short breaks for children and young people.

The Contract will be for a term of 36 months (3 years), with the possibility of extending the term for a period of 24 additional months (2 years) beyond the initial contracted duration by agreement between the Authority and the Applicant. The aggregate contract value is £880,000.00 across the potential 5 years, but this is the total potential spend on all short break packages, which will be allocated on an individual placement basis. Additional information: The Authority may wish to introduce additional services during the lifetime of the contract ("Contract modifications"). Such contract modifications will be contemplated where additional requirements are similar and or complementary to the services already included in the Specification, at any given time. Such expansion would be by the addition of services commissioned by the Authority as named in the Contract Notice. To this end, the Bidder should be aware that after the award of contract, there is a possibility that the successful Bidder may be offered a variation to the contract in accordance with the Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023.