Emotional Mental Health and Wellbeing Service

The City of Wolverhampton Council and the Black Country Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust have jointly funded the Emotional Mental Health and Wellbeing Service since 1 April 2021. This service supports the emotional wellbeing of children and young people who do not have a formal mental health diagnosis.

The service delivers the 'Getting Help' component of the i-Thrive pathway, aiming to prevent escalation to clinical mental health services.

The current contract, structured as a three-year term with a two-year extension, will end on 31 March 2026.

Service delivery for the past five years has been operating at 171% of the original commissioned levels due to increased demands. Contract variations have been previously applied to manage this increased demand and forecasted intelligence indicates that the demands to the service are not expected to fall significantly during and after the remaining duration of the contract.

The Council has a duty of care to ensure continued support for children and young people.

To comply with the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 and enable recommissioning of the service, a contract variation is proposed to extend the current contract from 1 April 2026 to 31 October 2026.