Supported Accommodation Framework

Hampshire County Council’s Children’s Services Directorate intends to establish a flexible and future‑ready Framework for Supported Accommodation, designed to attract high‑quality providers capable of delivering a diverse and evolving range of supported accommodation services for young people across the Hampshire region.

A Framework is a flexible procurement mechanism built around a set of pre‑agreed terms. The Authority evaluates potential providers against clearly defined criteria, and those who meet the requirements are appointed to the Framework. Once onboarded, these approved providers can then compete for service delivery opportunities through individual call‑off contracts.

The Supported Accommodation services will be for the support of 16-21-year-old young people across Hampshire, including:

• Looked After Children
• Care Leavers
• Separated Children
• Children in Need (in accordance with Section 17 of the Children's Act)

The Framework will enable the purchasing, delivery and management of services designed to meet the needs of young people within Hampshire. It will cover a wide range of Supported Accommodation services, including providing Ofsted regulated accommodation-based support for 16-21 year olds, with varying levels of support and intensity required across the service.

The Framework term is for an initial term of 4 years, with the potential to extend for a further 4 years, in 2 year increments, to a maximum term of 8 years.

All providers will require Ofsted Registration in order to be eligible for this Framework. This is part of the Ofsted Inspection Framework for services for children in need of help and protection, Looked After Children (LAC) and Care Leavers. All providers delivering supported accommodation must be registered with Ofsted in one or more of the four approved categories:

• Self‑contained accommodation
• Ring‑fenced shared accommodation exclusively for LAC and 16/17 care leavers
• Non‑ring‑fenced shared accommodation, which may include 18+ care leavers
• Supported accommodation provided in a private residence (e.g., supported lodgings)

Providers must only operate within the categories for which they are registered. Registration requires meeting all Supported Accommodation (England) Regulations 2023 and associated Quality Standards, including leadership, protection, accommodation and support. If a provider awarded a contract under this framework becomes subject to an Ofsted restriction on accepting placements, the Council reserves the right to suspend or remove the provider from the framework with immediate effect. It is the sole responsibility of the provider to ensure that they are operating in full compliance with all applicable Ofsted inspection framework requirements and that they remain eligible and suitably authorised to accept placements at all times.

This is a light touch contract as set out in section 9 of the Procurement Act 2023. As such the Council is establishing a Framework which will be open for new entrants across it's entire term. However, the Council reserves the right to temporarily pause the Framework for new entrants at any point. Any pause will be communicated through the Councils electronic tendering system.

The Timetable in section 4.1 relates to the initial application window for the Framework. Once the Framework commences it will be reopened for new applications and suppliers will be able to apply at any point up until 3 months before the Framework expires.

Providers wishing to enrol on the Framework will need to apply for the Supported Accommodation Framework via In-Tend. There is no work (i.e. no placements) awarded at Framework level, all future placements will be awarded at call-off level. Any subsequent call offs from this Framework will be advertised to all providers onboarded onto the Framework, and each individual call off will include more in-depth information regarding the services being called off from the Framework. In order to apply for any call-off opportunities from this Framework in the future, a Framework Agreement must first be awarded.

Devolution/Local Government Reform

The government wants all remaining two-tier areas in England to be eventually restructured into single-tier unitary authorities and is termed Local Government Reform (LGR). This reorganisation is part of a broader devolution strategy to simplify local government structures, save public funds, and improve local accountability. It is anticipated, that during the life of this contract, the LGR process will commence and/or progress potentially impacting this contract. Impacts most likely will include, novations of the legal entities you may contract with. There are assignment clauses within the Contract Terms and Conditions that allow us to assign, novate etc. the agreements to another body.

Regional Care Cooperatives

As part of reforms to the children’s social care system, there is a drive from central government to move towards regional commissioning arrangements under Regional Care Cooperatives (RCCs) which may affect the Council’s commissioning activities in the future.