Agenda item

Shared Lives Service

[Report of the Assistant Director for Commissioning. To be introduced by the Cabinet Member for Finance and Health.]Report to agree the appointment of the preferred bidder of an external organisation to take on the operational management of Haringey's Shared Lives Scheme.

Minutes:

The Cabinet Member for Finance and Health introduced the report which set out the proposition for the Council entering into a new partnership with the Shared Lives Incubator [SLI] to provide investment and support to the new proposed provider, Ategi, building on the established in house Shared Lives Service and growing it further so that more people can feel the benefits of Shared Lives.

 

 

RESOLVED

 

  1. To approve the proposed social investment model with the Shared Lives Incubator (SLI), which includes a ‘growth premium payment’ paid together with the weekly management fee through a new provider.

 

  1. In accordance with Contract Standing Order (CSO) 9.06.1(b)(i) and CSO 9.06.1(d), to approve the award of a contract to Ategi Ltd, a not-for-profit Shared Lives provider, to deliver Haringey’s Shared Lives Scheme from April 2017

 

  1. To award the contract to Ategi Ltd for a period of five years with an option to extend for two further periods of one year each at a fixed weekly management fee as identified in Part B (exempt information) of this report. The estimated contract value for managing the Shared Lives service could be £1.85million over the 5 year contract term. The value of each extension year could be £500,000.

 

  1. To note the TUPE transfer of 4 staff (3.6 FTE) to Ategi concurrent with the commencement of the contract.

 

  1. To delegate authority to the Deputy Chief Executive to approve the total amount of the social investment required and the corresponding growth premium payment, which will not exceed £35 per week, once it has been finalised.

 

Reasons for decision

Investment model

At a time of limited financial resources, the Council continues to seek innovative solutions to fund schemes that deliver good outcomes for local people. For Shared Lives, social investment provides such an option, as it:

 

Leverages funds from investors who want to put their money into causes that improves people lives, particularly vulnerable people

 

a)    Ensures investment is only paid back to investors when outcomes are achieved

b)    Provides a ‘catalyst’ to schemes to grow and deliver good outcomes by providing additional funding up front, alongside existing investment from the local authority

 

As part of seeking an alternative provider for Haringey’s Shared Lives scheme, the Council has worked with the Shared Lives Incubator (SLI) – a group of four organisations comprising Social Finance, Shared Lives Plus, Community Catalysts and Shared Lives Investments Limited Partnership – who are specifically focused on supporting the growth of Shared Lives schemes across the country. Working in partnership with SLI enables the Council to leverage investment, expert advice and business support to help achieve growth of the Shared Lives Service whilst repayment is on the basis of achievement of outcomes. All of this is a critical component to helping Haringey’s Shared Lives Service grow.

 

The contract itself is a payment by results delivery model. The Council pays the Provider a fixed weekly management fee for each arrangement supported. This model is enabled by the social investment. It is estimated that the social investment requirement will be £190,000. This is made up of £150,000 worth of cash investment paid directly to the Provider, together with expert advice and business support valued at £40,000 over the 5 years. The risk on this investment is borne by the social investors. The Council will repay the investment via a fixed ‘growth premium payment’ on top of the weekly management fee for each placement. This has been calculated at £35 per week. The social investors share in the success of the scheme, but will only receive a return in the event that at least 70% of the target is reached. The total investor return is expected to be around 4%. More details are set out in section 6 of this report.

 

Contract award

This contract award, and related procurement process, is the implementation of the November 2015 Cabinet decision to deliver the Council’s in-house Shared Lives Scheme through an alternative provider. The purpose of seeking an alternative provider is to grow the scheme so that the benefits – both improved outcomes and as a more cost-effective care option – can be felt throughout the system. It is part of Haringey’s objective to keep people healthy and living in their own communities for longer and to see a greater emphasis on promoting independence, dignity and choice - with care and support shifting away from institutional care towards community and home based support.

                                                                                             

As a result of the procurement exercise, which was carried out in accordance with the Procurement Code of Practice, it is now recommended that the successful tenderer be awarded a contract as outlined in 3.1 in accordance with CSO 9.06.1(b)(i) and CSO 9.06.1(d).

 

The recommendations as outlined above in 3.1 are based on the provider which scored the highest on a most economically advantageous (MEAT) basis and therefore would offer the best value to the Council in terms of quality and price.

 

The successful tenderer, Ategi Ltd, are a not-for-profit, co-operative company, who have managed a number of Shared Lives services since 2001. They have successfully nurtured and grown Shared Lives schemes in South Wales, Herefordshire and Buckinghamshire, including a number which were previously local authority run schemes. They will be able to draw on this experience to ensure a smooth transition for the staff, carers and service users. For more details see 6.40-6.42.

 

Alternative options considered

An options appraisal was undertaken, in consultation with representatives from UNISON that evaluated the best option for growing the Shared Lives Service. The alternative options considered as part of this are set out below:

 

Do nothing (as is) – keep the service in house and provide no extra investment to increase the size of the staff team. The number of new placements established through the service has slowed and the total number of placements has remained roughly the same for a number of years. This suggests that without additional investment an increase in the number of placements is unlikely and would result in failure to achieve the target of growing the scheme and delivering efficiency savings as a more cost effective form of care with good outcomes.

 

Enhanced as is – this would require significant investment from the Council to invest in more staff and expert support to help the service to improve and grow with no guarantee of an increased number of placements. The risk of the investment would be fully borne by the Council. The social investors that are part of the Shared Lives Incubator are not able to invest directly into the public sector.

 

Alternative Provider (without the Shared Lives Incubator) – it is unlikely that without the support of social investment an alternative provider would be able to achieve the rapid growth whilst also operating a payment by results delivery model. In addition we believe that the expert support offered by the Incubator is critical to the success of growing the service in a sustainable way.

 

Two further suppliers were considered as part of the procurement process. The scores for these bidders are presented in this report (see 6.37).

 

 

 

Supporting documents: