Regional Care Co-operatives Pathfinder Delivery Partner

In response to local authorities experiencing significant and widespread problems with finding homes for the children in their care (in children’s homes and foster care), the Department for Education has announced its intention to introduce Regional Care Co-operatives (RCCs) through which local authorities will plan, deliver and commission placements on a regional, collective basis. We will test this approach with groups of local authorities in two regions and are looking for a delivery partner to support the delivery of the pathfinders. This will include supporting and advising on effective working relationships between local authorities, support with facilitating the co-design of the pathfinders in partnership with local authorities, commercial and legal establishment of the pathfinders, project management, governance and oversight, HR and recruitment, finances and allocation of funding, IT and data systems.

Further information about Regional Care Co-operatives can be found here: Children's social care: stable homes, built on love - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk ↗)

We plan to commence procurement in late April, with a view to the contract beginning in June. The pathfinders are due to launch in Spring 2024; the contract will continue until this date with potential for extension.

If more than two areas express a serious interest in being a pathfinder, we will select the successful regions based on criteria including: closest fit to the intended model, size of region/number of LAC, likelihood of being able to set this up within 12-15 months (based on strength of existing partnerships, LA capacity, links to health / youth justice etc) and innovation. We plan to announce the successful region in mid-July. Additional information: The budget for this procurement is still to be finalised, at this stage we are inviting suppliers to give an indication of costs.