The Provision of Support to Carers

There is a statutory duty on the Council to provide support for carers under various legislation under the Care Act 2014 and to work preventatively to support carers' wellbeing. The Council has a longstanding contract with Carers in Hertfordshire who operate locally within the Council area. This contract is proposed to provide a further year, There is a specific plan in place to re-procure the contract. We will aim to go to tender by October 2025 to allow for any mobilisation period of a new provider. The incumbent provider (Carers in Hertfordshire) is a long-standing provider of these services and has built up an extensive database of unpaid carers who they support. This database is essential for successful delivery of the services, and another provider could not establish this in time to deliver the services during the year's contract term that is proposed.

Furthermore, Carers in Hertfordshire have extensive partnership arrangements with health, social care and voluntary sector agencies for the identification and referral of unpaid carers, which again a competitor could not establish in sufficient time to deliver the services during the proposed contract period. Finally, specific aspects of the services provided have been developed by Carers in Hertfordshire in a unique way, such as the programme of training and learning opportunities and the Carers Passport discounts scheme with a unique network of local businesses. These again could not be replicated in a sufficient time to deliver the required services during the proposed contract term. There is a requirement to ensure that existing arrangements continue uninterrupted so that carers receive ongoing preventative support.