The Director for Children, Families and Education has decided to award grant funding in the sum of
£249,840 to Pause Creating Space for Change to deliver the PAUSE Programme.

The current partnership agreement between the Council and Pause Creating Space for Change in relation to the delivery of the Pause Progamme project ended on 31st March 2023. A procurement exercise has not been conducted due to the fact that this provision is highly specialised and Pause Creating Space for Change are the only organisation providing this offer. We have engaged in this as part of a LCR programme, which means that we get the service at a discounted rate. The new partnership agreement will be in place from 1st April 2023.
The programme works with women who have experienced repeated pregnancies that result in children needing to be removed from their care.
This proposal supports the strategic aim and objective of The Wirral Plan 2021-2026 ‘Brighter Futures for all regardless of their background’ and is a key part of the Children’s Services Breaking the Cycle agenda which aims to improve outcomes for the local population and is also a key strategy in reducing the number of children in care, thus helping to avoid spend on care placements

As specified above, Pause Creating Space for Change for are in a unique position to continue to deliver the PAUSE Programme the only alternative option would be to do nothing. Doing nothing would likely increase the number of children coming into the care system, result in poor outcomes of those children and future generations, which in turn would increase costs for the public purse and have an impact on the directorate’s ability to deliver the budget identified in the MTFP.