The Director of Housing Services has awarded the contract for the Mainstay Access Gateway which will run from 1^st July 2024 – 31^st June 2027 with a further 2 options to extend to 2029.

The Mainstay access gateway is a web-based referral management system for homeless accommodation services which is used in each of the Liverpool City Region (LCR) Local Authority areas to help respond to homeless pressures. It ensures that homeless people are referred to relevant commissioned services that are appropriate to their individual circumstances and needs, in a fair and transparent way.

Delivery of the Mainstay system contributes to the prevention of homelessness; reduction of repeat homelessness and evictions/abandonments from short term and temporary accommodation services; as well as helping those people to access support to maintain their accommodation within the community.

The system prioritises those who the Council has identified as being statutorily homeless and those who are rough sleeping. It provides an effective solution to facilitating access to supported accommodation for people who require support and accommodation.

In March 2024, delivery of the system went through a competitive tendering process by Liverpool City Council, on behalf of the LCR councils with each participating Council required to agree individual contracts with the successful tenderer.

The new contract will commence from the1^st July 2024 and will have an expiration date of June 2027 at a cost of £20,556 per annum to Wirral Council (61,668 for the three-year contract period), with two options to extend by 12 months which, if taken, will mean the contract would conclude in 2029 at a total cost of £102,870.

The tender process concluded on the 19^th April and the contract for delivery of the Mainstay system was successfully won by Liverpool YMCA.

Prior to the re-procurement of the Mainstay gateway, several alternative options were considered:

1.  Not commission the Mainstay access gateway – discounted as this would leave the council and our commissioned services unable to deliver several activities needed to deliver homelessness and associated provision, perform mandatory performance checks and effectively manage contracts for homeless services.

2.  Commission an alternative system – discounted as there is currently no viable alternative to the highly specialist and configurable system and the costs and time needed to develop an alternative would be prohibitive