The Assistant Director of Regeneration agreed to approve the option to extend the contract for the hire of two mobile classrooms at Hayfield School from Portakabin Ltd for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) pupil places with effect from 3rd November 2024 in the total sum of £92,924.00 for a period of 52 weeks.

A request from the Assistant Director of Education was received to use the option to extend the original contract dated 2nd September 2022 made between Wirral Borough Council (1) and Portakabin Ltd (the Contract) for the hire of the 2 portacabins.. The previous Officer Decision Notice, published on 10th August 2022, did not refer to the option to extend in the Contract , nor did it detail the cost of the extension in the total cost of the Contract.
The Contract is being extended by a further 52 weeks in order to continue to provide temporary accommodation for SEND pupil places at Hayfield School.
Although the value of the extension is less than £100,000 and of this an officer decision note is not required, this decision is being published in order to ensure transparent in the decision-making process.
The hire cost for the extension period is based on the costs submitted by the supplier in the Contract .

A range of options across the school estate has been explored to identify where additional SEND capacity could be added, this has included additional SEND bases in mainstream schools, internal alterations at school sites and traditional build solutions.
A permanent solution was considered however, this was not viable due to both the tight timescales and estimated construction costs of the whole project including enabling works.
The purchase of the Mobile Classrooms rather than of the hire of temporary accommodation was considered however, the costs associated with the preliminary costs, site clearance, formation of new playground and pathways, drainage etc were the most significant cost within the project and would have to be undertaken if the structure was permanent, hired or purchased.
Out of borough solutions to place pupils with SEND are often not appropriate and have significant financial implications. The project option presented equates to
£18,750 per pupil whilst to educate out of Borough would be an additional £50,000 per pupil.

The decision has been taken under Part 3 Section C - Overview and Scheme of Delegations of Authority to Officers as the decision is not reserved to a Committee or Sub-Committee and the Director is satisfied that paragraphs 2(a) to 2(c) apply.

Background Papers

Officer Decision Notice Decision https://wirralintranet.moderngov.co.uk/ieDecisionDetails.aspx?ID=5075