The Director of Children, Families & Education has decided to vary the contract dated 13th December 2021 between Wirral Borough Council (1) and Active 8 Support Services Ltd (2) “the Contract” by increasing the price of the Contract by approximately £108,000 over the initial term.

The Council has a statutory duty, under the Children Act 1989, to provide Family Time between children and young people looked after by the Council and their families. Family Time will enable a child to spend time with parent/family member with a trained professional on hand to ensure it remains safe and in their best interest.

The proposed increase in the contract value falls within one of the six permitted grounds under the Contract Procedure Rules 2015 under which variations can be made without requiring a new procurement exercise.

The initial 3-year term of the contract expires on 30th September 2024 with the option to extend by 12 months, plus a further 12 months subject to contract review.

The total value of the contract is £1,750,000 (calculated at £350,000 per annum for a 5-year term).

With 3 months remaining of the initial term, the original budget for the initial term has been reached.

Based on current expenditure, and usage, the projected additional spend will be £108,000 before the expiry of the initial term of the Contract on 30th September 2024.
The increased expenditure of £108,000 is due to the Court dictating that the Council must conduct more Family Time provision than is recommended in the Wirral Family Time policy

A project group is in place to explore actions to address the overspend on the contract.

The only alternative option would be end the contract with Active 8 early (which would attract further costs for early termination of the contract in addition to the £108,000 and deliver in the service in house). However, this is not practical, would have a significant impact on safeguarding activities and multiple costing exercises have identified that bringing the service in house would be more costly than the current commissioned provision.

A project group meets regularly to explore potential actions to mitigate the overspend on this contract.