Decision details

Date of Decision:

8 January 2020

Decision Maker:

(Including Job Title)

Anne Marie Lubanski

Strategic Director of Adult Care, Housing & Public Health

Specific Delegation:

(If any)

Non-specific

Brief Description of Decision:

That 6 months’ written notice be served to Yorkshire Housing to terminate the contract on 31 March 2021 for the Needs, Advice, Support and Handyperson Service. 

The service will be decommissioned by 30 September 2021, with a view to moving towards a customer funded model of provision by 1 October 2021.

That future referrals to the service be signposted to other appropriate services e.g. the Yorkshire Housing’s Handytec Service, First Contact, Community Occupational Therapy service, Housing Contact Centre and voluntary and community sector services.

Reasons for the Decision:

The decision is required as the commissioning and procurement team would need time to prepare tender documentation if the decision were reached to put the service out to tender in February 2021.

A customer engagement exercise carried out in September/October 2020 revealed that there is some duplicated activity provided by other commissioned and voluntary sector services and large number of customers were receiving low level types of support.  The aim is to move towards a customer funded model of provision in future or to refer customers to other services for ongoing support.

Details of Alternative Options Considered and Rejected:

Option 1:  Do nothing

Rotherham could continue to commission the current Needs, Advice, Support and Handyperson services to a limited number of older people and people with disabilities who meet the eligibility criteria. 

Tender documentation would need to be completed by February 2021.

Not recommended: The services are now only providing a service to around 500 customers per year .The needs of 100 customers would be better met by the Community Occupational Therapy Service as a high number of these are already re-referred to the service for ongoing support e.g. adaptations.

Other Local Authorities in the Yorkshire and Humber region have decommissioned these types of services in their local areas and moved towards a customer funded model of provision where customers pay towards the supply, fitting and cost of materials.

Where the decision is made under specific delegation from a decision making body, the names of any member of the relevant body who has declared a conflict of interest in relation to the decision and name of the body granting the specific delegation and the date when it did so:

Not applicable

Background Papers:

Briefing for Decision Paper

HIA Customer Service Analysis

HIA Quarterly Workbook 2020/21