Coaching for children and young people in care - Soft market test

Essex County Council ("the Council") is currently developing its service specification for a forthcoming procurement of coaching for children and young people who are currently in care. This scheme will be jointly procured alongside Norfolk County Council and Hertfordshire County Council under grant funding. This is an innovative scheme which is designed to improve outcomes for children in care who are at risk of escalating to secure accommodation/ high cost residential packages. The ethos of this scheme is to provide co-ordinated intensive support via a coach with ongoing support from a social worker whilst developing a new relationship with the young person's current care provider. As part of the Council's pre-market engagement for this project, a soft market test exercise has been developed which seeks to establish the potential level of interest from organisations to deliver this service, and to invite feedback which could be incorporated into the final specification.