# Contract for legal services for the set up of Sandwell Children's Trust

> Contract award record from UK public-sector procurement sources.

## Key facts

- Public buyer: [Department For Education](/buyers/department-for-education/contract-awards)
- Contract winner: [Burges Salmon](/contract-winners/burges-salmon/public-sector-contract-awards)
- Award value: £162,000
- Award date: 1 October 2017
- Published: 26 January 2018
- Contract start: 1 November 2017
- Contract end: 30 April 2018
- Stage: awarded
- Procurement category: services
- Notice ID: 80e1e6e4-4abc-473d-bc69-3cc71fb874ce-193878
- OCID: ocds-b5fd17-fb558c8e-8706-46ec-864d-27ac28f3c9a8

## Description

The intervention policy on response to failure to deliver children's social care services is set out in Putting Children First, published July 2016\. There is a presumption in cases of persistent or systemic failure that children's social care services will be removed from local authority control, for a period of time, in order to bring about sustainable improvement, unless there are compelling reasons not to do so\. The report of the Commissioner for Children's Services for Sandwell concluded that the council did not have the capability or capacity to improve it's services\. The Secretary of State for Education issued a statutory direction to Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council requiring the local authority to work with the Department's appointed Commissioner for Children's Services in Sandwell to establish a new, operationally-independent, not-for-profit Trust to deliver effective social care services for children and families\. A memorandum of understanding was signed by both parties in February 2017\. Legal support for the creation of the Trust has already been undertaken by an existing supplier\.

## Related contract awards

- [project\_9776 - SEN Longitudinal Study](/contracts/ocds-b5fd17-5abdfe56-1d26-48c5-a94b-208496ac2419): Department for Education
- [EdTech Testbed Programme procurement Lot 2 \(Con\_32287\)](/contracts/ocds-b5fd17-7a685df5-8bff-47cf-a759-a2fb8cd270d9): Department for Education
- [DOSF - Department of State Functions Platform - con\_32275](/contracts/ocds-b5fd17-5a9512e8-f931-4e7c-848e-c3a7517a2545): Department for Education
- [The Provision of Legal Advice](/contracts/ocds-b5fd17-a52f2e1b-d887-4819-b2d7-7ee9185b0362): UK SHARED BUSINESS SERVICES LIMITED
- [Legal Services](/contracts/ocds-b5fd17-0e40c42e-fbd3-430b-9725-d28b3627014a): Equality and Human Rights Commission
- [PS26098 - Provision of external legal advice for the Account Management and High Potential Businesses workstreams](/contracts/ocds-b5fd17-99e315df-b099-41b1-a6be-a817c2a11dca): UK SBS

## Source

[View the original notice on Contracts Finder](https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/80e1e6e4-4abc-473d-bc69-3cc71fb874ce-193878)