The online counselling service will provide children and young people (C&YP) from the ages 11-18 years old resident in in Leicestershire County, Leicester City and Rutland who are experiencing emotional and or mental wellbeing/ mental health issues with direct access to friendly safe information, support and advice, including:
• access to web chat,
• one to one chat sessions.
• email correspondence
• Easy to use website for information and articles
• An online one-to-one counselling service which is delivered via instant messaging
• live chat session with trained counsellors according to each client's needs in an age-appropriate way.
• a secondary intervention of signposting to other local and national agencies for ongoing support, advice and information to address client's needs.
The objectives and expected outcomes are:
• Experience of delivering online counselling and flowing data to the Mental Health Services Dataset (MHSDS)
• Deliver an accessible service to the diverse communities of Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland, particularly targeting under-represented groups
• Supporting integration of online counselling provision within mental health services at a neighbourhood and place-based level.
The Contract shall be for a term of three (3) years from the Service start date with the possibility of extending the term by up to another 24 months beyond the initial contracted term at Commissioners' request. The contract start date will be the 1st of June 2021.
The funding for the service will be a block contract with a value of £140k per annum, for a whole total contract value of up to £700k if the extension option is exercised in full after the initial three (3) years. The Commissioners will reserve the right not to consider Bids that are either above the affordability threshold (which is £140k per annum or £700k for the whole length of the contract if extensions used) or unusually low.
It is proposed that the terms and conditions of all the services, will reflect those contained in the NHS England Standard NHS Contract.
The invitation to tender (ITT) will be available from 30th December 2020 on M&L CSU Bravo portal (see below) and it will have a deadline for submissions 3rd February 2021. Clarifications may be asked during the procurement process up to a week before the ITT deadline.