Decision details

Children’s care and educational support services provided by the Council via commissioned providers are essential to the children, young people and families of Doncaster. These providers play a key role in enabling members of our communities to live lives that are fulfilling, happy and
full of opportunity. The recommended option will support the stability and sustainability of providers, increasing their resilience to the financial pressures they face in the delivery of their services during COVID-19, providing care, support and jobs to the people of Doncaster.

The children’s care and educational support provider market has been impacted substantially by the COVID 19 crisis, and this impact on care providers is likely to continue beyond 2020. Due to the continuation of the issues faced by these providers dealing with COVID, we need to implement urgent measures to help sustain our local care and educational support market.

Through the implementation of this approach, we can ensure the preservation of the children’s care and educational support provider market.

The option presented is equitable to providers and fully auditable, providing assurance that the payments made are fair and transparent.

To extend the programme of financial support for children’s short break, AP,1-1 tutor and Independent School providers, who are commissioned by the Council to provide care or education support services across the borough, in response to the COVID 19 crisis.

This extension will provide a financial commitment to the commissioned providers where packages of care/support are;

1. Able to take place but with the need for additional financial contribution towards chargeable PPE or Agency staff costs;
2. Unable to take place due to the isolation of eligible children and/or their families/carers for COVID 19 reasons (self-isolation, shielding or testing positive). This would only be considered if the provision CANNOT be delivered virtually

The timeline for this commitment is from 1st July 2020 to 31st March 2021.
All payments will be agreed on a case-by-case basis with requests and decisions documented. Providers will be expected to evidence why the additional financial support is required, either through a detailed breakdown of expenditure or a detailed explanation as to why they cannot apply for any of the dedicated Government relief schemes.

Do Nothing
This option would put providers at risk of failure and the council may be unable to fulfil their statutory obligations under the Children’s Act 1989 and The Breaks for Carers of Disabled Children Regulations 2011, to meet the needs of people who have been assessed as requiring these services.

Agree a Retainer for Services
This option would operate smoothly for the package fees, i.e. agreeing to pay half the package fees for all those that do not take place. However, this option would not be viable for the PPE/Agency costs as this is additional element due to COVID-19 and is outside the package fees. This option would not support the providers as much throughout the crisis, and may still put our local care and educational support market at risk of failure.