---
title: "Direct Award for Temporary Specialist Special Educational Needs & Disabilities (SEND) Workers"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-03cf97"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-03cf97"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-03cf97.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-03cf97.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Award"
buyer: "TORBAY COUNCIL"
published: "2023-05-26"
---

# Direct Award for Temporary Specialist Special Educational Needs & Disabilities (SEND) Workers

Buyer: TORBAY COUNCIL  
Current stage: Award  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-03cf97

[View canonical contract page](https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-03cf97)  
[Download OCDS JSON](https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-03cf97.json)

## Summary

The Torbay Council has initiated a tender process for a direct award contract for temporary specialist Special Educational Needs & Disabilities (SEND) workers. The purpose of this procurement is to address the current backlog in Education, Health & Care Plan assessments and annual reviews, due to increased demand. The Council intends to directly source specialist staff to meet urgent statutory service requirements. This procurement falls under the services category and is at the award stage as of 25th May 2023.

This tender presents an opportunity for businesses specializing in education & disability services to provide temporary staff to Torbay Council. Companies with expertise in SEND services can compete for this contract, which involves clearing backlogs and ensuring compliance with statutory requirements. The Council aims to appoint specialist workers for a 12-month term to meet the immediate demand and legal obligations efficiently. The procurement method used is Negotiated without publication of a contract notice, emphasising the urgency of the Council's needs.

## Notice

Torbay Council is currently unable to meet the current demand for requests for new Education, Health & Care Plan (EHCP) assessments and annual reviews with the capacity available. There is a national increase in Request for Statutory Assessment (RSA) requests. The temporary appointment of specialist SEND workers for 12 months would clear the backlog and then accurately assess demand vs capacity. Legally, the Council should be making the decision to amend the EHCP within 2 weeks of receiving the Annual Review paperwork and sending out the Amended plan with that decision. The Council has advertised to its contracted Standing List of temporary agency providers, on numerous occasions, with no response. Therefore, the Council wishes to source the four required specialist education/SEND staff directly, via an agency provider, not on the Council's Standing List. There is an urgency to sourcing these staff due to the services' task being statutory, and therefore there is no time available to conduct an appropriate procurement process for these temporary appointments.

### Lot Information

Lot 1

Torbay Council is currently not able to meet current demand for the requests for new Education, Health & Care Plan (EHCP)assessments and annual reviews with the capacity available. There is also a national increase in Request for Statutory Assessment (RSA) requests, Torbay is currently sitting at 40% decision 'no to assess', which is higher than the National Average. The purpose of the project would be to clear the backlog (149 EHCP amendments significantly overdue) and then accurately assess demand vs capacity. Legally, the Council should be making the decision to amend the EHCP within 2 weeks of receiving the Annual Review paperwork and sending out the Amended plan with that decision. This was evidence in case law in 2022. Therefore, the Council needs to appoint temporary specialist SEND Workers to undertake this work during the next 12 months. The risks of not commissioning a project team would be: i. Failing to deliver on the safety valve commitment due to not amending EHCP in a timely manner. ii. Due to the Safety Valve work, there have been an increase in appeals to the Tribunal. If the Tribunal decide that the Council's Childrens Services ceased an out-of-date plan - it is highly likely that an order is made for a costly reassessment and maintaining of the EHCP. iii. Failing to make the improvements required for the Written Statement of Action, which could lead to Secretary of State intervention. In our Childrens Services' OfSTED reinspection it will be paramount that we show improvement in both the quality of our EHCP's and the meeting of statutory deadlines. iv. We are not meeting our legal obligations on amendments leaving us vulnerable to financial compensation through Ombudsman complaints. v. We may not meet our projected EHCP targets for our Safety Valve agreement placing the12.9 million Safety Valve funding at risk. vi. Children and young people will not have well identified needs and accurately costed provision or ceased when they have met their outcomes. The Council has advertised to its contracted Standing List temporary agency providers, on numerous occasions, with no response. Therefore, the Council wishes to source the four required specialist education/SEND staff directly, via an agency provider, not on the Council's Standing List. There is an urgency to sourcing these staff due to the services' task being statutory, and therefore there is no time available to conduct an appropriate procurement process for these temporary appointments.

### Procurement Information

Torbay Council is currently not able to meet current demand for the requests for new Education, Health & Care Plan (EHCP)assessments and annual reviews with the capacity available. There is also a national increase in Request for Statutory Assessment (RSA) requests, Torbay is currently sitting at 40% decision 'no to assess', which is higher than the National Average. The purpose of the project would be to clear the backlog (149 EHCP amendments significantly overdue) and then accurately assess demand vs capacity. Legally, the Council should be making the decision to amend the EHCP within 2 weeks of receiving the Annual Review paperwork and sending out the Amended plan with that decision. This was evidence in case law in 2022. Therefore, the Council needs to appoint temporary specialist SEND Workers to undertake this work during the next 12 months. The Council has advertised to its contracted Standing List temporary agency providers, on numerous occasions, with no response. Therefore, the Council wishes to source the four required specialist education/SEND staff directly, via an agency provider, not on the Council's Standing List. There is an urgency to sourcing these staff due to the services' task being statutory, and therefore there is no time available to conduct an appropriate procurement process for these temporary appointments.

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/015064-2023 |
| Notice type | Tender Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Services |
| Procurement method | Limited |
| Procurement method details | Negotiated without publication of a contract notice |
| Tender suitability | Not specified |
| Awardee scale | SME |
| All stages | Tender, Award |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 26 May 2023 |
| Submission deadline | Not specified |
| Future notice date | Not specified |
| Award date | 24 May 2023 |
| Contract period | Not specified |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | Not specified |
| Lots value | Not specified |
| Awards value | Not specified |
| Contracts value | £343,200 |

## Status

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender status | Complete |
| Lots status | Not specified |
| Awards status | Active |
| Contracts status | Active |

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | TORBAY COUNCIL |
| Locality | TORQUAY |
| Post town | Torquay |
| Postcode | TQ1 3DR |
| Country | England |
| ITL 1 | TLK South West (England) |
| ITL 2 | TLK4 Devon |
| ITL 3 | TLK42 Torbay |
| Local authority | Torbay |
| Electoral ward | Tormohun |
| Westminster constituency | Torbay |
| Delivery location | TLK42 Torbay |

## Supplier

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Number of suppliers | 1 |
| Supplier names | PANORAMIC ASSOCIATES |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 79 - Business services: law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and security

### Codes

- 79000000 - Business services: law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and security

## Release History

- 26 May 2023 at 10:35 - TenderUpdate - Tender Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/015064-2023
- 25 May 2023 at 17:08 - Award - Award Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/015007-2023

## Notice URLs

- http://www.torbay.gov.uk/

## Provenance

This Markdown file is an alternate public rendering of the D3 Tenders contract record. The canonical page is https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-03cf97. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-03cf97.json.