---
title: "CT0863 - Independent Advocacy"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-03d018"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-03d018"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-03d018.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-03d018.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Award"
buyer: "THE CITY OF EDINBURGH COUNCIL"
published: "2023-05-30"
---

# CT0863 - Independent Advocacy

Buyer: THE CITY OF EDINBURGH COUNCIL  
Current stage: Award  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-03d018

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## Summary

The City of Edinburgh Council has awarded contracts for independent advocacy services to address health and social work needs. The procurement covered services for mental health, substance use issues, learning disabilities, and unpaid carers. Contracts were awarded to suppliers such as AdvoCard, Partners in Advocacy, and VoiceAbility following a selective procurement procedure involving negotiations. The City of Edinburgh Council maintains a regional or local authority buyer profile, with the procurement process focusing on quality over price.

This tender presents opportunities for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) specializing in social work and related services to provide independent advocacy services in the city of Edinburgh. Businesses catering to diverse vulnerable populations, including individuals with mental health issues, substance use problems, learning disabilities, and unpaid carers can find growth prospects in this contract. The committed prompt payment clause ensures timely transactions within the supply chain, supporting financial stability for service providers offering advocacy services.

## Notice

Award of Contracts The Council and NHS Lothian, through the EHSCP, have a statutory duty to provide access to independent advocacy services to people who meet the requirements of Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000, the Adult Support and Protection (Scotland) act 2007, the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016, The Children (Scotland) Act 1995 and the Mental Health (Care and Treatment)(Scotland) Act 2003. Section 259 of the 2003 Act sets out the main provisions for independent advocacy. Independent advocacy supports an advocacy partner's right to have their own voice heard in decisions made about their health and well-being. Independent advocacy enables vulnerable people to be heard and promotes social inclusion. Independence is key in the advocacy partners right to advocacy, because it is vital that the role of independent advocacy is not compromised in any way. Independence ensures that the advocacy services provided are divorced from the interests of those persons concerned with the advocacy partner's care and welfare. Independent advocacy services can only be provided by organisations who meet the requirements of the Scottish Independent Advocacy Alliance (SIAA) or equivalent. The SIAA define an independent advocacy organisation as "an organisation that only provides independent advocacy and all the activities it undertakes are about providing, promoting, supporting and defending independent advocacy. Independence means that it does not provide any other services and is structurally, financially and psychologically separate from other organisations and interests". Information about independent advocacy services will need to be communicated to advocacy partners in a way which each advocacy partners can understand, taking account of any special communication needs they may have. Such needs may arise, for example, where the advocacy partners is deaf or hard of hearing or has a visual impairment, a learning disability or where their first language is not English. n addition, any information provided in writing should be clear and in a style and language which can be easily understood by the individual advocacy partner. The Service shall be predominately provided face to face to Advocacy Partners within the city of Edinburgh from either the office premises or in an agreed venue or space within the locality where the Advocacy Partner resides. If the Advocacy Partner is in a hospital ward, then the Service shall be delivered there.

### Lot Information

Lot 1a - Individual Independent advocacy services for people with mental health issues

Independent advocacy services for people with mental health needs. This lot covers both individual and collective advocacy requirements Additional information: It is considered this procurement is covered under the light touch regime of the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015 B ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL STANDING: 4B.1.1 The minimum turnover will be 864,000 GBP 4B.1.4 Financial Ratios: The financial current ratio is 1.15 More detail can be found in III.1.4)

Lot 2a - Individual Independent advocacy services for people with problematic substance use issues

Independent advocacy services for people with problematic substance use issues for individual and collective requirements. Additional information: It is considered this procurement is covered under the light touch regime of the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015 B ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL STANDING: 4B.1.1 The minimum turnover will be 69,000 GBP 4B.1.4 Financial Ratios: The financial current ratio is 1.10 More detail can be found in III.1.4)

Lot 3a - Individual Independent advocacy services for people with a learning/ intellectual disability, autistic people, older people, dementia and physical disability or sensory impairment

Independent advocacy services for people with a learning/ intellectual disability, autistic people, older people, people with dementia and people with a physical disability or sensory impairment for individual and non-instructed advocacy. This lot 3a is for adults aged 16 or older (no upper age limit). Additional information: It is considered this procurement is covered under the light touch regime of the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015 B ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL STANDING: 4B.1.1 The minimum turnover will be 518,000 GBP 4B.1.4 Financial Ratios: The financial current ratio is 1.10 More detail can be found in III.1.4)

Lot 4a - Individual Adult Unpaid Carers Independent Advocacy Service

Adult unpaid Carers independent advocacy service for individual and collective carers advocacy services. Additional information: It is considered this procurement is covered under the light touch regime of the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015 B ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL STANDING: 4B.1.1 The minimum turnover will be 289,000 GBP 4B.1.4 Financial Ratios: The financial current ratio is 1.10 More detail can be found in III.1.4)

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/015206-2023 |
| Notice type | Award Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Services |
| Procurement method | Selective |
| Procurement method details | Procedure involving negotiations |
| Tender suitability | Not specified |
| Awardee scale | SME |
| All stages | Award |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 30 May 2023 |
| Submission deadline | Not specified |
| Future notice date | Not specified |
| Award date | 13 Mar 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 | £7,378,942 |

## Status

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

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | THE CITY OF EDINBURGH COUNCIL |
| Locality | EDINBURGH |
| Post town | Edinburgh |
| Postcode | EH8 8BG |
| Country | Scotland |
| ITL 1 | TLM Scotland |
| ITL 2 | TLM1 East Central Scotland |
| ITL 3 | TLM13 City of Edinburgh |
| Local authority | City of Edinburgh |
| Electoral ward | City Centre |
| Westminster constituency | Edinburgh East and Musselburgh |
| Delivery location | TLM75 City of Edinburgh |

## Supplier

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Number of suppliers | 3 |
| Supplier names | ADVOCARD; PARTNERS IN ADVOCACY; VOICEABILITY |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 85 - Health and social work services
- 98 - Other community, social and personal services

### Codes

- 85000000 - Health and social work services
- 85300000 - Social work and related services
- 98000000 - Other community, social and personal services

## Release History

- 30 May 2023 at 07:34 - Award - Award Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/015206-2023

## Notice URLs

- http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk
- https://api.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/v1/Notice?id=ocds-r6ebe6-0000692899
- https://ted.europa.eu/udl?uri=TED:NOTICE:190473-2022:TEXT:EN:HTML
- https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/search/Search_AuthProfile.aspx?ID=AA00290

## 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-03d018. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-03d018.json.