---
title: "Contract Extension relating to the Fast-Track Mental Health Social Work Graduate Programme"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-041a87"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-041a87"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-041a87.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-041a87.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Award"
buyer: "DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE"
published: "2023-11-16"
---

# Contract Extension relating to the Fast-Track Mental Health Social Work Graduate Programme

Buyer: DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE  
Current stage: Award  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-041a87

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## Summary

The Department of Health and Social Care has awarded a contract extension for the Fast-Track Mental Health Social Work Graduate Programme. The contract, awarded on July 1, 2020, with a total value of £46,141,134.00, involves extending the term to include two additional cohorts starting in 2023 and ending in 2027. The procurement stage for this service falls under the "services" category, with the main delivery location in London. The contract offers opportunities for training and service provision within the mental health sector.

This tender presents an opportunity for businesses in the education and training services industry, particularly those specialised in mental health and social work training programmes. The Department of Health and Social Care is the buying organisation, based in London. The contract period runs from July 1, 2020, to March 31, 2025, with amendments made for additional cohorts starting in 2023. Businesses with expertise in providing social work training and services within the specified region and industry category are well-suited to participate and benefit from this contracting process.

### Lot Information

Lot 1

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is extending the term of the Contract to include two additional cohorts for the fast-track mental health social work graduate programme with additional key performance indicators, service credits provisions and other consequential amendments relating to the extension.

Since 2016 DHSC has funded a mental health social work fast-track graduate programme (MHSW-GP). Think Ahead (TA) is our current delivery partner. The two-year scheme combines extensive on-the-job experience with classroom teaching, with participants qualifying as social workers, attaining a postgraduate diploma in Social Work, and completing their assessed and supported year in employment (ASYE).

From 2016-2022 Think Ahead was grant funded . The positive impact of the programme led to DHSC conducting a procurement exercise to move from grant funding to a more cost-effective longer-term contract which was approved by Ministers and signed in July 2020. The contract currently forms part of DHSC baseline spend and is within budget. For a cohort of 160 participants, this equates to PS9.1M and the overall cost for 3 cohorts is PS27.2M which will run until 2025. Think Ahead contract is a 2+1 and was recently extended last year for a final 3rd cohort which starts in 2023 and ends in 2025.
This is the last cohort in the current contract, to initiate the process of extending TA for a further two cohorts starting in 2024 and 2025. The contract would end in 2027.

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/033970-2023 |
| Notice type | Award Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Services |
| Procurement method | Not Specified |
| Procurement method details | Not specified |
| Tender suitability | Not specified |
| Awardee scale | SME |
| All stages | Award |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 16 Nov 2023 |
| Submission deadline | Not specified |
| Future notice date | Not specified |
| Award date | 30 Jun 2020 |
| Contract period | 9 Oct 2023 - 31 Aug 2027 |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | Not specified |
| Lots value | Not specified |
| Awards value | Not specified |
| Contracts value | £46,141,134 |

## Status

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

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE |
| Locality | LONDON |
| Post town | South West London |
| Postcode | SW1H 0EU |
| Country | England |
| ITL 1 | TLI London |
| ITL 2 | TLI3 Inner London - West |
| ITL 3 | TLI35 Westminster and City of London |
| Local authority | Westminster |
| Electoral ward | St James's |
| Westminster constituency | Cities of London and Westminster |
| Delivery location | TLI32 Westminster |

## Supplier

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Number of suppliers | 1 |
| Supplier names | THE THINK AHEAD ORGANISATION, THINK AHEAD |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 80 - Education and training services

### Codes

- 80000000 - Education and training services

## Release History

- 16 Nov 2023 at 15:26 - AwardUpdate - Award Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/033970-2023

## Notice URLs

- https://ted.europa.eu/udl?uri=TED:NOTICE:417899-2019:TEXT:EN:HTML
- https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-of-health-and-social-care
- https://www.judiciary.uk/courts-and-tribunals/high-court/

## 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-041a87. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-041a87.json.