---
title: "Con_24070 Reducing Court Delays Delivery Partner FTS"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-043618"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-043618"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-043618.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-043618.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Award"
buyer: "DEPARTMENT FOR EDUCATION"
published: "2024-01-31"
---

# Con_24070 Reducing Court Delays Delivery Partner FTS

Buyer: DEPARTMENT FOR EDUCATION  
Current stage: Award  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-043618

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## Summary

The Department for Education (DfE) has recently awarded a contract for the "Con_24070 Reducing Court Delays Delivery Partner FTS" project. This procurement falls within the services category and aims to reduce delays in the family justice system by implementing solutions in designated Family Judge areas. The pilot project will run from January 2024 to March 2025, with the total estimated value of the contract being £1 million. The procurement method used was a limited process with an award procedure without prior publication of a call for competition. The tender was successfully awarded to Mutual Ventures Ltd.

This tender presents lucrative opportunities for business growth, particularly for consultancy firms specializing in general management consultancy services. Businesses that can work effectively with Local Authorities in the family justice system and have experience in project delivery aimed at reducing delays would be well-suited to compete for this tender. The pilot project's goal to improve children's outcomes by reducing delays and costs within the family court system highlights the potential for successful bidders to make a meaningful impact on societal issues while also benefiting financially from the contract.

## Notice

DfE is seeking a Delivery Partner to deliver a new pilot from January 2024 to March 2025 aimed at reducing delays in the family justice (FJ) system by working with Local Authorities (LAs) in Designated Family Judge (DFJ) areas to develop and implement solutions to tackle the root causes of delay. The FJ system is one of the most complex and cross-system policy areas in children's services. DfE holds responsibility for public law, covering all vulnerable children in England who require LA intervention. 2.3. Unacceptable delays in the family courts have been a long-standing issue for over 10 years. In 2011, the average case duration (for cases when a social worker (SW) determines that a child is at significant risk, so applies for an order) was c55 weeks, with some cases taking more than two years to conclude. This results in poorer outcomes for children and huge additional costs to LAs and the taxpayer. The estimated costs of the FJ system is PS1.2bn , which equates to over 10% of all direct expenditure on the children's social care (CSC) system (2019/20) .

### Lot Information

Lot 1

To achieve a whole system approach, and mitigate individual agencies working in silos, a Delivery Partner to deliver a new pilot from January 2024 to March 2025 aimed at reducing de-lays in the family justice (FJ) system by working with Local Authorities (LAs) in Designated Family Judge (DFJ) areas to develop and implement solutions to tackle the root causes of de-lay. There has been an increase in issues resolution hearings (IRH), case management hearings (CMH) and further CMHs since 2017. Within the trailblazer pilot, we are specifically trying to reduce further case management hearings - additional hearings that are over and above the Public Law Outline (PLO) that create delays. The pilot has the key aim to reduce delay in the number of hearings per case, as well as di-vert more cases from court; therefore, reducing costs across the FJ system and improving children's outcomes. Research suggests that at a conservative estimate, a one-week reduction in average proceedings duration, which in turn would reduce costs associated with placements, legal costs, staffing and external assessments, could result in a financial benefit of PS18.5 million across all English LAs' children's services budgets. The monetised benefits come from: * Resolving a case outside of court, saving PS57,629 per case. * Reducing the length of proceedings, with a marginal cost of PS1,146 per week. * Reducing the number of further CMHs required, saving an estimated PS3,589 per hearing. * Reducing expert reports requested and produced. An expert report costs PS844 on aver-age . The pilot will be rolled out in five DFJ areas with an average demand of 1,825 cases per year. We estimate at least a 5% reduction in demand and that proceedings will be shortened by three weeks because of the pilot, resulting in total gross benefits of cPS10.7m.

### Procurement Information

Competitive call off from a CCS Framework - MCF3 Lot 7

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/003262-2024 |
| Notice type | Award Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Services |
| Procurement method | Limited |
| Procurement method details | Award procedure without prior publication of a call for competition |
| Tender suitability | Not specified |
| Awardee scale | SME |
| All stages | Award |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 31 Jan 2024 |
| Submission deadline | Not specified |
| Future notice date | Not specified |
| Award date | 22 Jan 2024 |
| Contract period | Not specified |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | Not specified |
| Lots value | Not specified |
| Awards value | Not specified |
| Contracts value | £1,000,000 |

## Status

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender status | Complete |
| Lots status | Cancelled |
| Awards status | Active |
| Contracts status | Active |

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | DEPARTMENT FOR EDUCATION |
| Locality | LONDON |
| Post town | South West London |
| Postcode | SW1P 3BT |
| 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 | Not specified |

## Supplier

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Number of suppliers | 1 |
| Supplier names | MUTUAL VENTURES |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

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

### Codes

- 79400000 - Business and management consultancy and related services
- 79411000 - General management consultancy services

## Release History

- 31 Jan 2024 at 16:24 - Award - Award Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/003262-2024

## Notice URLs

- https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-education

## 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-043618. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-043618.json.