---
title: "Therapeutic support and mental health services for children in care"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-06e805"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-06e805"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-06e805.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-06e805.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Award"
buyer: "Suffolk County Council"
published: "2026-08-19"
---

# Therapeutic support and mental health services for children in care

Buyer: Suffolk County Council  
Current stage: Award  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-06e805

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## Summary

Suffolk County Council is procuring therapeutic support and mental health services for children in care across Suffolk, including the surrounding council area. The service covers specialist mental health and therapeutic interventions for children up to 18 with moderate to severe or mild to moderate needs, through NHS clinical teams in Suffolk excluding and including Waveney. It also includes clinical psychology support for Suffolk’s therapeutic fostering service, training and support for in-house foster carers, and psychology support for staff in the council’s residential children’s homes. The work is a health service, including psychiatrist and psychologist services. The council is the buyer and commissioning authority; delivery is centred on Suffolk and includes activity in Waveney, with the supplier based in Norwich.

The procurement is recorded as complete and uses a direct award without prior publication of a competition under the Provider Selection Regime, using a limited procedure. Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust was selected for the single service package, with an award recorded as active. The contract was signed on 23 June 2026 and is scheduled to run from 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2028, with an optional 12-month extension to 31 March 2029. Its estimated lifetime value, including the extension, is £2,804,546 excluding VAT. The recorded award basis was the existing provider’s satisfactory performance and expected ability to meet the proposed requirement. The notice also records the lot as cancelled, despite the active award and contract, and describes the process as an intention to award under the PSR.

This procurement indicates sustained demand for integrated therapeutic and mental health provision for looked-after and adopted children, combining clinical intervention with support for foster carers, residential-care staff and council teams. A credible future competitor would need access to appropriately qualified clinical psychologists and multidisciplinary child and adolescent mental health professionals, with experience across mild to severe presentations and children in care. It would also need to provide training, consultation and trauma-informed practice for foster and residential settings, while coordinating effectively with local authority children’s services and NHS teams. Evidence of reliable delivery against key performance indicators, service sustainability, collaboration, improved access and reduced health inequalities would be important. The evaluation also considered innovation, value and social value, so providers would need to demonstrate these alongside clinical quality.

## Notice

Therapeutic support and mental health services for children in care within Suffolk County Council surrounding areas.

### Lot Information

Lot 1

Suffolk County Council are intending to award a contract to an existing provider following direct award process C under the Provider Selection Regime. These services are provided by the NHS and consist of providing healthcare to individuals. This contract includes the following services undertaken by Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT): * Connect - this is a team of various clinical roles, that sits within the NSFT CAMHS (Child adolescent mental health services) in Suffolk (Excluding Waveney) they provided specialist mental health and therapeutic intervention to children in care with moderate to severe presentation up to the age of 18. * CFYP (Children Family and young people) LAAC (looked after and adopted children) Waveney - as above with Connect this team offers specialist mental health and therapeutic intervention to children in care up to the age of 18 with mild to moderate presentation and covers the Waveney part of Suffolk. * Suffolk Therapeutic Fostering (STF) - SCC commission 2 clinical psychologists that work within SCC CYPS STF team. The STF team offer support and training for Suffolks in house foster carers and children in their care. * Psychology support in Residential homes- SCC commission a clinical psychologist who works within our in-house residential children's homes, their role is to support staff by providing advice, support, and training, to promote trauma informed care. The contract is expected to run from 1st April 2026 to 31 March 2028, with an optional 12-month extension to 31 March 2029. The total estimated lifetime value of the contract (including the optional extension) is PS2,804,546 ex VAT.

Options: The contract can be extended by up to 12 months.

### Procurement Information

This is a Provider Selection Regime (PSR) intention to award notice. The awarding of this contract is subject to the Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023. For the avoidance of doubt, the provisions of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 and the Procurement Act 2023 do not apply to this award. The standstill period begins on the day after the publication of this notice. Representations by providers must be made to the relevant authority by 1st September 2026. This contract has not yet formally been awarded; this notice serves as an intention to award under the PSR.

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/079209-2026 |
| Notice type | Tender 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 | Large |
| All stages | Tender, Award |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 19 Aug 2026 |
| Submission deadline | Not specified |
| Future notice date | Not specified |
| Award date | 23 Jun 2026 |
| Contract period | Not specified |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | Not specified |
| Lots value | Not specified |
| Awards value | Not specified |
| Contracts value | £2,804,546 |

## Status

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

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | Suffolk County Council |
| Locality | IPSWICH |
| Postcode area | Ipswich |
| Postcode | IP1 2BX |
| Country | England |
| ITL 1 | TLH East (England) |
| ITL 2 | TLH6 Suffolk |
| ITL 3 | TLH62 Ipswich |
| Local authority | Ipswich |
| Electoral ward | Gipping |
| Westminster constituency | Ipswich |
| Delivery location | TLH14 Suffolk CC |

## Supplier

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Number of suppliers | 1 |
| Supplier names | Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 85 - Health and social work services

### Codes

- 85100000 - Health services
- 85121270 - Psychiatrist or psychologist services

## Release History

- 19 Aug 2026 at 17:00 - TenderUpdate - Tender Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/079209-2026
- 19 Aug 2026 at 16:52 - Award - Award Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/079198-2026

## Notice URLs

- http://www.suffolk.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-06e805. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-06e805.json.