--- title: "Development of a Specialist Therapeutic Children's Home for Children with Complex Mental Health, Disability and High-Risk Needs" ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-079013" canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-079013" markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-079013.md" json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-079013.json" source: "Find A Tender Service" current_stage: "Planning" buyer: "Durham County Council" published: "2026-10-26" --- # Development of a Specialist Therapeutic Children's Home for Children with Complex Mental Health, Disability and High-Risk Needs Buyer: Durham County Council Current stage: Planning OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-079013 [View canonical contract page](https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-079013) [Download OCDS JSON](https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-079013.json) ## Summary Durham County Council is exploring a specialist therapeutic children’s home in County Durham for children with complex mental health, disability and high-risk needs. The service would provide up to three highly individualised placements, potentially including solo living where required, with enhanced staffing based on assessed need. Its intended purpose is to improve placement stability, reduce placement breakdown and reliance on unregistered, emergency or out-of-area provision, and help children remain closer to home where possible. The service would support planned moves to less restrictive environments when safe and appropriate, with strong links to education, health and community services. This is a health and social care service, rather than a purchase of goods or construction works. The process is at planning: the Council has expressed an intention to procure, but has not issued an invitation to tender. It is conducting preliminary market engagement and asks providers to complete and return a questionnaire through the OPEN-UK website by 6 November 2026. This is a market-engagement date, not a tender submission deadline. The Council is considering a contract period from 1 March 2027 to 28 February 2030, with a possible extension to 28 February 2033. The procurement is planned as a single lot. No procurement procedure or method has yet been set out. The service model remains under consideration, informed by provider responses to the engagement. This engagement is particularly relevant to providers with experience operating children’s residential care and delivering specialist therapeutic support for children with complex mental health, disability and high-risk needs. The Council is considering a home registered with Ofsted, so providers should be prepared to address the requirements of registration and operation as a children’s home. Relevant capability includes individualised care planning, solo placements, enhanced staffing where assessed as necessary, trauma-informed and psychologically informed practice, and Positive Behaviour Support. Providers able to support restriction reduction, progression planning and stable placements may be well placed to contribute. The Council is seeking views on fully provider-operated, partnership, clinically led and hybrid therapeutic residential models, as well as other innovative approaches; providers can use the engagement to explain which model they can deliver. ## Notice Market Engagement for the development of a specialist therapeutic Children's Home for children with complex mental health, disability and high-risk needs in County Durham. The Council is exploring a service model that may: * Operate as an Ofsted-registered children's home. * Provide up to three highly individualised placements. * Support solo living arrangements when required. * Deliver enhanced staffing arrangements where assessed as needed. * Operate using trauma-informed & psychologically informed approaches. * Incorporate Positive Behaviour Support principles. * Support restriction reduction and progression planning. * Maintain strong links with education, health and community services. * Promote placement stability and reduce placement breakdown. * Support children to remain closer to home wherever possible. * Reduce reliance on unregistered, emergency and out-of-area provision. * Support planned transitions to less restrictive environments when safe and appropriate. The Council is interested in understanding whether providers would favour: * A fully provider-operated model. * A partnership model involving local authority and health partners. * A clinically led model. * A hybrid therapeutic residential model. * Alternative innovative delivery approaches. ### Planning Information Preliminary Market Engagement (PME) Questionnaire to be completed and returned. The Questionnaire can be accessed free of charge at www.open-uk.org using reference OPEN-PR-26102026130454805. ## Key Details | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Publication source | Find A Tender Service | | Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/101012-2026 | | Notice type | UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice | | Procurement type | Standard | | Procurement category | Services | | Procurement method | Not Specified | | Procurement method details | Not specified | | Tender suitability | Not specified | | Awardee scale | Not specified | | All stages | Planning | ## Dates | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Publication date | 26 Oct 2026 | | Submission deadline | Not specified | | Future notice date | Not specified | | Award date | Not specified | | Contract period | 1 Mar 2027 - 28 Feb 2030 | | Recurrence | Not specified | ## Values | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Tender value | Not specified | | Lots value | Not specified | | Awards value | Not specified | | Contracts value | Not specified | ## Status | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Tender status | Planning | | Lots status | Planning | | Awards status | Not specified | | Contracts status | Not specified | ## Buyer | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Main buyer | Durham County Council | | Locality | DURHAM | | Postcode area | Durham | | Postcode | DH1 5WB | | Country | England | | ITL 1 | TLC North East (England) | | ITL 2 | TLC4 Northumberland, Durham and Tyne & Wear | | ITL 3 | TLC41 Durham | | Local authority | County Durham | | Electoral ward | Framwellgate & Newton Hall | | Westminster constituency | City of Durham | | Delivery location | TLC14 Durham | ## CPV Codes ### Divisions - 85 - Health and social work services ### Codes - 85000000 - Health and social work services ## Release History - 26 Oct 2026 at 13:20 - PlanningUpdate - UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/101012-2026 - 26 Oct 2026 at 12:59 - Planning - UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/100996-2026 ## Documents - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/101012-2026 26th October 2026 - Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/100996-2026 26th October 2026 - Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender ## Notice URLs - http://www.durham.gov.uk/ - https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/54/contents ## 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-079013. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-079013.json.