Aspirations – Delivery Partner – Engagement and Training (East Sussex) Service Specification
At Porchlight, we help people who have nowhere to go and no-one to turn to; some people are homeless, others are struggling to cope with the pressures in their lives and need our support to keep on track.
As a charity working across Kent and East Sussex, we help vulnerable and isolated people get support with their mental health, housing, education and employment. We provide children, young people and adults with the advice, guidance and skills to live independently in the future, to play an active role in their local community and to fulfil their potential.
In 2015/16 we supported nearly 5,000 people but we couldn’t do it without the hard work and commitment of supporters, partners, funders and staff, and of course, the people that we support.
The service
Porchlight has been awarded a European Social Fund / Big Lottery Fund (ESF/BLF) Building Better Opportunities (BBO) grant. This grant is to deliver an innovative service which does not duplicate current programmes or provision in Kent and East Sussex to people who have had mental health issues that have been a barrier to work. The project has been called ‘Aspirations for Life’ and known as ‘Aspirations’.
Aspirations is formed of four partners, with Porchlight as the lead and the grant holder. Three organisations are based in Kent, where 70% of the delivery will take place – these are Porchlight; North Kent Mind and Runway Training. Thevacant fourth organisation will be based in East Sussex, where 30% of the delivery will take place.
Project services will be concentrated in remote coastal and rural areas ofKent and East Sussex where services have historically been hard to access due to cost and availability. Services will be personalised to the needs and preferences of participants and ensuring that support will be available in the place and manner that suits them.
Project staff will be placed at ground level to target and meet with local groups and advertise the project services in the heart of communities in places identified by sector intelligence and local people.
The project will be marketed through established links of the partnership and statutory and non-statutory services such as GP surgeries, Gateways, Umbrella Centres, mental health services and Jobcentre Plus.
Aspirations was co-produced through the bid writing phase through regular steering group meetings which were attended by Participant representatives from each service, as well as delivery staff; and partnership workshops. The project will continue to be a vital, coproduced service throughout its duration.
The project began mobilising in March 2017 and will continue until September 2019.
There is currently a vacancy for the East Sussex partner, and Porchlight would like to invite suitable organisations to apply for this position. This contract will run from 6th November 2017 until 30st September 2019.
Project Aim:
Aspirations will work with people with primary or secondary mental health issues who are furthest from the labour market. It will enable them to move into sustainable volunteering, education, training or employment opportunities. Participant levels of aspiration, self-esteem and confidence will be raised through a range of sports, arts, community, social and culturally based activities.
Geographical context
Kent and East Sussex are geographically and demographically characterised by concentrations of housing in coastal, central town and city, and large rural areas.
Aspirations will be delivering in areas identified through consultation with partners, analysis of the English Indices of Deprivation 2015 and the CCG mental health data to identify need and unmet need. This approach is to avoid duplication in areas of significant existing provision, even if there is significant prevalence of mental ill-health or deprivation/unemployment.
The successful partner will operate across the following areas:
- Bexhill
- Eastbourne
- Hastings
- St Leonards-on-Sea
- Rye
And rural areas initially centred from:
- Hailsham
- Battle
- Crowborough
- Uckfield
Requirements:
The partner will use their extensive community contacts to recruit and assess the needs of people from within their local community, and across East Sussex. They will work in a flexible and innovative way with participants to put together a personal development plan which could include skills, health and wellbeing activities provided by outside organisations. They will look outside traditional referral sources to find and engage those who are the most difficult to reach.
The partner will provide training on basic skills and NVQs, volunteering opportunities and support participants through a work-readiness programme. These will be flexible according to the needs of the participant, and could include a personalised timetable or tuition in an out of classroom learning area, for example.
The partner will ensure that the participant is not prevented from attending wellbeing, skills, training or volunteering opportunities due to childcare commitments. They will either provide these in-house, or engage suitable outside providers. This will be paid for by the grant.
They will provide information, advice and guidance services.
The partner will use their wide network of local employers to place people, and will support both employers and participants for as long as is necessary. They will work with Porchlight staff to develop the employer network so as to provide greater opportunities for vulnerable people.
A senior member of staff will attend the Aspirations steering group meetings with participant representatives from their service on a quarterly basis.
The partner will commit to the strict monitoring and evaluation criteria laid down by the funders. They will be provided with a Salesforce platform to use in gathering evidence and reporting.
The partner is responsible for ensuring that their Aspirations service follows the guidelines set out on the Big Lottery’s Guide to European Fundingwhich can be found on the Big Lottery website. Porchlight will guide and monitor the partner’s financial, publicity and targets, but any ineligible expenditure or failures to adhere to publicity or any other guidelines which incur financial penalties are the responsibility of the Delivery Partner.
Targets and Outcomes
The partner will recruit 99 people over the course of the project. These participants will be unemployed or economically inactive, and will be eligible to work in Europe and the United Kingdom. BBO projects target the hardest to reach, and participants will be those who are socially isolated and significantly the furthest from work, volunteering, education or training, or other healthy social interactions.
The partner will work towards the project targets and outcomes. For the 99 people:
Of these, the number who were unemployed when entering the project / 50%Of these, the number who were economically inactive when entering the project / 50%
Numbers who were economically inactive move into job search when leaving / 27%
Number who move into education or training on leaving / 17%
Number who move into employment, including self-employment on leaving / 14%
Additional outcomes include:
Participants expressing a new interest in education or trainingParticipants feeling more able to engage in work
Participants feeling more able to, and seeing value in volunteering
Participants feeling more optimistic about their future
Participants more willing to engage in structured sport, arts and community events
Participants more able to engage in volunteering or peer mentoring
Participants feeling less anxious about joining in community activities or volunteering away from the programme
Participants feeling less isolated
Delivery partners work with participant representatives and local employers to develop good collaborative relationships
Increased number of participants confident and able to begin work
Participants have a wider range of volunteering, employment or other work-like activities available to them
Timescale
Activity / Date / timeIssue of Contract Notice / availability of ITT documents / 12/7/17
Deadline for clarification questions (Clarification Deadline) / 23/8/17
Customer Organisation to respond to clarification questions / 25/8/17
Deadline for submission of ITT responses by potential suppliers (Tender Response Deadline) / 30/8/17
Award of winning bidder letters issued / 11/9/17
Partnership Agreement and SLA signed / 18/9/17
Contract start date / 6/11/17
Budget
The successful bidder will receive a total of £234,196 over the course of the project. This will be paid quarterly in advance. The funder operates a clawback system for expenditure which is not properly evidenced, or ineligible. All expenditure claimed for must be actual costs, with no profit built in. For further guidance on evidence and eligibility,please carefully read the BLF’s Guide to European Funding.
You will need to use Appendix 2 to demonstrate to us how your budget has used the guidance available to present a realistic plan for delivering the service.Please submit these as annual totals. In addition, and on a separate sheet,please submit a list of staff roles and total annual salaries, including oncosts. It is important that you read and understand section 8: Costs and expenditure in the above guidance to European funding before completing this section. It is also important that you build sufficient capacity for evidence gathering and retention, monitoring and reporting in your budget.
The successful bidder will also be required to provide childcare services. It is up to the applicant to decide if these are internal or external but they must be clearly demonstrated in your application.
Applicants must provide training services themselves and these cannot be subcontracted to another provider.
Porchlight Equality Statement
Porchlight aims to ensure that no person shall experience direct or indirect unlawful discrimination in relation to the protected characteristics outlined in the Equality Acts of sex, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, marriage and civil partnership, sexual orientation, age, disability, race, religion and belief. Additionally, Porchlight will not discriminate on any other criteria which cannot be shown to be justifiable. This minimises the risk the Charity is exposed to in terms of a legal challenge, and fits with Porchlight’s vision to challenge the inequalities in our society.
Porchlight believes that diversity among the workforce brings unique insight and generates innovative solutions. All employees will receive training around equal opportunities and receive support and guidance in the practical application of equal opportunities in the workplace.
Porchlight Environmental Policy Statement
As part of being a socially responsible organisation in a world of finite natural resources it is important that we display high standards of Environmental Citizenship and this is even more important as we grow and develop where our actions will be both more visible and have greater impact.
We are committed to the protection of the environment and the prevention of pollution.
We will ensure that all staff are familiar with and use the waste hierarchy principles in our work as well as encourage our service users to follow the same principles of using our limited resources wisely and minimising the volumes of waste that we create.
We will annually carry out a review of all Aspects of our Organisation that have an Environmental Impact and set environmental objectives to manage those that we believe are significant. Objectives will be included in the strategic plan and these will be reviewed by senior management on an annual basis to ensure we are continually improving our environmental management system and are monitoring these impacts to help minimise them in the long term.
How to Apply
Responses to the ITT (Tender Submissions) are to be completed by post and returned to:
Named Category Manager / Barbara van MinnenAspirations Contract Manager
Name of contracting authority / Porchlight
Contact e-mail address /
Postal address / Porchlight
Aspirations
2nd Floor Watling Chambers
18-19 Watling Street
Canterbury
Kent
CT1 2UA
Please read the ITT document for full details of how to apply.
The closing date for the return of Tender Submissions is 12 Noon on 30th August 2017. It is the responsibility of Bidders to ensure that their Tender Submission is submitted on time.