Youth counselling in Berkshire West – CCG seek to re-commission service offer

Organisation
NHS Berkshire West CCG

Berkshire West CCG wishes to continue to fund face to face youth counselling for the next 3 years, starting April 2021, to complement the recently commissioned digital offer as local access and choice in provision is important to maintain. We have £90,000 available per year.

The CCG requires three separate offers set up within the 3 local authority areas that our CCG is working within. Therefore an offer needs to be available in Reading, West Berkshire and Wokingham. We are open to this being run by either 3 individual organisations or by a single organisation. Core to the requirement we wish to continue with are:

  • Free, confidential, individual counselling sessions to children and young people (CYP).
  • Locally established with ability to provide face-to-face support in their offices or at someone’s College or School.
  • Able to receive both professionally-led or self-referral requests for support.
Therefore the CCG are seeking expressions of interest from local voluntary sector organisations that have these characteristics:
  • The vision and ambition to provide this type of service for local CYP.
  • Access to an office base to provide this service in each of the Local Authority areas.
  • A reasonable history of providing a confidential and safe service adhering to the BACP competencies.
  • An organisation with charitable status with a proven track record of delivery and a working knowledge of the district/borough.
  • An organisation with locally engaged trustees.
  • An organisation that is willing to work with the CCG to measure outcomes and report data into NHS systems.
Making an expression of interest – deadline 26 February 2021

If you are interested in partnering with the CCG to deliver this type of service please can you express in interest by emailing Andy Fitton (andy.fitton@nhs.net) at the CCG by 26 February 2021.

  • The CCG would like in that email an outline response that demonstrates that your organisation meet the characteristics outlined on the previous page.
  • Please can you make it clear which locality or localities you are interested in providing the service; Reading/West Berkshire/Wokingham.
  • The CCG will review the level of interest from local organisations within a week of the deadline and contact interested parties.
  • If there is more than one interested organisation per area the CCG will organise a competitive process between parties that will select a partner/partners to deliver for each of the 3 local authority areas.
  • We are seeking to reduce the burden on all parties by using this approach whilst still maintaining a level of transparency of funding opportunities.

To confirm, Berkshire West CCG propose to continue to use £90,000 a year to fund youth counselling for young people aged 11–19 for 3 years from April 2021 onward. That is:

  • Free to access and includes the options of Children and Young People to self-refer.
  • Confidential and safe adhering to the BACP competencies and standards.
  • A core offer of 8–12 sessions of counselling following an assessment. (However recognising this offer will be ultimately be tailored to need – so may increase or decrease in discussion with the young person.)
  • Delivered by appropriate qualified and supervised youth counsellors.
  • A face-to-face service option alongside a digital/telephone service. (Therefore has a local office or venue available to meet young people in Reading, Wokingham and West Berkshire but also able to deliver in schools.)
  • Available as a minimum all year, Monday to Friday except for bank holidays.
  • Measuring and reporting outcomes both for the young people using the service as well amalgamated service wide reports to the CCG and its partnership.
  • Targeting to receive approx. 2000 referrals in total from CYP that reside or go to school in any of the three Local Authorities: Reading, West Berkshire or Wokingham.
  • Aiming for an outcome measure of >50% of CYP reporting improved symptoms post intervention.
  • Monthly reporting the key performance indicators into NHS digital to support the CCG in meeting the NHS Long-Term plan CYP access target.
Further information and support

Please do not hesitate to contact your local Voluntary Sector support organisation with queries.

  • For Reading email Herjeet, RVA’s Advice Service Manager: herjeet.randhawa@rva.org.uk
  • For Wokingham call Involve on 01344 304404.
  • For West Berkshire call Volunteer Centre West Berkshire on 01635 49004.