12-21 Counselling Service

Description

The Council intends to apply a short term extension to its existing contract for the provision of counselling services for young people aged 12-21 living in York. This extension is required to maintain continuity of provision while the Council undertakes a full review of children and young people's counselling services and aligns future commissioning with the Humber and North Yorkshire Mental Health Strategic Transformation Plan 2025-2030. The current service was originally awarded in 2019 to York Mind following a competitive procurement for a 16-25 counselling service. A subsequent service level agreement piloted counselling for 12-15 year olds, including 1 1 art therapy. The contracting authority intends to award a contract for 12-21 Counselling Service. The Contracting Authority is not awarding a new contract. This VEAT notice is in respect of a proposed short-term extension to the term of its contract for the provision of 12-21 counselling service. See sections 2.2.3 for further details. The contract was varied to incorporate the 12-15 service and extend the 16-25 service for a further year, creating a unified 12-21 counselling service, supported by a £10k contribution from the ICB. The proposed extension will allow sufficient time for: • a full review of CYP counselling provision • alignment with statutory duties and system wide responsibilities • development of an integrated commissioning model with the ICB • a robust procurement process and evaluation for a longer term solution The contract extension period: is 12 months beyond the extension period originally set out in the contract. The indicative procurement timetable for the new service is as follows: Write draft specification Oct-Nov 2026 Write Contract, Tender documents with Legal / Procurement support: Oct-Nov 2026 Preliminary Market Engagement phase starts: Early Nov 2026 Draft Invitation to Tender documentation, draft applicable Notices: Mid Nov - Dec 2026 Invitation to Tender Period (30 days): 4th Jan 2027 Invitation to Tender return deadline date: 4th Feb 2027 Tender evaluation: Early Feb 2027 Standstill (8 working days from date of Contract Award Notice publication): Mid Feb 2027 Approval to award: Late Feb 2027 Contract Mobilisation / Implementation Process (6 weeks): March 2027 New Contract starts: 1st April 2027