WIREDGOV

Accessing short-term specialist support

Cardiff Council required a solution to manage an unprecedented demand in children’s social care cases. Employing an outcomes-based approach Bloom, via the NEPRO solution, provided the Council with a managed service and access to an extensive pre-accredited supply chain that could provide the relevant services at less cost.

The challenge:

Cardiff Council required a service provider to develop and deliver an implementation and planned exit strategy. This was needed for a self-sufficient independent social work team. The chosen supplier would need to complete the work within budget and to a specific timeframe. The Council also required the successful supplier to:

• Assist in reducing the caseloads of each in-house social worker to a maximum of 24
• Aid retention of in-house social workers within the Council
• Help mitigate and manage the risk to the service of the high number of caseloads

The Solution:

Bloom first worked with the Council to define an outcome-based requirement. Then:

• Shortlisted several trusted suppliers with proven capabilities who could complete the work
• Ran the procurement as a mini-competition
• Received responses from suppliers in just 10 days

Outcomes:

• More than 275 cases were closed
• 80 children were deregistered
• Reviewed LAC cases led to the rehabilitation of 5 children

“Each case was managed to a very high standard which was maintained through quality assurance processes”
Irfan Alam, Assistant Director of Children’s Services, Cardiff Council

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