Birmingham City Council (19 001 788)

Category : Other Categories > Commercial and contracts

Decision : Not upheld

Decision date : 21 Nov 2019

The Ombudsman's final decision:

Summary: Ms B complains that the Council failed to honour its agreement to allow providers who were unsuccessful in tendering for the supply of home support services to enter the fixed-price market. The Ombudsman finds no fault on the Council’s part. It did not agree to allow unsuccessful providers to enter the fixed-price market as contracts were issued to those providers who were successful in the tendering process. It offered support to help unsuccessful providers adjust their business model to deliver services in the fixed-price market. This support was offered to Ms B.

The complaint

  1. Ms B complains that the Council failed to honour its agreement to allow providers who were unsuccessful in tendering for the supply of home support services to enter the fixed-price market.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

  1. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
  2. If we are satisfied with a council’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

  1. I have considered the information provided by Ms B, made enquiries of the Council and considered its comments and the documents it provided.
  2. I have written to Ms B and the Council with my draft decision and considered their comments.

Back to top

What I found

Background

  1. Ms B’s company tendered for the Council’s Home Support Services framework agreement to provide home support for adults and children.
  2. The Council wrote to Ms B on 14 March 2019 explaining it had approved the award of the contracts but her company had been unsuccessful on this occasion.

Analysis

  1. The Council’s commissioning strategy sets out how it would support unsuccessful home support providers.
  2. During the tendering process the Council held several market engagement briefings during which it explained how the transition arrangements would work and gave details of the support it had commissioned from the Initiative for Social Entrepreneurs (ISE) to help unsuccessful providers. During the briefings the Council explained that commissioners would contact all unsuccessful providers to discuss options. There would be a three stage diagnostic to include how providers could, amongst other things:
    • retain existing service users by using personal budgets/direct payments; and
    • adjust their business model to deliver in a fixed-price market.
  3. Ms B says the Council promised to allow unsuccessful providers to enter the fixed-price market but failed to do so. There appears to have been a misunderstanding on Ms B’s part.
  4. The Council offered to provide help to providers to adjust their business model to enable them to deliver in a fixed-price market. The intention was that, by making adjustments, they would be able to tender for contracts with other organisations who commission home support. The Council did not agree to allow unsuccessful providers to enter the fixed-price market as contracts would be issued to those providers who were successful during the tendering process.
  5. The letter to Ms B dated 14 March 2019 stated, “Commissioners will contact you in the next 1 to 3 weeks to start discussions with you about your business intentions for the future”. It went on to say, “citizens will be given a choice of taking a direct payment to enable them to continue receiving care from your organisation… or be able to request the Council finds them a contracted provider in their area”. The letter also stated, “the Council has commissioned an independent organisation who will be available to provide you with some business support during this time”.
  6. The Council also wrote to Ms B on 2 May 2019 explaining that, as set out in its commissioning strategy, there would be a transition period for unsuccessful providers. It explained it had commissioned support to assist unsuccessful providers stating, “information shared at the market engagement events in October gave examples of the support that will be available via a 3 stage business diagnostic provided by the Initiative for Social Entrepreneurs”. The letter pointed out that the Council is not the only organisation who commissions home support and operates a fixed price for home support. The letter stated that, if Ms B chose to engage with the business support commissioned by the Council, this may help in developing her business in a range of markets.

Conclusions

  1. The Council has no legal obligation to offer support to unsuccessful providers. However, it agreed to commission a business diagnostic to support providers who were not successful. This support was offered to Ms B and she has been in contact with ISE to discuss the opportunities and conduct the business diagnostic. I am therefore satisfied the Council has provided the promised support. I am also satisfied the Council did not promise to allow unsuccessful providers to enter the fixed-price market.

Back to top

Final decision

  1. I do not uphold Ms B’s complaint.
  2. I have completed my investigation on the basis I am satisfied with the Council’s actions.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

Print this page

LGO logogram

Review your privacy settings

Required cookies

These cookies enable the website to function properly. You can only disable these by changing your browser preferences, but this will affect how the website performs.

View required cookies

Analytical cookies

Google Analytics cookies help us improve the performance of the website by understanding how visitors use the site.
We recommend you set these 'ON'.

View analytical cookies

In using Google Analytics, we do not collect or store personal information that could identify you (for example your name or address). We do not allow Google to use or share our analytics data. Google has developed a tool to help you opt out of Google Analytics cookies.

Privacy settings