Approved Provider List for Social Care Agencies

The Oxfordshire County Council (hereafter referred toas “the Council”) is commissioning and procuring an Approved Provider List (APL) for Care Quality Commission (CQC) registered Care and Support Agencies who can provide bespoke care and support packages to meet the assessed needs of children and young people aged between 0-24 years old; predominantly young people aged between 12 – 18 years old. There may also be occasions when we require bespoke care and support packages to meet the needs of siblings.

The creation of the Approved Provider List for Care and Support Agencies will ensure that the Council can purchase bespoke care and support packages from Providers confident in the knowledge that they have met all essential criteria contained within the Invitation to Tender (ITT) documents and have been successful with their application for inclusion on the APL.

The Approved Provider List will offer best value and more choice when we require bespoke care and support packages for young people who have become a ‘Child We Care For’ (CWCF) or a ‘Care Leaver’ (CL).
Children can become a Child We Care For either by:
• A voluntary arrangement between the parents and the local authority, known as being 'accommodated' under section 20 of the Children Act 1989.
• Coming into police protection
• Being subject to a court order, such as an Emergency Protection Order.
• Being subject to a Care Order.
• Being remanded in criminal proceedings.

Children We Care For can live in different types of settings, for example:
• Living with foster carers
• Living with friends or relatives (kinship care)
• Living in a children's residential home
• Living at home while on care orders made by the courts.

In addition, the Council occasionally provides young people with a series of short breaks away from their homes. This does not mean that the child is a Child we Care For unless these breaks add up to more than 75 overnight breaks in any year. There must also be parental agreement that the child should become a Child We Care For.

The proposal is for the Approved Provider List to run for a four-year period, with two optional extension periods of two years each. It is intended that the Approved Provider List for Care and Support Agencies will start on 3 February 2025.