RTL80P - Child House Pilot Programme

NHS England (London Region) invites Expressions of Interest (EoIs) and completed Invitation to Tender (ITT) submissions from all suitable providers, who are capable of delivering the Child House Pilot Programme.

The Child House Pilot Programme is a joint project between NHS England (London Region) and the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) and partially funded by the Home Office. The Child House aims to radically improve support to children, young people and their non-offending families following incidents of child sexual abuse including exploitation.

In 2014/15 a review of child sexual abuse pathways was commissioned by NHS England (London region) and undertaken by experts from Sexual Assault Referral Centres (SARCs). This showed that only 1 in 4 children who have been abused come to the attention of statutory services. The child is then subjected to a prosecution based process with multiple police interviews. Many cases do not have enough evidence to proceed to trial and those that do can take up to 2 years before they reach court. Conviction rates are low leaving suspected perpetrators free to re-offend.

The concept is simple and in line with best practice, the European PROMISE agreement and evidence from abroad, and aims to provide a service which is centred around the child. Rather than the child/ young person having no choice other than to go to numerous agencies and buildings to access different services the Child House will provide support ‘under one roof’. The environment will be reflective of the circumstances with an emphasis on being safe, secure and focused around the needs of the child/young person. The purpose of the project is to evaluate whether the Child House model can be successfully established in England and the pilot will be fully evaluated by MOPAC’s Evidence and Insight team.

The Child House Pilot will be based from a site in Camden and serve the boroughs within the North Central London STP area (Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Haringey and Islington). The building is being specifically refurbished for the Child House.

The contract will be offered for an initial period of 28 months, (01 March 2018 – 30 June 2020), this consists of a 4 month in-contract mobilisation period (01 March 2018 to 30 June 2018) and 24 months of service operation (01 July 2018 to 30 June 2018). During the in-contract mobilisation period a financial envelope of £100,000 will apply. During the 24 months of operation a financial envelope of £1,625,000 per annum will apply. An optional extension for an additional 12 months (until 30 June 2021) will also apply with a financial envelop of £1,625,000. Therefore the total indicative budget for the contract, including extension, is £4,975,000.