Reducing Loneliness and Isolation

Swindon Reducing Loneliness and Isolation Service

Swindon Borough Council invites expressions of interest from suitably qualified and experienced service providers for the provision of the Swindon ‘Reducing Loneliness and Isolation Service’.

Swindon Borough Council has reviewed its needs in relation to this service and this has resulted in some changes to the Council’s tendering requirements. Consequently, the Council has decided to abandon the procedure, first advertised on 23rd March 2017. This tender therefore presents a new opportunity to bid for the delivery of Reducing Loneliness and Isolation Services in Swindon. Please note that the selection stage and Quality questions and scoring have been revised in order to clarify our requirements. Unfortunately, we are not able to offer feedback on the first round of submissions at this stage as doing so might affect the equal and fair treatment of bidders. Please also note that previously submitted bids will no longer qualify for the tender and therefore, if you previously submitted a bid and still wish to be considered for this contract, you will need to submit a new bid, considering any revisions in line with the question changes.”


Project Description

In order to enable more people to live in their own homes and delay the escalation of care needs that present demand on adult social care, Swindon Borough Council is looking to develop support for people who are lonely and/or isolated.

Swindon Borough Council (SBC) and Swindon Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) face considerable challenges in continuing to improve the lives of people locally with an ageing population and limited financial resources. SBC and Swindon CCG’s approach is to prioritise preventative work which concentrates on promoting independence and choice for individuals and to use the skills and capacity of the wider community and voluntary sectors to support people. Preventative services are prioritised around supporting vulnerable people, reducing inequalities and promoting health, wellbeing and independence.

The purpose of this contract is to allow people to remain within their own home and continue to live independently with the support of community volunteers. Our model is focused on recruiting, supporting and matching volunteers with people who are older and/or experiencing social isolation. We will expect the contractor to recruit, train and supervise volunteers and to have in place a set of quality standards to monitor the work carried out. We aim to target the service at those people most at risk of losing their independence and we will expect the contractor to be able to identify those people through working in partnership with other appropriate organisations.

The service should be offered to any adult who is or is at risk of becoming lonely and/or isolated, which is likely to then increase their risk of developing or escalating care needs. We expect the service to therefore target particular cohorts of people, including:
• people who are discharged from hospital without support from family or friends
• older people – we know that being over the age of 75 means you are more likely to be lonely or isolated
• people in receipt of very low levels of social care
• registered Carers
• people with a Learning Disability who live at home
• people with poor health, a disability or sensory impairment
• people living in deprived areas.



Full details relating to the Services are provided in the tender documents.

Contract Period

The contract will be initially for a period of three years commencing 1st September 2017 with the option to extend for a further two years subject to satisfactory performance and budget availability.

The relevant tender documents are included within this project webpage as attachments.

Tender Responses are required to be submitted no later than 2nd June 2017, 12.00GMT by hardcopy to Claire Smith only.

If you require any clarifications on the tender documents please submit these in writing via e-mail, including the project name clearly in the e-mail title, to Claire Smith at ce@swindon.gov.uk by 24th May 2017, 12.00 GMT.

The Council’s responses to these clarification questions will be uploaded as attachments on the project webpage attachments section. Therefore it is the Contractor’s responsibility to check the site regularly for updates to clarifications, as you will not be advised when updates have been made.

In the event of difficulties downloading tender documents, please refer to the named contact: Claire Smith at cesmith@swindon.gov.uk.

Please note that this project has been advertised on Contracts Finder however, Supplying the South West Portal is the only portal that includes all the relevant documents required to respond to this opportunity, bearing Project Id: DN264464

We would encourage you to click on the ‘Register interest’ button to help the Council monitor the level of interest in this opportunity.

No Tender submissions will be considered without completing the tender documents in full including attachments and returning them in alignment with the instructions within the tender documents.