Award of Peer Coaching Pilot in Mental Health Crisis Pathway to Voiceability

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London Borough of Camden Council awarded a contract to Voiceability for the provision of a peer coaching pilot to support residents who have experienced a mental health crisis to move towards recovery in the community, and for officers to use the learning to develop a model that can be commissioned in the longer term.

The service was not fully operational until 7 September 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and commissioners directly awarded a new contract for seven months from 1 September 2021 at a value of no more than £50,000.

This ensured continued delivery and allowed officers enough time to fully test the approach, considering the challenges implementing the pilot in 2020/21.

It also continued with the strategy, as part of the original award, to align itself with the wider recommissioning plan for the Resilience Network, a collaborative of mental health voluntary and community sector providers.

The new Resilience Network offer will launch on 1 April 2022.

Commissioners had NHS England Transformation funding available for 2021/22 to continue piloting this new approach to peer coaching in the mental health crisis pathway.

Due to the short-term nature of the funding and the partnership approach required, a competitive process was neither practical nor desirable.

Therefore, a waiver to Contract Standing Orders requirement for a quotation process was requested to directly award a further contract on the same general terms as the existing contract.