Project Description

The North London Commissioning project sought to provide an alternative approach to commissioning young people’s residential care which is often fragmented due to each local authority acting as a sole commissioner.

The project consisted of a collaboration between London Borough of Havering and six other local authorities along with Institute of Family Therapy and Silver Lined Horizons. The project involved a sub-regional approach to commission up to 35 residential placements for young people aged 11-17 in North East London, testing the use of block provider contracts.

The project tested the use of block contracts, incentivising the delivery of outcomes and three-way coproduction between the sub-regional partnership, young people, and providers. This involved improving outcomes for young people by implementing a payment by results clause with providers, and initiating an engagement project with young people across all seven boroughs, so that young people have a voice and are involved in the design of the provision and help us to plan and measure outcomes. The project also ensured that when seeking placements for adolescents with challenging behaviour, care was taken to source a range of interventions and approaches that offer stability, as well as meaningful and purposeful outcomes for the young people.

Evaluation

DfE funded independent evaluation will be published in 2020.