Over the last 2 years, Essex County Council have commissioned a number of services to secure appropriate provision for Children in Essex. These include: 

• The commissioning of the County-wide Essex Short Breaks Community Clubs and Activities for children and young people with SEND, which was designed with families to be more locally accessible, age and need appropriate
• Leveraged capital funding to complement the Short Breaks subsidised holidays offer and developed several Changing Places and Inclusive Play Spaces across the County
• Preparation for commissioning an ‘In-House' residential care options for CWD,
• Implementation of Family innovation Fund (FiF) as part of our early help offer for children and families
• Specialist support for children, young people and their parent who have experienced sexual violence and abuse in the context of  domestic abuse
• The procurement of solo bed provision for Children in Care
• Acquiring property  to support solo beds and secure a provider to run the services on behalf of Essex
• Maintained the Supported Accommodation (SA) framework
• Procured the external fostering framework (Independent Fostering Agencies)
• Completed a full residential framework review considering alternatives ways to procure these services. The replacement will be launched early 2024.
• Support for children and young people’s and adults within domestic abuse safe accommodation, meeting the requirements of the Domestic Act 2021
• Working in partnership to commission a Domestic Abuse discovery project to gain a deeper understanding on the impacts of people experiencing Domestic Abuse and how we can design a whole system response.

“At the heart of everything we do in Children and Families service is our vision to get the best outcome for families, children and young people we support”