Heat-health alert for East of England

A red heat-health warning has been issued by the UKHSA. The warning is in effect from the morning of 24 June 2026 through to the night of 25 Jun 2026. Please ensure you keep up to date with weather reports reports and plan accordingly.

UKHSA weather warning guidance

The Supreme Court's judgment on deprivation of liberty

You may be aware that the Supreme Court has recently issued a judgment which significantly changes the legal approach to determining whether a person is deprived of their liberty. The judgement can be seen here A Reference by the Attorney General for Northern Ireland of a devolution issue under paragraph 34 o….

We would encourage you to familiarise yourselves with the judgment and carefully consider the implications for your services and practice. Please see the following links for further information: CQC statement on the Supreme Court's judgment on deprivation of liberty - Care Quality Commission and 2026-UKSC-16-Summary-for-website.pdf.

We ask that you refer to this updated position when making any new referrals to the DoLS team.  In addition, as the change came into effect immediately from 2 June, please review any recent DoLS referrals you have made. You should consider whether, in light of this revised approach, any of these referrals may no longer be appropriate.

We hope this offers reassurance whilst we wait for additional National guidance to be disseminated.  At this stage we don’t have further information, but if you have a specific query, you can contact the MCA DoLS Duty Team at Dolforms@essex.gov.uk

Essex County Council - Provider Hub
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Older People Integrated Residential and Nursing (IRN) Framework Refresh 2026

The council commissions its older peoples accommodation services with and without nursing through the Integrated residential and Nursing Framework (IRN).

The IRN Refresh for 2026 is now open until 7 April 2026.

If you are already part of the framework, please complete the tender exercise for current providers. You will need to search for "A017PC IRN 2026 - Existing Suppliers" (ref: DN802977) on Procontract.

If you are bidding to join the framework, please complete the exercise for new entrants. You will need to search for "A017PC IRN 2026 - New entrants to the Framework" (ref: DN802973) on Procontract.

Guidance documents are available within the tenders. If you have any questions, please submit them via the Procontract platform. The deadline for clarification questions is 17:00 on Monday 23 March. 

Please keep an eye on the provider bulletin and the provider hub for more details.

All queries related to the IRN refresh can be emailed to IRN.ProjectTeam@essex.gov.uk

Provider workshop event on the future of the IRN 2025

Thank you to everyone who attended the provider workshop event on Monday 29th April 2024 at Colchester football stadium in regards to the future of the IRN framework.

For those unable to attend 

Benefits of joining the Integrated Residential and Nursing (IRN) Framework

The benefits of joining the IRN framework are:

  • Clear service specification
  • Framework providers will be prioritised for placements
  • Framework providers will be prioritised for uplifts
  • Opportunity to participate in mini competitions
  • Integrated approach with Health 

Contact Information

For all contractual enquiries please email procurement.adults@essex.gov.uk

Last updated: 02/03/2026
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