Description
Essex County Council ("the Council") is inviting prospective providers to participate in a market engagement exercise to inform the Council's commissioning considerations regarding the provision of Additional Reablement Capacity in 2027. Please find below a summary of the key national guidance which informs the provision of this service alongside an overview of the Council's commissioning intentions.
The Department of Health and Social Care and Support Statutory Guidance states that "The core purpose of adult care and support is to help people to achieve the outcomes that matter to them in their life". The Council also aims to establish a strategic approach to health, wellbeing and independence for all ages, and it is the Council's ambition to help people with care needs to live independently and safely in their own homes and ensure that they have the support needed to promote their wellbeing and quality of life.
The Council is also committed to the comprehensive implementation of the requirements of the Care Act 2014. The approach will encompass, and be consistent with, the Department's Care Statutory Care and Support Guidance. The Council will take an integrated approach to work in partnership with the experts within the care market to pursue a diverse range of mechanisms to assist adults requiring care and support funded by the Council and its partners and will aim to adopt systems and approaches designed to ensure that it consistently achieves best value for both adults and the residents/taxpayers of Essex.
Reablement is a component of the wider system Intermediate Care offer and a key enabler of the Council's aspirations for homecare across the county. Intermediate Care Services provide support for a short time to help an adult recover and increase their independence. This is usually provided by a mix of health and social care professionals with a range of different skills. The team might include nurses, social workers, specialist community workers, doctors, and a range of therapists e.g., Occupational Therapists, Physiotherapists, Speech and Language Therapists, Care Home staff and homecare staff.
The Council works with NHS Partners to jointly commission a number of services which make up the Intermediate Care pathway following hospital admission or community referral. These services currently include a range of contract and uncontracted reablement and domiciliary care provisions.
Intermediate Care services in Essex continue to be developed in collaboration with system partners and informed by people accessing support. It aims for people to experience an integrated and collaborative model that provides improved outcomes and better value for the individual to promote independence. This means delivering improved and more seamless pathways, inclusivity and coordination between suppliers, to ensure that the best possible outcomes are achieved for each individual.
Please note that the Council reserves the right to refine the scope of this proposed procurement following the market engagement process. In addition, please note that this procurement remains subject to governance approval. Therefore, the Council will confirm the final scope of the procurement, including but not limited to, the contract duration and confirmed procurement timetable in the corresponding Tender Notice following the conclusion of the requisite governance process.
In addition, please note that the contracting authority for this service is Essex County Council and any Successor Body meaning one or more entities which assumes any of the Council's functions (as applicable) as a result of Local Government Reform (LGR). Such successor body or bodies may be, without limitation, a local authority, a combined authority, a combined county authority, a strategic authority or any other status determined pursuant to the Devolution and LGR Legislation.
In addition, please note that a briefing document containing further details of the Council's commissioning intentions for this service and a suite of soft market test questions can be located via:
https://www.open-uk.org/opportunities
Please note that you will need to undertake a registration process to secure a user account to access the aforementioned briefing document via OPEN. However, please be advised that the registration process is free of charge and will also provide access to any forthcoming procurement opportunities which Essex County Council issues in due course.
In addition, please be advised that this deadline for responding to the questions within the briefing document will be 17:00 on Wednesday 17th June 2026 and all responses must be submitted via the online questionnaire functionality within OPEN. Likewise, if you require any clarification regarding the briefing document, please use the messaging functionality within OPEN.
Following the analysis of the responses, all participants (and any expressing interest in this procurement) may attend a face-to-face Market Engagement event scheduled for Monday 29th June 2026 between 10:00 and 12:30, at:
Central Baptist Church
Victoria Street South
Chelmsford
Essex
CM1 1LN
Please note that contrary to the original Preliminary Market Engagement notice, this event will take place in a single session which is due to include the following agenda items:
• Overview of the ARC service
• Contextual information regarding Local Government Reorganisation in Essex
• Summary of the key market insights from the soft market test - please note that the feedback will be anonymised to mitigate any undue issues
• Facilitated workshop sessions - these table-based sessions will provide an opportunity to discuss your considerations regarding the Council's commissioning intentions for the ARC service with the Council's key stakeholders
• Networking opportunity
Please note that the Council will confirm the agenda at the start of the event, including the details of the scheduled break(s) and proposed timings per item. If your organisation would like to attend the event, please e-mail ict@essex.gov.uk to request space at the event and confirm:
• Number of representatives and their contact details - due to capacity limitations at the venue, it would be appreciated if you could request a maximum of four (4) spaces for the session which your organisation would like to attend.
Essex County Council may also seek to engage directly with any participant to this process in order to further clarify information provided and to ensure any tender/contract specification is optimised in accordance with service provider input. If required, it is planned that this element of provider engagement and specification development may take place through virtual market engagement events during July 2026, and participants are requested to indicate whether or not they are interested in attending these meetings to support the development of the Council's future requirements.
Any queries in respect to this latter aspect of the market engagement process can be addressed to:
Mr. Barry Messenger - Procurement Specialist, at barry.messenger@essex.gov.uk