Essex County Council ("the Council") is inviting providers to participate in a market engagement exercise to inform the Councils commissioning considerations regarding the provision of direct payment support services supporting adults and children with their self-directed support offer through the delivery of direct payments. Essex County Council are committed to increase the number of people who wish to access a social care direct payment that enables individuals to remain independent through developing their own packages of care and support. Direct payments are intended to give people greater choice, control and flexibility to arrange and manage their care and support needs, through the receipt of regular funds from the Council. However, we recognise that for some people, choosing a direct payment may not be an option without support managing this arrangement. The Council intends to achieve the following aims and objectives within a direct payment support service: • Improve and increase support to recruit Personal Assistants (PAs) for direct Payment recipients. In turn increasing the market for Pas • Ensure DP recipients have access to good quality information, advice and Guidance, including generic direct payment advice and specialist employment advice and support • The delivery of a PA hub, supporting recruitment, the management and retention of PAs • Access to high-quality account management for the people who need it • Provide easy access to payroll and payments services • Increase confidence in Direct Payments across the system • Increase knowledge of the benefits and responsibilities of Direct Payments, as well as the options available to people who wish to take a direct payment. Essex County Council are seeking to understand: •What services in relation to direct payments support providers can offer and better understand supplier capacity, capability and appetite to deliver a contract of this size •Receive feedback to create better service requirements for future tenders from the market who are currently delivering successful high-quality services. • Learn about challenges and solutions for managing direct payments, such as managing payroll and training, supporting and recruiting personal assistants •Understand Barriers: to gain a better understanding of any potential barriers and how best to overcome them. Please note that the Council reserves the right to refine the scope of any future procurement following this market engagement process. In addition, please note that any future procurement remains subject to governance approval. Therefore, the Council will confirm the final scope of any 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.

Procurement Act 2023

Light touch

Details regarding the current direct payment support service commissioned via Essex county council and the soft market 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. If you experience any technical system issues regarding this soft market test, please contact NEPO's helpdesk via the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of OPEN's homepage: https://open-uk.org Please note that OPEN uses ProClass to classify procurement opportunities instead of Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV) Therefore, the opportunity within OPEN has been prepared using the following ProClass codes which represent the closest matches to the CPV code which this notice is based on 311600 The deadline for responding to the questions will be 17:00 on Wednesday 4th November 2026 and all responses must be submitted via the online questionnaire functionality within OPEN. Likewise, if you require any clarification regarding the questions, please use the messaging functionality within OPEN.