Procurement description
Essex County Council ("the Council") is seeking to commission an external provider to prepare Education Healthcare Plans (EHCP) to enable the Council to fulfil its statutory duties under the Children and Families Act 2014 and the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Code of Practice.
Please be advised that whilst the Council is working towards a model where EHCPs are written internally, this procurement is also designed to facilitate the Council's ability to meet the demand for EHCPs during peak times in the academic year where the number of plans (new and amendments) exceed the internal capacity. Therefore, there is no guarantee of numbers under this contract and the resource needs to be flexible to meet demand. However, please note that further details regarding the current and projected demand for EHCPs is provided within the service specification which has been published as part of the tender documents.
The successful bidder will be required to prepare EHCPs for children and young people (0-25) with significant special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). The EHCPs will detail the young person's:
• Needs across education, health, and care
• The young person's support requirements and desired outcomes
The EHCPs will ensure that eligible children and young people receive coordinated, tailored support and help to secure resources for specialist provision.
Please be advised that as a minimum, the EHCPs must be prepared in line with the following principles:
• Fully comply with the Essex process for initiating assessments, undertaking assessments and drafting EHCPs (see: http://www.essexlocaloffer.org.uk/)
• Write EHCPs for individual children and young people using information contained in a variety of report formats
• EHCPs must comply with the requirements within the SEN Code of Practice https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/398815/SEND_Code_of_Practice_January_2015.pdf
• Account needs to be taken of any guidance provided by the Department for Education or Essex County Council
• Appoint and manage appropriately experienced and qualified staff to write the EHCPs
• Ensure that there is sufficiency of trained staff to meet and deliver to Local Authority requirements and that there will be a continuous service delivery.
• Ensure strict compliance with the Data Protection Act 1998 and all updates.
Please be advised that further details regarding the Council's requirements for this service will be accessible from the dedicated specification which will be published on the Council's e-tendering platform, ProContract which can be accessed via: https://procontract.due-north.com/
Please register for a user account to gain access to the tender documentation for this procurement opportunity, noting that the Council envisages that this opportunity will be published on Tuesday 28 April 2026.
Explanatory notes:
The contracting authority 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 the budgetary information within this notice is stated inclusive of VAT due to the requirements of the form and the total budget for this service is £900,000. Similarly, please be advised that the contract for this service includes annual break clauses and the requirements are being commissioned under a 1+1+1 year term. Due to the constraints of the fields within this notice, the stated three (3) year contract duration represents the maximum contract term for this service.