Agenda item

Report ACH23-024

The Committee considered a contract monitoring report for the Direct Payments Support and Payroll Service.

The Commissioning Officer informed Members that Vibrance was the Council’s Direct Payments Support and Payroll Service provider. The annual monitoring report was being presented in line with the Council’s Contract Procedure Rules which specified the requirement to provide updates for the Policy Development and Scrutiny Committee on how the service performed in the previous financial year from April 2022 to March 2023. The current contract was awarded to Vibrance in November 2020. It started in April 2021 for a five-year period with the option to extend for up to two years to April 2028.

It was noted that the provider had either met or exceeded the vast majority of their key performance indicators (KPIs). There were a couple of occasions where they had fallen slightly short, however this was related to the individual’s circumstances or the shortage of Personal Assistants (PAs). The Commissioning Officer advised that the Local Authority and Vibrance had agreed a business plan to try and increase the number of PAs in Bromley. It was noted that this was a national issue, but it was exacerbated due to the demographics of the borough. The business plan had included billboard advertising; promotion at job centres; leaflet distribution to promote the role; and social media advertisements including a promotion detailing “A Day in the life of a PA”. Vibrance had also attended a number of recruitment events and had approached PAs in neighbouring boroughs.

In response to a question, the Head of Service for Community Living Commissioning said that they were committed to having a wide-ranging and holistic offer to support residents. They were commissioning domiciliary care, providing access to day opportunities and a range of services that could be accessed were listed on the Simply Connect Bromley database.

The Commissioning Officer said that the Local Authority had a good working relationship with Vibrance, which had been built over the duration of the contract, and they were working together to made improvements for residents.

In response to a question from the Chairman regarding the response rate to the customer satisfaction survey, the Commissioning Officer noted that this had been in line with the response rate achieved in previous years. It was also similar to the average response rates for similar providers. They had tried to encourage responses by offering an Amazon voucher, and it was highlighted that this was a general issue that was not specific to Vibrance. One recommendation was to amend the surveys to gather more information. The  Head of Service for Community Living Commissioning advised that work was also being undertaken to consider how technology could be used to increase interaction with the survey. It was noted that very few complaints had been received in relation to this contract and highlighted that feedback tended not to be provided if service users were happy.

RESOLVED that the content of the contract monitoring report on the performance of Vibrance in delivering the Direct Payments Support and Payroll Service Contract be noted.