Purpose

Due to the increasing number of children who
are permanently excluded and require alternative education
provision, there are capacity pressures on the main Alternative
Provision (AP) sites resulting in children being allocated to IESP.
These IESP can be provided by a number of different settings both
in and out of the home. For example:
• Home (online) tuition
• Equine centres
• Woodland centres

The overall lack of capacity in the AP system impacts on the
ability to provide a fulltime schedule of education at one place.
Therefore, pupils are attending different settings on different
days, and some are also on reduced timetables.

Due to the increase in children attending such settings, it was not
possible, prior to this contract, for LCC to ensure that FSM were
in place for each eligible pupil by the multitude of suppliers. Not
all sites are standard educational establishments and they do not
all have the ability or capacity to provide FSM to children who are
attending as part of their IESP.

This Service will continue to allow LCC to ensure all eligible
children receive their entitlement to FSM regardless of their
education setting.

LCC has a statutory duty to ensure this provision is available to
qualifying families as set out in the Education Act 1996, The
Welfare Reform Act 2012 and the Children and Families Act 2014
guidance.

Extending the contract with Wonde, originally awarded through the
CCS Framework Agreement (under Solution 2 – RM6248 for access
to an end-to-end voucher scheme that can provide multiple
closed-loop vouchers) will ensure that the Council continue to meet
their statutory obligation without any gaps in service.

Wonde continue to be a supplier in use within LCC for the Holiday
Activity and Food (HAF) programme.

LCC employees are familiar with the programme and happy with the
contract performance to date.

Decision

That the Executive Director of
Children’s Services approves the extension of the current
contract with Wonde Ltd, through a Crown Commercial Service
framework agreement, for a Free School Meals (FSM) voucher system
for a further 24 months, in line with the current contract
conditions.
The Wonde contract was set up on the 30th October 2023 to allow LCC
case workers to order FSM vouchers for qualifying families of
children who are in Interim Education Support Packages (IESP). This
includes:
• Interim Home Tuition (IHT)
• Education Other Than At School (EOTAS)
• Permanent Exclusion (PEx) i.e. not on a school roll

The agreement commenced on the 30th October 2023 with an original
end date of the 29th October 2024. The Agreement included an option
for a further two extensions of up to 24 months to the 29th October
2026.

The value of the contract is c. £72,000 per annum (based on
c. 150 qualifying children). Over the course of three years, the
total value is c. £216,000.

The current spend for this contract is under budget at
£65,506.88 and both the PRT team and SEND IHT team are
extremely satisfied with the current contract performance.

Therefore, it is proposed that the contract is extended for the
full 24 months with a scheduled end date of 29th October
2026.