Content

To:
a)note the content of the report as well as the comments and
recommendations from the Resources and Services Overview and
Scrutiny Committee at its meeting on 4 June 2025, as set out in
full within the minutes (attached as Appendix 1) to the
report;
b)approve the proposed Heads of Terms for the Careline/Helpline
Transfer (attached as Appendix 2 to the report) and authorise the
Corporate Director – Planning and Community and Corporate
Director – Law and Governance to proceed, with support from
the Council’s external legal advisors, to enter into legal
agreements with Colchester Amphora Trading Limited in accordance
with those Heads of Terms;
c)agree that the proposed Careline/Helpline transfer be delivered
broadly in accordance with the Transition Plan Timetable (attached
as Schedule 3 to the Heads of Terms in Appendix 2) with the overall
aim of completing the transfer on 1 August 2025;
d)agree that, in the event that all practical measures are in place
to achieve the transfer on 1 August 2025, but detailed legal
agreements are still in the process of being finalised, the
transfer can still proceed on 1 August 2025 in line with the agreed
Heads of Terms but with the finalisation of legal agreements
completed no more than six weeks following the transfer;
e)agree to expenditure from the agreed £0.746 one-off
implementation budget in line with that indicated within the
‘Breakdown of projected budgetary implications’
attached as Appendix 3 and authorise the Corporate Director –
Planning and Community to administer and monitor that expenditure
as necessary;
f)note and following consultation with the Portfolio Holder for
Assets and Community Safety (being responsible for the provision of
CCTV) agree the updated Specification for CCTV Monitoring and Out
of Hours Services (attached as Schedules 1 and 2 to the Heads of
Terms in Appendix 2 respectively) for incorporation into the legal
agreement(s) with Colchester Amphora Trading Limited and give
delegated authority to the Corporate Director – Planning and
Community to make any minor or factual amendments or corrections to
these documents if required ahead of their incorporation into the
legal documentation and ahead of the proposed transfer;
g)request the Corporate Director – Planning and Community and
Corporate Director – Operations and Delivery, in consultation
with the Portfolio Holder for Assets and Community Safety (being
responsible for the provision of CCTV) to review the
Council’s CCTV Policy and CCTV Code of Practice and make any
necessary consequential updates and practical changes needed, on an
interim basis, to reflect CCTV monitoring transferring to the
Helpline service provided by Amphora; and as necessary, the updated
Policy and Code of Practice are reported to Cabinet for
consideration as soon as practicable after the transfer;
h)note that the Corporate Director – Operations and Delivery,
in accordance with the Property Dealing Procedure, will agree and
enter into a Licence agreement with Amphora Trading Limited for the
use of accommodation at Barnes House on the terms set out in the
Licence Agreement (attached as Schedule 6 to the Heads of Terms in
Appendix 2);
i)note the letter of support from Colchester City Council dated 30
June 2025 for the Careline/Helpline transfer; and
j)request that if any matters arise that indicate any significant
deviation from the agreed Transition Plan timetable, the proposed 1
August 2025 transfer or the proposed use of the one-off
implementation budget, this be reported back to the Portfolio
Holder for Partnerships at the earliest opportunity after 1 August
2025, with (if necessary) revised recommendations from the
Corporate Director – Planning and Community for how to
proceed.

Reasons for the decision

On 21 February 2025, the Cabinet considered a
report entitled ‘Tendring Careline: Decision on the Future of
the Service’ seeking its decision on the future of the
Careline service – following a 12-month review of the service
and a subsequent stakeholder consultation exercise.
At that meeting, the Cabinet resolved to agree a preferred option;
i.e. for the creation of a combined and expanded telecare, response
and lifting service for North East Essex that aligns with the aims
and of objectives of the North East Essex Health and Wellbeing
Alliance for an integrated health-system approach. This will be
achieved through the automatic transfer of all remaining Tendring
Careline service-users to the Helpline service provided by
Colchester City Council’s arms-length trading company
Amphora, on their existing terms of conditions and with no ongoing
financial liability to Tendring District Council following that
transfer.
The Cabinet’s resolution also included the agreement in
principle that the Council’s Out-of-Hours, CCTV services and
monitoring for the Council’s own sheltered housing schemes
will also transfer to Colchester Helpline under an outsourcing
arrangement within the same timescales.
Recommendation i) within the Cabinet’s February 2025
resolution authorises the Portfolio Holder for Partnerships, in
consultation with the Leader of the Council the Director for
Planning and Community [now Corporate Director – Planning and
Community]; the Monitoring Officer [Corporate Director – Law
and Governance]; the Section 151 Officer [Corporate Director
– Finance and the Head of People [now Assistant Director
– People] to progress and deliver, amongst other things: the
preparation of a detailed transition plan in collaboration with
Colchester City Council and Colchester Helpline (Amphora),
including the associated legal agreement and specific tasks and
timescales for the achievement of the proposals under resolutions
d) and e), having regard to the broad Indicative Transition Plan
outlined within that February Cabinet report.
The purpose of the Transition Plan and the Heads of Terms for a
formal agreement with Amphora supported by Colchester City Council
is to ensure a coordinated approach to facilitating the transfer of
these services in a smooth and timely manner, recognising the
complexities of the service; with the overarching priority of
maintaining continuity and quality of service to service-users
throughout the transition period and minimising disruption and
inconvenience.
Delegation was also given by the Cabinet in February 2025 to the
Portfolio Holder for Partnerships to progress agreement with
Amphora to use accommodation at Barnes House for use as a temporary
outpost for the provision of the expanded Helpline; any financial
contribution towards upgrading of service-user equipment; and
utilisation of the remainder of the implementation budget. This
report and its recommendations address those matters
accordingly.

Alternative options considered

To seek to achieve the Careline/Helpline
transition without a plan or Heads of Terms for necessary legal
agreements puts at risk the Council’s ability to achieve a
smooth and timely transfer, gives rise to potential problems,
unforeseen legal risks and abortive costs. As the overarching
priority is to ensure service continuity and quality whilst
minimising disruption and inconvenience to service-users,
proceeding without a plan increases the risk that this will not be
achieved.
The Transition Plan and Heads of Terms could potentially include
different timescales for different tasks that achieve the
transition in a different way; however the tasks and measures
identified in this report are considered by Officers, in
negotiation with Colchester City Council and Amphora, to represent
a positive direction of travel that recognise practical
complexities, financial and other considerations.
At its meeting of 4 June 2025, the Resources and Services Overview
and Scrutiny Committee (RSOSC) considered and commented on emerging
versions of the proposals – for which the minutes are
attached to this report as Appendix 1. From comments and
recommendations from the Committee, concern was expressed about the
realistic achievability of the proposed 1 August 2025 transfer date
given the range and complexity of issues that would still need to
be resolved in advance of the transfer. It was also suggested that
funding for the Out of Hours and CCTV monitoring (the transitional
service payment) should ideally be split over 2025/26, 2026/27 and
2027/28 instead of a single instalment in 2025/26 as has been
proposed.
Proposing a later alternative transfer date for instance 1
September or 1 October 2025 would provide additional time to
complete the necessary pre-transfer tasks but would also extend the
transition period within which the Council would need to rely on
third-party support for call handling and physical response in a
time of increasing staff shortage and difficulty in covering
shifts. This in turn would increase the risk of service disruption
to older and vulnerable residents and increased financial cost to
the Council, as identified elsewhere in this report. If however it
becomes apparent that the 1 August transfer date is not likely to
be achieved, this report contains a recommendation for the delay to
be reported to the Portfolio Holder for Partnerships with revised
recommendations, if necessary, for how to proceed through an
extended transition period.
The alternative approach in respect of the splitting the
transitional service payment over three financial years rather than
having a single instalment in 2025/26 has been considered as a
means of enabling the Council to hold back payment if there are any
concerns about Amphora’s performance or service delivery;
however such an approach would require the Council to commit to
either carrying forward unspent funds from the one-off
implementation budget into 2026/27 and 2027/28; agreeing a revenue
budget for 2026/27 and 2027/28; or working into the legal
agreement(s) a mechanism by which Colchester City Council, as the
owner of Amphora, administers staged payments over the three
financial years on TDC’s behalf. It could also increase the
risk of year-on-year inflationary pressure, whereas a single
one-off payment would be immune to inflationary increases and can
be accounted for, cleanly, through the one-off implementation
budget with no ongoing cost.
Whilst the preference within the recommendations of the Resources
and Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee was to split the
payments over three years, if a single payment were to be pursued
the Committee suggested that the legal agreement(s) should be clear
and firm in its mechanisms for securing improvement should
performance failures be identified. The proposal is therefore to
continue with a single transitional service payment to Amphora to,
but with clauses worked into the legal agreements to ensure TDC
could, in the unlikely event of poor performance or service
failure, terminate the agreement and/or reclaim funds.