Purpose

The EYCAMHS service provides specialist mental health support for children aged 0–5 and their families. The service is integral to the Council’s strategic commitment to early intervention, prevention of crisis escalation, and ensuring children receive the right support at the right time within community and Family Hub settings.
Performance evidence shows that the service continues to meet and exceed expected activity levels, despite recruitment pressures, and remains a specialist, clinically led early years mental heath offer that is nor readily replicated in the market.
The model strongly aligns with the national Best Start in Life strategy, which emphasises early emotional wellbeing, strong parent-infant relationships, integrated family support and ensuring all children achieve a good level of development by age five. Locally, the service also supports Wandsworth’s Best Start delivery plan and contributes to the borough-wide ambition to strengthen early identification, improve developmental outcomes and ensure integrated support across Family Hubs and early years provision.
Both Children’s Services Senior Management Team (SMT) and the Procurement Board reviewed the proposal and supported continuation of the service through delegated award. The Board noted strong performance, clear value for money, and evidence of effective integration with early years and multi agency partners. No concerns were identified regarding the provider’s quality, governance, or ability to deliver the service.

Decision

A Direct Award under Process C of the PSR:
Awarding the contract directly for two years, with an option to extend for another two years, will provide a consistent service and maintain a hight quality provision. The New contract will feature updated specifications in line with the Best start in Life policy, including revised KPIs and outcome measures to ensure a results-driven approach. Continuing with the current provider guarantees seamless support and ongoing assistance for families and children.
The current provider has fulfilled the original contract and is expected to meet the requirements of the new contract, satisfying the selection criteria for Direct Award Process C of the PSR

Alternative options considered

Option 1 : End the contract and have no EYCAMHS service: This is not the recommended option.
Ending the contract would eliminate a crucial early intervention service for vulnerable children aged 0–5, raising the risk of mental health crises and costly interventions. This could hinder key strategic priorities, lead to fragmented care pathways with CAMHS, and strain social care and safeguarding services. The loss may negatively affect children's emotional health, wellbeing, and communication, increase demand on statutory agencies and financial pressure, reduce valuable support for families, widen inequalities in deprived areas, and pose reputational risks for withdrawing early years mental health support.
Option 2- Go out to competitive tender: This is not the recommended option.
While a competitive process is a compliant process under the PSR, the option is not recommended due to financial and practical implications set out above. The incumbent has a long-standing history of delivering these services to children in Wandsworth. Other service providers may not bid for this service due to its specialist nature and relatively small scale and budget, limiting competition and potentially resulting in no viable bids. This could lead to delays in service continuity and create uncertainty for families and staff. A change of provider could also fragment integrated care pathways, as the current provider delivers multiple CAMHS services locally.
Option 3 - Bring the service in-house: This is not the recommended. Performance levels are high with this service, and the provider has evidenced continued delivery. Many mental health services already struggle with recruitment and retention challenges, especially in London due to the cost of living; by bringing the service in house most mental health practitioners would not choose to work for a Local Authority instead of an NHS trust.
Costs of having the service delivered in-house would be much higher than current costs. Staff will require regular clinical supervision, an additional senior post, and registration costs for NHS positions and progress. Agenda for Change uplift costs would also apply each year.
Option 4: A Direct Award under Process C of the PSR: This is the recommended option.
Awarding the contract directly for two years, with an option to extend for another two years, will provide a consistent service and maintain a high-quality provision. The new contract will feature updated specifications in line with the Best Start in Life policy, including revised KPIs and outcome measures to ensure a results-driven approach. Continuing with the current provider guarantees seamless support and ongoing assistance for families and children.
The current provider has fulfilled the original contract and is expected to meet the requirements of the new contract, satisfying the selection criteria for Direct Award Process C of the PSR.