Decision

The Assistant Director
– Housing has decided to award a contract for safe
accommodation for homeless single females with complex needs to
Birkenhead Forum Housing Association Ltd as the single
specification compliant tenderer
pursuant to a Light Touch restricted competitive procurement
process with a contract term of two years commencing  on 1st October 2025 with a total
contract value of £429,999.
 

Reasons for the decision

Homeless applicants
have a priority need for accommodation if they have become homeless
due to being a victim of domestic abuse, meaning the Council has a
duty to secure appropriate accommodate for them.
 
Additionally, Part IV
of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 places duties on the Council to
ensure victims of domestic abuse have access to the right
accommodation-based support, referred to as ‘safe
accommodation’.
 
Often single people
experiencing domestic abuse can have a wide range of complex
support needs, often because of the abuse they have experienced or
exacerbated by the abuse. These can manifest as issues around
substance misuse, mental health problems and/or offending
behaviour.
 
As such, the
Council’s Safe Accommodation Strategy 2021-2024 has
identified that there is a gap in provision of safe accommodation
for this profile of domestic abuse victim and approval was granted
to undertake a procurement exercise for this service.
 
The procurement
exercise commenced in June 2025 and was conducted under Light
Touch, via a below threshold restricted competition. One submission
was received from Birkenhead Forum Housing Association Ltd (FHA)
which was evaluated in-line with the stated evaluation methodology
and met the requirements of the specification.
 
The Service proposed
by FHA will comprise 10 units (bed spaces) and will be a
combination of long, medium and assessment beds to reflect the
range of presenting support needs. 
Somebody with several complex needs and who is not engaged with
drug treatment or mental health services may require a longer stay
within the service and will therefore be placed in a long-term
bed,. Someone with complex needs but who is engaged and managing
well with statutory services may only require a shorter service
duration and be placed in a medium term
bed. The rationale of an assessment bed is to allow for somebody to
be observed, while being supported, and to have their needs
assessed.
 
The contract term for
this service is two years and will commence on the 1st October 2025. The value of the
contract, over its life, is £429,999.
 

Alternative options considered

The alternative to
procuring a safe accommodation service for domestic abuse victims
with complex needs is to decide not to commission a dedicated
service for this profile of victim. This has been discounted for
several reasons:
 

It is a statutory
requirement for the Council to assess the needs and develop a
strategy which sets out its local response to providing support
within safe accommodation and plans to ensure the provision of
support for victims and their children. The Council is also legally
required to give effect to this strategy. The Council’s
Wirral’s Safe Accommodation Strategy 2021-2024 has identified
provision of safe accommodation for victims of domestic abuse with
complex needs, as a gap in provision.

 

The failure to
provide appropriate accommodation and support options would place
the Council in breach of its statutory obligations.

 

If, due to risk
issues associated with their complex needs, the Refuge is unable to
safely accommodate a victim of domestic abuse, then the
responsibility of providing accommodation and support would rest
with the Council. Due to the definition of ‘safe
accommodation’ the only available option to the Council would
be to place someone in a hotel and facilitate visiting specialist
domestic abuse support. The cost associated with this would be
significant and is not, necessarily, the most appropriate
accommodation option for domestic abuse victims who present with
often complex needs.