Decision

The Director of Children Family and Education
Services has:

(1) endorsed the tendering process for the Early Years SEND Support
Service: and

(2) approved the award of the Early Years SEND Support Service to
Koala North West Ltd (Company Number 07314767) with effect from 1st
October 2025 as the most advantageous tenderer with an initial
1-year term with the option of a further 1-year extension with an
annual contract value of £150,000.

Reasons for the decision

• There are 91 private Early Years
providers on the Wirral alone.
• There are 136 children under the age of 5 years who have an
Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) and there are 193 children
who were receiving Special Education Needs Inclusion Fund for the
summer 2025 period.
• There is a significant rise in the number of children
displaying challenging behaviour or Special Education Needs &
Disabilities (SEND).
• Early Years practitioners are finding it increasingly
difficult to access training opportunities for several reasons,
including ratio and staffing levels.
• With the loss of many experienced staff across early years
settings, remaining practitioners are struggling to manage
behaviour effectively and often lack the confidence and knowledge
to adapt their teaching approaches or environments to meet the
diverse needs of the children.
• The environment in the Early Years setting is not always
inclusive for children with SEND
• Staff within Early Years settings attend training but many
do not have the confidence or experience to relay this information
to other members of staff, nor are able to enhance the
environmental surroundings and put into practice what they have
learnt.
• The Early Years team within the Council do not have
sufficient capacity to provide the intensity of support required to
ensure all Early Years settings are inclusive and can support
children with SEND.
• This contract will provide additional support and training
to Early Years settings, including child minders, who are working
with children displaying social communication difficulties. It will
draw upon the personal and professional knowledge and expertise of
the provider to deliver sustainable packages of support and
training to Early Years providers who support children with social
communication difficulties.
• A detailed specification of requirements for the required
services was issued on 31st July 2025 and a tender exercise
undertaken. 8 bids were received. The bids were evaluated having
regard to the most advantageous tenderer criteria as detailed in
the exempt Appendix, with the following weightings Price 10%,
Quality 80% and Social Value 10%.
• Koala North West Ltd was the preferred tenderer, scoring the
highest having regard to the evaluation criteria.
• The contract value of the award is £250,000 if the
contract were to proceed for the 2-year term
• Appendix 1 contains exempt information as defined in
Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972. It is in the public
interest to exclude the press and public under Paragraph 3
‘Information relating to the financial or business affairs of
any particular person (including the authority holding the
information).’

Alternative options considered

The Council Early Years practitioners could
provide
additional support to Early Years settings but they are
already overstretched and unable to meet the needs of
settings of whom have a rising number of children with
SEND.

Consider a different contract term, but as this is a new contract
and new model it is felt that a 12-month contract with the option
of a further 12-month extension is sufficient to review the impact
of the service.