Decision

The Director of Children Family and Education
Services has:

(1) endorsed the tendering process for the Parent Advocate Service:
and

(2) approved the award of a contract for the Parent Advocate
Service to Koala NW (Company Number 07314767) as the most
advantageous tenderer with effect from 1st February 2026 for a
14-month term at a total contract value of £240,000.

Reasons for the decision

• In April 2024, the Department for
Education announced that Wirral had been selected as one of only
seven local authorities in the country to be a Families First for
Children Pathfinder. As a Pathfinder area we have been testing the
government’s reforms over the last 18-months and will
continue to refine and develop our approach over the next 12
months.
• The Parent Advocacy Service falls into the child protection
focus area of the Pathfinder Programme.
• Effective multi-agency child protection is a system where
the right decisions are made at the right time for children to keep
them safe.
• One of the key parts of the Child Protection Reform is to
provide parents and carers with information, support, and advice.
This includes ensuring services provide clear and accessible
information about all aspects of the child protection process, and
the provision of parental advocates to support parents and carers
through the process.
• Wirral Council implemented a pilot of the Parent Advocacy
Service from 1st August 2024 – 31st January 2026. This was
delivered by the Early Help Alliance through a contractual
variation on their existing contract which was aligned to the
objectives of the Families First for Children Pathfinder
programme.
• Due to the success of the pilot, and the successful award of
a further 12-months of DfE pathfinder funding, a decision was made
to continue with the Parent Advocacy Service.
• A detailed specification of requirements for the required
services was issued on 20th November 2025 and a tender exercise
undertaken. 5 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 20%,
Quality 70% and Social Value 10%.
• Koala NW was the preferred tenderer, scoring the highest
having regard to the evaluation criteria.
• The contract value of the award is £240,000 for the
14-month 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

Consider a different contract term, but the
14-month contract term is based on the additional funding received
from Department of Education for the Pathfinder Programme.

Complete a business case to request a contract variation for
the Early Help Alliance to continue to deliver this service.
This would however reduce the contract term due to
previous financial variations.