The Delegated Decisions by Cabinet Member for Finance, Property and Transformation is scheduled to meet on 12 December 2025 to discuss and decide on the leasehold acquisition of a warehouse in Bicester for use by the Adult Social Service and their contractor, Millbrook Healthcare Limited, for the Integrated Community Equipment Service (ICES).

Here are the topics that are expected to be discussed.

Leasehold Acquisition of Warehouse

Councillor Dan Levy, Cabinet Member for Finance, Property and Transformation, is scheduled to consider a report regarding the leasehold acquisition of a warehouse in Bicester for the Integrated Community Equipment Service (ICES). The report recommends that Councillor Dan Levy approves option 1 in Appendix 1 for the leasehold acquisition of a warehouse in Bicester for use by Adult Social Service and their contractor for ICES.

The report explains that Oxfordshire's previous provider for ICES, NRS Healthcare, entered liquidation in August 2025. Following this, a three-year contract, running from 1 August 2025 to 31 July 2028, was awarded to Millbrook Healthcare Limited under emergency provision. The service requires a warehouse for storage, decontamination, recycling, and refurbishment of equipment, as well as to support transportation of equipment across the county.

After the collapse of NRS Healthcare, Oxfordshire County Council (OCC) was unable to access NRS Healthcare's previous warehouse in Bicester for several weeks. The council sourced five temporary storage solutions to maintain an emergency level of service. The report notes that at the time of the NRS Healthcare collapse, the unit NRS Healthcare rented was in the process of being sold, which delayed the transfer of the lease. The building was eventually sold in late October, and the OCC Property Team negotiated a new three-year lease. However, the new landlord exercised their right to terminate the lease early, giving three months' notice on 22 October 2025.

The OCC Property team has been working with Millbrook to identify suitable replacement warehouses. It was decided that the service should remain in Bicester to reduce the risk of losing NRS staff now working for Millbrook and consequently impact service delivery. An alternative property in Bicester was identified, and heads of terms were agreed for a six-year lease, including a break clause exercisable after 1 August 2028. Millbrook advised that alterations to the property would be needed, but these works would not be completed by the 22 January deadline.

The report states that on 12 November 2025, the new landlord for the existing building offered OCC the opportunity to renegotiate terms for a new lease and that Property, Commissioning and Millbrook have had several meetings to discuss the available options.

The report notes that proceeding with Option 1 was decided at Adult Social Care DLT¹ on Monday 1 December.

The report compares the financials of the two options and states that the key differential is the risk to service delivery, with the recommended option posing the least amount of risk.

The report claims that in normal circumstances, it would be the Provider's responsibility to source warehousing to deliver the service. However, given the cost of the emergency stand up and additional 6+6% margin OCC is paying to Millbrook, OCC explored opportunities to mitigate. It was suggested that, to save on the 6+6%, OCC could take on the lease of the warehouse directly. This would avoid the 6+6% payment, remove the risk of access issues in the event of another provider failure and is in alignment with OCC's ambition to become a corporate landlord in line with the approved Property Strategy.

The report notes that the Community Equipment service with Millbrook was estimated to cost £9.8m per annum, including estimated warehousing costs at c.£500k per annum which, as with all other costs in the contract, would be subject to a 6+6% additional fee – equating to a 13.6% additional charge - totalling £568k per annum. The report claims that both options proposed are significantly below this estimate, and that the preferred option of option 1 which costs £448k per annum (rent, service charge and an estimated sum for utilities etc) is therefore £120k per annum cheaper compared to Millbrook's forecast.

The report notes that Option 1 has higher revenue costs with the overall difference between the two proposed warehousing options being £91,000 per annum. However, option 1 avoids the need to move the equipment service, causing significant disruption over winter, the cost of which would likely exceed the cost differential between the options in bed days, bed occupancy, and deconditioning leading to larger care packages because of increased length of stay in hospital. Option 1 also avoids a £639k upfront fit out cost in year 1, when the budget for community equipment is already forecasting an £800k overspend this year across OCC and ICB².

The report states that the council is acquiring this lease, instead of Millbrook, where they would have to pay an additional a 6+6% which is projected to reduce spend by £295k over the duration of the contract.

The report notes that the unit will be occupied by way of a lease that will not be protected by the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954, and that the lease is for ten years with a five year break clause which only OCC can activate. The terms proposed for the draft lease are in line with normal commercial leases and will include a provision allowing OCC to share occupation with Millbrook. The rent is £278,928 + VAT per annum (after a 3 month rent free period) and will be reviewed upwards in line with RPI³ after 5 years. There will also be a service charge to pay (amount TBC). Stamp Duty Land Tax will come to around £25,500.

Other Items

The agenda also includes standard items such as:

• Declarations of interest from councillors.
• Questions from county councillors.
• Petitions and public address.