Council set to award £570m for care contracts

A council is set to award a care contract valued at more than £570m to service providers.

Peterborough City Council's cabinet is being asked to approve the award of the contract to the successful bidders at a meeting on Tuesday.

A report to be presented to cabinet said there had been a "sharp increase in demand" for services and the Care in the Community contract would cover homecare, extra-care housing, supported living and specialist community support.

The new contract will cover an initial three-year period, with options to extend up to the end of March 2035.

The report to the cabinet said: "This new contract introduces new capacity which is representative of the cultural needs of the city and supports the council to maintain good quality provision of services which provide the people of Peterborough with choice and control about the care which they receive."

The total contract value for the whole framework up to 31 March 2035 is £570,899,013.

The figures were calculated with the projected increase in demand for care over the next 10 years, as well as accounting for predicted rises in inflation.

At a council scrutiny committee meeting on Tuesday, Debbie McQuade, service director for adults and safeguarding, said: "Whilst it is a significant amount of money, it's over quite a prolonged period of time and probably no more than what we've already committed in terms of our budget."

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