To commission adult social care services, we use the ‘commissioning cycle’.
Plan
We will plan:
- identify needs
- analyse demand
- conduct market analysis
- provide consultation and co-production
- design services
Procure
We will procure:
- define procurement approach
- competition
- evaluation
- contract award
Monitor
We will monitor:
- contract monitoring
- continual assessment of the market
- customer feedback
- lessons learnt
Our people, whether they are customers, adult social care workforce or our general residents will always be at the centre of this process.
Procurement of services is usually done via The Chest online portal.
Once services are in place, contracts are monitored via a standardised process, which for regulated services includes oversight from our quality team.
Useful links
Visit the following links to find out what working with the council is like and for some further useful information.
Procurement and working with the council:
- Procurement, social value, tenders and contracts information
- Current opportunities on The Chest (the North-West’s local authority procurement portal)
- The Chest guidance page
- Procurement Act 2023 guidance (for contracts tendered on or after 24 February 2025)
- Public Contracts Regulations 2015 guidance (for contracts tendered before 24 February 2025)
Council documents:
- Cumberland Council’s constitution (please see part 3, section 7 for contract procedure rules)
- Cumberland Council plan 2023 to 2027
Relevant legislation:
- Care Act 2014 explanatory notes
- Care and support statutory guidance (GOV.UK)
- Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 explanatory notes
Local population and care staff statistics:
- Cumbria Intelligence Observatory
- Skills for Care adult social care workforce data by local area 2023 to 2024
For local safeguarding adults policies go to Cumbria Safeguarding Adults Board website