National contracts for the placement of children and young people
Local authorities purchase children's services from the public, private and voluntary sectors. This has led to a wide variety of contracting arrangements for services such as special-school placements, residential-care placements and foster-care placements.
The Department for Children, Schools and Families, working with the Department of Health, has supported the development of standardised contracts. The aim of these contracts is to minimise duplication, share good practice, simplify transactions for both commissioners and suppliers and ensure a fair and transparent market.
Three national contracts have now been published:
- The national contract for the placement of children in independent special
schools (published May 2007, updated August 2008)
- The national contract for the placement of children in residential homes
(published November 2007)
- The national contract for foster-care placements (published October 2008)
The National Contracts Steering Group will continue to support the development of further contracts and to review all the national contracts in place. The group acts as a national reference point, advises on information sharing between commissioners and providers, and reviews development and use of national contracts. It will also review all contracts on an annual basis taking account of information.
1. National contract for non-maintained and independent special schools
For full details, the contract and supporting documents, go to National contract for non-maintained and independent special schools held in the Resource and Practice section.
2. National contract for children's residential homes
The national contract for the placement of children in residential homes was developed and made available for use by local authority commissioners and all providers in the children's residential-homes market.
For full details, the contract and supporting documents, go to National contract for children's residential homes.
3. National contract for foster care
The national contract for the placement of children into foster care,
published in October 2008, is for use by local authority commissioners and
all providers in the foster-care market.
For full details, the contract and its schedules, go to National
contract for the placement of children in foster care.
This page was last updated on 06 October 2008
