Health and social work services

Description

The secretary of state for the Home Department (‘the Home Office’) has overall responsibility for policing in England and Wales and for the fire service in England only. Policing in Scotland and the fire service in both Wales and Scotland are devolved powers. However, the requirements under the contract being tendered relate to both policing and fire in England, Scotland and Wales. As part of this responsibility, the department is empowered to consider any appeal by a pension scheme member against a decision made by a police force or fire authority in relation to an ill-health pension or injury benefit award. In order to administer such appeals, the Department appoints a contractor with the capability to appoint and manage independent appeal boards staffed by qualified medical practitioners. The current contract expires on 30.9.2019 and the Department is inviting bids from organisations for the 3 year replacement framework opportunity. The secretary of state for the Home Department (‘the Home Office’) has overall responsibility for policing in England and Wales and for the fire service in England only. Policing in Scotland and the fire service in both Wales and Scotland are devolved powers. However, the requirements under the contract being tendered relate to both policing and fire in England, Scotland and Wales. The Home Office requires a provider to manage boards of medical referees who will conduct medical appeals under the appropriate police and fire pension regulations in England, Wales and Scotland. The required services comprise the provision of regional medical appeal boards for the police and fire services in England, Wales and Scotland, in accordance with relevant pension and injury benefit regulations. Scope: The scope of the framework agreement includes the following: — administering police and fire medical appeal boards, — recruitment and training of members with appropriate expertise, — monitoring and reporting of key performance indicators, — producing annual and quarterly reports submitted formally to the Home Office, — access to legal advice both before and after the hearings, whether from providers own legally qualified staff or through external legal advisers’ and ‘post decision case-work, — providing stakeholders, such as pension authorities, selected medical practitioners, fire trades unions and the Police Federation with at least one day of training per year in relation to medical appeal boards. Training will be based on stakeholder needs and feedback from board members and is distinct from training provided by parent organisations, — to ensure independence of the appeal board process.