Advice Services

Description

Havant Borough Council (the council), is inviting tenders from suitably qualified suppliers for the provision of open access social welfare services for people across Havant Borough. The purpose of the service is to: - Provide free, confidential, impartial advice to people in need, over the age of 16 who live or work in Havant Borough. - Improve outcomes for individuals and help prevent future crisis, whilst helping reduce demand for health care, social care, housing, and other statutory services. - Seek to understand the underlying causes of people's problems with the aim of helping the individual better deal with the symptoms of their challengers by offering a holistic advice and support service. The Service must be available through a range of options, with and without appointment, on a walk-in basis at accessible locations in the Borough, by telephone, email or other technologies that provide confidential communication. The Service must provide advice that is accurate, up-to-date, lawful, and fit for purpose. It shall be tailored to meet the needs of the customer. Therefore the Service must provide advisors training is areas of high volume / high value demand, and who are also able to help customers find answers that fall outside of these areas. The highest areas of demand are welfare benefits, debt, housing, consumer issues and other issues including family rights, employer rights etc. In addition, the Service must provide specific debt and other advice to council housing customers. This will include attendance at the council's premises for 1.5 days per week to work directly with the councils housing team. The council's budget for this service is £141,000 per year. This will be paid in 2 instalments in March and October each year. The contract is due to commence on 01 April 2026 for an initial period of 3 years, ending on 31 March 2029. The contract includes the option to extend for additional periods to be agreed, to a maximum contract term of 5 years. Bidders are advised to note that TUPE does apply to this service. TUPE information is available to bidders on request and on completion of a non-disclosure agreement. The key dates for this tender process are: - Tender Notice and documents published: 05 December 2025 - Tender submission deadline: 12:00 on 19 January 2026 - Standstill period: 30 January 2026 - 11 February 2026 - Contract start date: 01 April 2026 Keywords: advice service, Welfare advice