The Police and Crime Commissioners (PCC) in both Cleveland and Durham would like to make an extension of twelve months, to the existing Victim Care and Advice Service (VCAS) Contract delivered by Safer Communities.
The VCAS contract was extended previously to March 2021 with the genuinely justifiable reason being to ensure continuity of service provision throughout the PCC election period, ensuring the incoming PCC (post May 2020) is not committed to a long-term contractual arrangement for victims’ services. The risk of re-procuring this service for a short period of time may result in limited interest from the market.
As a result of the national pandemic the PCC elections were postponed for 12 months to May 2021. In support of this and due to the uncertainty across the market this exemption is to further extend the service for 12 months to March 2022.
It is Cleveland’s intention to re-commission a Victim Referral Service post March 22, in support of this the Cleveland OPCC has procured a partner to undertake a Victim Needs Assessment. This will review the current model delivered by VCAS and help inform what a model should look like post March 2022.