Bereaved by suicide support service

Portsmouth City Council are seeking to go out to tender on behalf of our partners in Hampshire, Southampton and the Isle of Wight for a Bereavement Support Service.

The Hampshire and Isle of Wight Sustainability and Transformation Partnership (STP) footprint has been allocated funding for a Suicide Prevention Programme.

The overarching programme focuses on three of the main priority areas identified in the National Suicide Prevention Strategy:
o middle-aged men (aged 35-54 years), who remain at the highest risk of suicide
o people who use mental health services, who account for around a third of all suicides in England
o people who self-harm, which is the biggest indicator of suicide risk.

In addition to the three priorities identified above, is support for people bereaved by suicide or suspected suicide.

The purpose of the service will be to provide:
o Single Point of Access: provision on bereavement support to those affected by suicide or suspected suicide from the point of bereavement
o Information Provision, Awareness Raising and Partnership Working; and,
o Training: Provision of training to upskill existing services including statutory and voluntary organisations.

The council is aiming to commence the service on 1st March 2022 pending assessment of suitable bids by providers.

The initial contract term will be for 1 year with possibility of extending the term by a further 2 years to a maximum total term of 3 years in increments to be agreed, subject to the agreement and performance of both parties.

The estimated value of the contract is ?476,000 over the three-year maximum term. As it stands, the initial ?240,000 for year 1 is secure with the ?118,000 per annum for years 2 and 3 not confirmed however NHS England has advised the commissioners to plan for the service to run over the three years. Commissioners are currently putting together their submission to obtain funding for financial year 22/23.

Commissioners will work towards securing additional funding in years 2 and 3 to align to year 1 funding. Should this be the case then the total contract value could be in the region of ?720,000. The annual value of the contract may therefore vary over the lifetime of the contract.