The way Gloucestershire County Council requests professional services to support the interventions of children’s social care is moving towards a framework (the “Access to Resources Framework”).

After launching in June 2023, the Council is now preparing to launch the second application round to enable interested providers to apply to join it. They are keen to invite local providers across the county, and further afield who supply professional services to apply to join.

The types of services likely to be requested through the framework have been grouped into 3 core service areas, or ‘lots’*, and they are as follows:

Lot 1 – Independent Specialist Assessments & Testing	Lot 2 – Therapeutic Services		Lot 3 – Support to Families
Psychological Assessment	Art Therapy	SFBT (Solution Focussed Brief Therapy)	Advocacy
Cognitive Assessment	CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy)	MST Systemic/Multi Systemic Therapy	Community-Based Support
Independent Social Work Assessment	Counselling	Therapeutic Life Story work	Family Contact
Parenting Assessment	Dialectical Therapy	Therapeutic/Attachment Focused Parenting Support	Family Support
PAMS Assessment	DDP (Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy)	Therapeutic Support for Sexualised or Sexually Harmful Behaviour	Mentoring
Sexual Harm Assessment	Equine-assisted Therapy	Theraplay®	Paediatric First Aid
Special Guardianship Assessment	EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation & Reprocessing)	VIG (Video Interaction Guidance)	Welfare Checks
Fostering Assessments	Lego®-based Therapy
Adoption Assessments	NVR (Non-Violent Resistance Therapy)
Drug and Alcohol Testing	Play Therapy
DNA Testing	Psychotherapy

* Please note:

• Providers can apply to join one, several or all the lots listed above.
• They are particularly keen to from providers who can supply Art Therapy, Equine-Assisted Therapy, Lego-based Therapy, Non-Violent Resistance Therapy, Play Therapy, Theraplay, Video Interaction Guidance, Community-based Support, and Paediatric First Aid.
• The above list is not exhaustive as other services may be added from time to time.

Once the framework is fully operational (which will be in the next month or so), all requests will be listed under the framework via the Council’s eProcurement portal (www.supplyingthesouthwest.org.uk), and the Counci's social care colleagues will no longer be able to engage directly with providers to arrange services to support their work.

Gloucestershire County Council is holding an online session to provide further information about how the framework will operate, how interested providers can apply to join it, and give interested providers an opportunity to ask any questions. The session will take place on: Wednesday 20 September 2023 between 11.30am and 12.30pm (via MS Teams). Any providers interested in attending this session are requested to provide the information below and return to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. so they can email the Teams link as soon as possible:

1. Group/Organisation Name
2. Full Name
3. Job Title
4. Email Address
5. Which service(s) are you interested in supplying to the Council?

If you are unable to attend this session, they do have a suite of resources that they can share with you – please email them to let them know.