PKC13156 - Community Integration Resettlement Support

Description

The primary objective of this contract is to support individuals and families throughout their resettlement journey to integrate with local communities and cultures. Individuals should be signposted to the relevant services and information, and provided with the support they need to be able to use these services independently, and increase their awareness of the support available to them from within the community. Support individuals to establish social contacts and to attend appointments and courses - for example, join a local interest group, attend ESOL classes, go to GP and dentist appointments, register with Job Centre Plus and to support individuals and families to access mental health and trauma informed support networks as appropriate. It is expected that the successful provider will engage with service users to become active residents of Perth & Kinross, to connect to a supportive community and to use their skills to enrich the communities in which they live. Individuals should be encouraged to use their developing English language skills in social settings and in their engagement with the wider community. Individuals should be supported to ensure an appropriate understanding of laws and rights and any concerns relating to child protection or safeguarding issues should be appropriately reported Lot 1: Perth was recently awarded “City of Sanctuary” status and requires a comprehensive integration and resettlement service to support refugees to resettle in the Perth & Kinross Council area. The service will be available on a flexible basis which may require staff to work evenings and weekends, be available at short notice, and be willing to travel throughout Perth & Kinross. Interpretation and translation services will be required including but not limited to Dari, Pashto, Ukrainian, Russian languages. A dedicated telephone helpline will be available during office hours, with an answering service for calls received outside of office hours. For the avoidance of doubt, office hours will be Monday to Friday between the hours of 09:00 to 17:00. It is expected that this helpline should be able to provide multilingual advice on a range of refugee and asylum issues. Regular contact with Perth & Kinross Council will be maintained, which will include attendance at meetings and multi-agency working groups as required. Relevant staff will be appropriately qualified, skilled, trained and experienced in working with the service user group. The provider should be able to provide expert advice to Perth & Kinross Council and other partners on immigration and refugee related issues, including but not limited to family reunification, asylum matters, visas and irregular immigration status. All staff must undergo a satisfactory Enhanced Disclosure Check and register with the Protection of Vulnerable Groups scheme prior to any contact with service users. The service will deliver up to 1456 hours of direct support per annum to relocated individuals/families during the contract. This is based on a 0.8FTE support worker working 28 hours per week (0.8FTE). The Provider and their staff will be knowledgeable about the UK resettlement schemes and other such national initiatives involving the service user group. The provider is expected to be experienced in connecting communities with refugee supporting groups and engaging with national strategy development such as the New Scots Strategy. The Provider and their staff will be aware of the responsibilities of different government bodies, including local authorities, in relation to the service user group.. Perth and Kinross Council are seeking to carry out market research to identify service providers capable of offering the specialist integration support required to enable refugees to resettle in Perth and Kinross. Service Providers should register their interest no later than 1200 on Friday 24 January 2025.