Ealing Council is set to re-tender its £7.15 million contract for the 0-19 Healthy Child Programme (HCP) service, which includes health visiting, school nursing, and child weight management services. The procurement process will need to be expedited to avoid a contract gap post-1st October 2025, with the aim of having a new contract in place within 12 months.
The decision, made during a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday 11 November 2025, follows unsuccessful contract negotiations with the current provider, Central London Community Health NHS Trust (CLCH). Detailed contract negotiations with CLCH halted because the pricing requested exceeded available financial resources, making a direct award under the Provider Selection Regime (PSR) no longer permissible due to the material change in the financial envelope, according to the council report.
The annual value of the proposed new contract is £7.15m per annum. The budget for the current contract is currently £5.58m per annum. In response to a successful business case and independent service review in 2023, £516,000 of additional, recurrent funding has been allocated from the Public Health grant to meet the rising demand for this service.
The 0-19 Healthy Child Programme service includes:
- The Health Visiting Service (HVS) for children aged 0-5 years and their parents/carers
- Family Nurse Partnership (FNP) intensive home visiting service for vulnerable young first-time mothers
- The School Nursing Service (SNS)
- The Child Weight Management (CWM) service.
The new contract will be procured through a competitive tendering process for an initial period of four years, with the option to extend for a further two plus one years, making a total of seven years. The Strategic Director for Children's Services has been delegated the authority to award the contract and exercise the option to extend.