One of the key priorities of Sunderland Children’s Trust is commissioning

Commissioning is an important process for securing better outcomes and meeting increasing budget pressures. Sunderland Children's Services Directorate is fully committed to the outcomes based commissioning approach. This approach aims to shift the emphasis from what services a provider will offer to what outcomes they will achieve. This area of the website is intended to provide support to those who work to improve services for children, young people and their families. It is essential for those who undertake the commissioning activities and it is also relevant to providers who need to understand the commissioning process in order to develop their service delivery to ultimately lead to improved outcomes. The Children’s Services Directorate have produced the Commissioning Handbook, which has been endorsed by the Children’s Trust. It is anticipated that partner agencies and partnerships apply it throughout their commissioning activities to develop effective practice.

The Commissioning Handbook ( 278kb) provides general information to support the commissioning process. It explains the process and the activities within it. It also refers to supplementary materials throughout the Handbook that offer useful tools that will support each activity in the process.

The Handbook aims to help you develop strategies and achieve better value for money through improved efficiency and effectiveness. This will lead to better planning, more mainstreaming of specialist services, embed user participation within the process and support a preventative agenda, offering specific help for vulnerable children and young people.

The overall aim is to help you to be effective in your service improvement and commissioning work. The Handbook provides a framework of guidance, resources and support to help you through the commissioning process and identifies ways in which you can make a positive impact on the lives of children, young people and their families. Its key purpose is to create a common approach to commissioning across agencies by providing principles, guidance and support for commissioning activity.

The Handbook and toolkit are practical tools to help you follow the planning and commissioning process.

The Handbook has two key sections. The first section provides detailed background information on commissioning and provides an overview of arrangements in Sunderland. The second section follows the four key activities of Assess – Plan – Do – Review and sets out the:

• tasks involved at each of these activities
• positive outcomes of completing the activity
• practical tools and resources to help you complete the activity

We hope you have found the pages on commissioning useful and will return to them again.

You can contact the Commissioning Team directly on 0191 561 7164 or 561 7162, by email: sct@sunderland.gov.uk or you can tell us what you think by posting any comments and suggestions on the feedback form below.

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