Buxton charity say they have been 'discriminated against' in council tender application

Good News Family Care Homes is a Christian based registered charity providing a safe-haven, for women and children affected by debilitating circumstances such as domestic abuse as well as homelessness or substance abuse.

It provides accommodation and practical help as well as an education program and nursery facility.

They had previously been the beneficiary of Government funding administered by Derbyshire County Council, DCC.

The charity was invited to place Tenders in both sectors, Domestic Abuse (DA) and Recovery.

However, both tenders have been rejected.

Ray Baker, finance lead for the charity, said: “We believe the tendering process was just a sham, why was it ever allowed to go ahead?

“We spent many hours on our tenders as I am sure other smaller providers also did when DCC could have been open from the start in saying they were looking for larger organisations only, of course to have done so would have highlighted the discrimination that is sadly endemic in this council.”

The Good News Family Care Homes has almost 30 years of experience in the sector.

Ray said: “We would have been the most economically viable provider for the Buxton area as we are already set up and running with the expertise at hand, this in turn would have left a greater proportion of the money available for other organisations.

“The organisation which has been accepted has no facilities in Buxton or surrounds so the area may lose this much needed provision unless this decision can be reversed.”

Derbyshire County Council strongly refute the claims of discrimination.

A spokesperson said: “We appreciate the support Good News Family Care Homes have been able to offer in Buxton since 2017 using the Government grant funding we bid for on behalf of services providers.”

The council said the way they were able to fund groups like Good News Family Care Homes year by year ended nationally with the introduction of the Domestic Abuse Act in 2021 which gave them new responsibilities in how they provide accommodation-based support for victims of domestic abuse and their families.

The spokesperson said: “The guarantee of this ongoing funding has allowed us to extend these commissioned services on a long-term basis, providing security and stability of provision across the county - including ongoing support for residents in and around Buxton.”

They say they informed Good News Family Care Homes in April last year that 2023/24 would be the final year this provision would be grant funded and the charity even attended a consultation event about the re-procurement of service.

The council said the bid was unsuccessful and they provided feedback saying it was deemed non-compliant due to an abnormally low contract price for a countywide service due to the submission not covering all aspects of the service specification.

The spokesperson added: “The re-procurement process also included opportunities for consortia bids to give smaller organisations like Good News Family Care Homes the opportunity to join forces with others to make bids, but they did not submit one. The contract was awarded to a consortia bid on this occasion, not one large organisation.”