Commissioning Toolkits for Local Authorities

Services for young people are facing unprecedented changes. In their strategic leadership role local authorities are considering the needs of young people and their communities and trying to shape the best offer they can to meet those needs at a time of significant financial restraint.

We know that local authorities have commissioning teams with a high level of knowledge and skills in commissioning processes, but we also know some of them are commissioning young people’s services, such as youth work and targeted youth support, for the first time.

For this reason the NYA has worked with several local authorities to produce commissioning guidance as part of our Routes to Success programme of work with the LGA.

The aim is to support local authority commissioners and organisations that deliver young people’s services in identifying whether commissioning is the right route to take, and if it is commissioning and providing high quality services for young people.

The guides are aimed at a range of people involved in the commissioning process, including providers.

The documents below are a series of ten commissioning guides.

A Practical Guide to Commissioning Services for Young People

Part 1: Guidance

Part 2: Commissioning Readiness Tool

Part 3: Developing a Needs Analysis

Part 4: Business Case and Options Appraisal

Part 5: Producing an Outcomes Based Specification

Part 6: Workforce Development Guidance

Part 7: Developing a Local Market

Part 8: Decommissioning Checklist

Part 9: Guidance for Elected Members

Part 10: Involving Young People in Commissioning

We will be reviewing the content of these documents in the near future and would welcome comment on these. Please contact Peta Halls for further info.