To:
a)note the content of the report as well as the comments and recommendations from the Resources and Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee at its meeting on 4 June 2025, as set out in full within the minutes (attached as Appendix 1) to the report;
b)approve the proposed Heads of Terms for the Careline/Helpline Transfer (attached as Appendix 2 to the report) and authorise the Corporate Director – Planning and Community and Corporate Director – Law and Governance to proceed, with support from the Council’s external legal advisors, to enter into legal agreements with Colchester Amphora Trading Limited in accordance with those Heads of Terms;
c)agree that the proposed Careline/Helpline transfer be delivered broadly in accordance with the Transition Plan Timetable (attached as Schedule 3 to the Heads of Terms in Appendix 2) with the overall aim of completing the transfer on 1 August 2025;
d)agree that, in the event that all practical measures are in place to achieve the transfer on 1 August 2025, but detailed legal agreements are still in the process of being finalised, the transfer can still proceed on 1 August 2025 in line with the agreed Heads of Terms but with the finalisation of legal agreements completed no more than six weeks following the transfer;
e)agree to expenditure from the agreed £0.746 one-off implementation budget in line with that indicated within the ‘Breakdown of projected budgetary implications’ attached as Appendix 3 and authorise the Corporate Director – Planning and Community to administer and monitor that expenditure as necessary;
f)note and following consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Assets and Community Safety (being responsible for the provision of CCTV) agree the updated Specification for CCTV Monitoring and Out of Hours Services (attached as Schedules 1 and 2 to the Heads of Terms in Appendix 2 respectively) for incorporation into the legal agreement(s) with Colchester Amphora Trading Limited and give delegated authority to the Corporate Director – Planning and Community to make any minor or factual amendments or corrections to these documents if required ahead of their incorporation into the legal documentation and ahead of the proposed transfer;
g)request the Corporate Director – Planning and Community and Corporate Director – Operations and Delivery, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Assets and Community Safety (being responsible for the provision of CCTV) to review the Council’s CCTV Policy and CCTV Code of Practice and make any necessary consequential updates and practical changes needed, on an interim basis, to reflect CCTV monitoring transferring to the Helpline service provided by Amphora; and as necessary, the updated Policy and Code of Practice are reported to Cabinet for consideration as soon as practicable after the transfer;
h)note that the Corporate Director – Operations and Delivery, in accordance with the Property Dealing Procedure, will agree and enter into a Licence agreement with Amphora Trading Limited for the use of accommodation at Barnes House on the terms set out in the Licence Agreement (attached as Schedule 6 to the Heads of Terms in Appendix 2);
i)note the letter of support from Colchester City Council dated 30 June 2025 for the Careline/Helpline transfer; and
j)request that if any matters arise that indicate any significant deviation from the agreed Transition Plan timetable, the proposed 1 August 2025 transfer or the proposed use of the one-off implementation budget, this be reported back to the Portfolio Holder for Partnerships at the earliest opportunity after 1 August 2025, with (if necessary) revised recommendations from the Corporate Director – Planning and Community for how to proceed.

On 21 February 2025, the Cabinet considered a report entitled ‘Tendring Careline: Decision on the Future of the Service’ seeking its decision on the future of the Careline service – following a 12-month review of the service and a subsequent stakeholder consultation exercise.
At that meeting, the Cabinet resolved to agree a preferred option; i.e. for the creation of a combined and expanded telecare, response and lifting service for North East Essex that aligns with the aims and of objectives of the North East Essex Health and Wellbeing Alliance for an integrated health-system approach. This will be achieved through the automatic transfer of all remaining Tendring Careline service-users to the Helpline service provided by Colchester City Council’s arms-length trading company Amphora, on their existing terms of conditions and with no ongoing financial liability to Tendring District Council following that transfer.
The Cabinet’s resolution also included the agreement in principle that the Council’s Out-of-Hours, CCTV services and monitoring for the Council’s own sheltered housing schemes will also transfer to Colchester Helpline under an outsourcing arrangement within the same timescales.
Recommendation i) within the Cabinet’s February 2025 resolution authorises the Portfolio Holder for Partnerships, in consultation with the Leader of the Council the Director for Planning and Community [now Corporate Director – Planning and Community]; the Monitoring Officer [Corporate Director – Law and Governance]; the Section 151 Officer [Corporate Director – Finance and the Head of People [now Assistant Director – People] to progress and deliver, amongst other things: the preparation of a detailed transition plan in collaboration with Colchester City Council and Colchester Helpline (Amphora), including the associated legal agreement and specific tasks and timescales for the achievement of the proposals under resolutions d) and e), having regard to the broad Indicative Transition Plan outlined within that February Cabinet report.
The purpose of the Transition Plan and the Heads of Terms for a formal agreement with Amphora supported by Colchester City Council is to ensure a coordinated approach to facilitating the transfer of these services in a smooth and timely manner, recognising the complexities of the service; with the overarching priority of maintaining continuity and quality of service to service-users throughout the transition period and minimising disruption and inconvenience.
Delegation was also given by the Cabinet in February 2025 to the Portfolio Holder for Partnerships to progress agreement with Amphora to use accommodation at Barnes House for use as a temporary outpost for the provision of the expanded Helpline; any financial contribution towards upgrading of service-user equipment; and utilisation of the remainder of the implementation budget. This report and its recommendations address those matters accordingly.

To seek to achieve the Careline/Helpline transition without a plan or Heads of Terms for necessary legal agreements puts at risk the Council’s ability to achieve a smooth and timely transfer, gives rise to potential problems, unforeseen legal risks and abortive costs. As the overarching priority is to ensure service continuity and quality whilst minimising disruption and inconvenience to service-users, proceeding without a plan increases the risk that this will not be achieved.
The Transition Plan and Heads of Terms could potentially include different timescales for different tasks that achieve the transition in a different way; however the tasks and measures identified in this report are considered by Officers, in negotiation with Colchester City Council and Amphora, to represent a positive direction of travel that recognise practical complexities, financial and other considerations.
At its meeting of 4 June 2025, the Resources and Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee (RSOSC) considered and commented on emerging versions of the proposals – for which the minutes are attached to this report as Appendix 1. From comments and recommendations from the Committee, concern was expressed about the realistic achievability of the proposed 1 August 2025 transfer date given the range and complexity of issues that would still need to be resolved in advance of the transfer. It was also suggested that funding for the Out of Hours and CCTV monitoring (the transitional service payment) should ideally be split over 2025/26, 2026/27 and 2027/28 instead of a single instalment in 2025/26 as has been proposed.
Proposing a later alternative transfer date for instance 1 September or 1 October 2025 would provide additional time to complete the necessary pre-transfer tasks but would also extend the transition period within which the Council would need to rely on third-party support for call handling and physical response in a time of increasing staff shortage and difficulty in covering shifts. This in turn would increase the risk of service disruption to older and vulnerable residents and increased financial cost to the Council, as identified elsewhere in this report. If however it becomes apparent that the 1 August transfer date is not likely to be achieved, this report contains a recommendation for the delay to be reported to the Portfolio Holder for Partnerships with revised recommendations, if necessary, for how to proceed through an extended transition period.
The alternative approach in respect of the splitting the transitional service payment over three financial years rather than having a single instalment in 2025/26 has been considered as a means of enabling the Council to hold back payment if there are any concerns about Amphora’s performance or service delivery; however such an approach would require the Council to commit to either carrying forward unspent funds from the one-off implementation budget into 2026/27 and 2027/28; agreeing a revenue budget for 2026/27 and 2027/28; or working into the legal agreement(s) a mechanism by which Colchester City Council, as the owner of Amphora, administers staged payments over the three financial years on TDC’s behalf. It could also increase the risk of year-on-year inflationary pressure, whereas a single one-off payment would be immune to inflationary increases and can be accounted for, cleanly, through the one-off implementation budget with no ongoing cost.
Whilst the preference within the recommendations of the Resources and Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee was to split the payments over three years, if a single payment were to be pursued the Committee suggested that the legal agreement(s) should be clear and firm in its mechanisms for securing improvement should performance failures be identified. The proposal is therefore to continue with a single transitional service payment to Amphora to, but with clauses worked into the legal agreements to ensure TDC could, in the unlikely event of poor performance or service failure, terminate the agreement and/or reclaim funds.