Innovation Support for Prototype Projects in Children and Young People Services

Children's services across the North West region are facing significant challenges including high child poverty rates (with Liverpool having the highest nationally), workforce shortages, and rising residential care costs. Over 100,000 children live in low-income households, and families struggle to access available support services, limiting life chances and wellbeing. The Office for Public Service Innovation (OPSI) is commissioning practical, resident-centred solutions to address these systemic pressures on an already strained system. This opportunity involves developing and testing implementable prototype solutions in partnership with local authorities and service providers. Capacity has been selected to lead this commission, which aims to identify scalable approaches that can be deployed across the region to improve outcomes for vulnerable children and families. Suppliers and partners interested in contributing to solution development, prototyping, or implementation support should note this represents a significant investment in understanding what effective interventions could look like in practice.