Decision details

The decision has been made to put £40,000 of funding towards a bereavement service for children, young people and families who have experienced the loss of a loved one, parent, grandparent, sibling or child.

Effective bereavement support has been identified as a gap within current provision in Barnsley and has thus resulted in the procurement of a support service offer quality support and care to help with the grieving process. The service will also look to offer training support and guidance to other professionals to ensure a sustained level of support remains beyond the remit of the service should the pilot not be extended.

This decision has been made in consultation with Phil Ainsworth(Public Health Senior Practitioner), Diane Lee (Head of Public Health) Helen Goddard (Public Health Officer), Lauren Nixon (CYP Mental Health Transformation Lead) and Angela Fawcett (Designated Safeguarding Officer for Children -Barnsley CCG). There are no known conflicts of interest related to this project or its decisions.

There is currently very little support for children and family units that have lost love ones. The offer currently provided by Barnsley Bereavement Support Service is mainly adult focused and we have consulted with them in relation to procuring this pilot in which they fully supported. They also expressed that they did not wish tender for this. Schools and teaching staff have also expressed this is a real issue for them and fully support having some provision they could refer into. As it is a new offer, a 12 month pilot will allow us to fully understand the scale, need and benefits of the service before looking to secure further longer term funding for this kind of provision.