Guidance

Welfare support for British nationals detained overseas: call for bids

Published 23 November 2021

The Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO) aims to provide a consistently high quality consular service for British nationals in detention overseas. In support of this, the FCDO works in partnership with other organisations to provide assistance to British prisoners overseas.

Globally, the FCDO is currently providing consular assistance to nearly 2,000 British people detained overseas. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, we assisted approximately 5,000 arrest and detention cases a year, with around 2,000 in detention at any one time.

We invite proposals from organisations with relevant expertise to form a partnership with the FCDO’s Consular Directorate. This partnership will contribute to our objective to monitor, support, and where possible improve the welfare and protect the human rights of British people detained overseas.

Examples of appropriate specialist support may include but are not limited to:

• providing financial assistance to detainees for basic food, water, and essential medication in order to support health needs in custody where the local provision is poor
• providing tailored one-to-one welfare support, such as translation services and guidance via telephone calls and letters
• providing information and learning materials such as handbooks, factsheets, books, newsletters, educational materials and foreign language materials
• facilitating contact between prisoners, their families and others in the UK, such as providing international freepost envelopes, parcels, magazines, newspapers, and birthday and Christmas cards
• providing training to FCDO staff, either virtually or in person, about the work of the organisation such as consular training sessions and conferences (in the UK and overseas)
• providing support and advice to FCDO staff on relevant human rights issues and instruments (including in relation to conditions of detention, fair trial obligations, and torture and mistreatment). This may include providing dedicated human rights advisers to Consular Directorate
• attending meetings both virtually and in person to discuss ongoing policy and practice and the partnership, and case review meetings

Consular Directorate provides non-judgemental support. Our partners should demonstrate how they will provide support to detained British nationals consistently, ensuring that all cases receive due attention.

Budgets are subject to final agreement, but the anticipated maximum budget for this work, including advice and support on human rights issues, is £360,000 per annum. We welcome bids for a proportion of this funding or up to the maximum amount.

If a higher level of funding or dedicated staffing could achieve an improved service, you should explain this and we will consider it. We will not provide funding to cover organisational overhead costs not directly attributable to the support of British nationals’ cases and the objectives of Consular Directorate.

1. Who can bid

We welcome proposals from organisations able to provide welfare support to British prisoners detained outside the UK and support to the FCDO on human rights issues relevant to detention overseas. Organisations should already have all relevant licences and permits to enable provision of the requirements in the countries where the services will be provided.

We are looking for organisations that can demonstrate in their bid:

• an understanding of prisons, prisoner issues and detainee welfare
• an understanding of relevant human rights issues and instruments
• regional expertise in prison conditions and prisoner support
• experience of working with British nationals
• ability to deliver a global service
• experience or understanding of working with UK government and foreign governments; and
• capacity to provide assistance in challenging contexts

2. Criteria for assessing project proposals

We will consider projects against the following criteria:

• closeness of fit with Consular Directorate’s objectives
• clarity of proposal design, including evidence of appropriate qualifications and experience required to deliver the proposed outputs and activities
• evidence of wider stakeholder support and engagement, such as co-ordination with other relevant national and international partners or networks, including where these can support broader FCDO consular and human rights objectives
• evidence of past delivery as an implementer
• consistency and sustainability of activities and support provided
• detailed budget breakdown and value for money; and
• monitoring and evaluation planning to demonstrate delivery against objectives

3. Guidelines for submitting a proposal

Submit your proposal using the FCDO proposal form. Submit it in full and in accordance with the guidance provided. We will not review incomplete proposal forms. If any aspect of the form requirements is unclear to you, we strongly recommend contacting the Prisoner Policy and Human Rights Team by email: Consularprisoner.Team@fcdo.gov.uk.

Important points to note for your proposal are:

• include both qualitative and quantitative milestones, which should be referenced in reporting
• include annexed evidence of previous experience delivering similar projects
• you must provide details of how the work will be monitored in your proposal. Monitoring methods should be robust, transparent and include scope for beneficiary input. They should be designed to give a meaningful assessment of impact
• the FCDO places a strong emphasis on evaluation. Proposals for delivery valued £100,000 and over may be independently evaluated
• demonstrate a full assessment of project risks. Potential partners should identify any risks which might apply to the project, what steps will be taken to mitigate those risks, and how risks will be reviewed during the delivery cycle. You must have an internal due diligence process in place to monitor these risks. We will not approve proposals without realistic risk assessments, including duty of care to staff
• budget your projects in Pounds Sterling and demonstrate value for money, excluding VAT. Budgets should give a detailed breakdown of cost per activity per month and unit costs for staff where possible. Travel and accommodation costs incurred should be in line with FCDO guidance, which is available on request

4. Terms of agreement

Agreements will be subject to FCDO standard contract terms:

• payment will be made quarterly in advance; and
• the financial year runs from 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023. The agreement will be for 1 year, but potentially renewable on an annual basis. This is subject to satisfactory performance and funding availability throughout the 2022-23 to 2024-25 Spending Review period

5. Timing

Submit your proposal to the FCDO Prisoner Policy and Human Rights Team by 5pm on 15 December 2021 at ConsularPrisoner.Team@fcdo.gov.uk.

6. Contact

Head of the Prisoner Policy and Human Rights Team, FCDO, ConsularPrisoner.Team@fcdo.gov.uk