Find and Win Social Care Contracts

Social care tenders in the UK

Local authorities are the primary commissioners of social care services in the UK, spending tens of billions each year on adult social care, children's services, and community support. These contracts cover domiciliary care, residential care homes, supported living, mental health services, and specialist provisions. The sector offers significant tendering opportunities for care providers of all sizes.

Types of social care tenders

Domiciliary care - home care services for older adults and people with disabilities, typically commissioned through frameworks or DPS.
Residential and nursing care - care home placements, nursing care, and dementia care services.
Supported living - accommodation and support services for adults with learning disabilities, mental health needs, or physical disabilities.
Children's services - fostering agencies, children's homes, family support services, and early intervention programmes.
Community services - day centres, befriending, meals on wheels, and community wellbeing programmes.
Mental health services - counselling, crisis support, and community mental health services.

How social care procurement works

Most local authorities use frameworks or Dynamic Purchasing Systems (DPS) for social care commissioning. These are typically open for new providers to join on a rolling basis, making them more accessible than traditional tenders. Some authorities run full competitive tenders for larger block contracts. Integrated care boards also commission some community health and care services jointly with local authorities.

Key buyers

All 152 upper-tier local authorities in England commission social care services. Scottish councils, Welsh local authorities, and Northern Ireland's Health and Social Care Trusts also run regular procurement exercises. NHS integrated care boards are increasingly involved in joint commissioning of health and social care.

Finding social care tenders

Social care contracts are published across local authority portals, Contracts Finder, and Find a Tender Service. Many DPS openings are only advertised on individual council websites. TenderSignal monitors all sources and delivers matched social care opportunities to your inbox.

Without TenderSignal

Social care tenders are published by individual councils with different procurement systems

Spot purchasing and framework call-offs mean many opportunities never reach open tender

CQC registration requirements vary between contract types and regions

Keeping track of contract renewals across multiple local authority areas is difficult

With TenderSignal

All UK social care tenders from every local authority and NHS commissioner

Filter by service type - domiciliary, residential, supported living, children's services

Get early warning on framework renewals and DPS openings for care services

Track opportunities across multiple local authority areas

Pipeline Intelligence predicts when care contracts will re-tender

Social Care tenders: frequently asked questions

What is a social care tender?

A social care tender is a formal invitation from a UK public sector buyer, such as a council, NHS trust, housing association or government department, to bid for a social care contract. Buyers publish social care tenders when the work goes out to competitive procurement, usually with a specification, deadline and evaluation criteria.

Where are social care tenders published in the UK?

Public sector social care tenders are published across Find a Tender, Contracts Finder, Public Contracts Scotland, Sell2Wales and eTendersNI, plus dozens of individual council and buyer portals. TenderSignal aggregates all of these into one feed so you never have to check them separately.

What contract value triggers a published social care tender?

Buyers must advertise most contracts above £12,000 on Contracts Finder, and higher-value contracts (around £139,688 and above) on Find a Tender. Many lower-value social care contracts are also published voluntarily or through framework mini-competitions.

Which frameworks cover social care contracts?

Commonly used routes to social care work include NHS Supply Chain, NHS Shared Business Services (NHS SBS), Crown Commercial Service health & social care frameworks. Getting onto the right framework or dynamic purchasing system (DPS) early gives you access to call-off contracts without bidding from scratch each time.

How do I find social care contracts before they are tendered?

Watch for prior information notices (PINs) and track contracts approaching their renewal date. TenderSignal's pipeline intelligence flags social care contracts coming up for re-tender months in advance, so you can engage the buyer during the early-engagement phase before the formal process opens.

What qualifications do I need to win social care tenders?

Most buyers use the standard Selection Questionnaire (SQ) under PPN 03/23 to check financial standing, insurance and relevant experience. For social care work, buyers frequently ask for CQC registration, Cyber Essentials, ISO 9001.

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