Official UK procurement notice
Community Support Framework - CAFS/2025/290
Authority: Stoke-on-Trent City Council (Local council)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionStoke-on-Trent City Council is undertaking a procurement exercise for a Community Support Framework, for children living within Stoke-on-Trent and for children who may be supported in other areas of the country. The Council wishes to source multiple providers to deliver the services.
The services will stabilise children and families who have support needs that require statutory intervention. The cohorts of children will be those with disabilities and those on the edge of care or who are in care. Service areas include Short Break packages, and outreach/wrap around support, and urgent support required within 24-48 hours, complex support. The Framework will be managed by Stoke-on-Trent City Council who, through a series of call-off agreements, will engage, collaborate and work with organisations to deliver a broad range of these services.
58,305 children and young people live in Stoke-on-Trent, and 8,703 children and young people have Special Educational Needs. 455 Children and young people with SEND are known to social care, and 249 with an EHC Plan are known to social care (Stoke-on-Trent SEND Strategy 2024-2028).
Potential spend per Lot, per annum
Lot Spend
Lot 1a £250,000
Lot 1b £250,000
Lot 1c £650,000
Lot 2 £100,000
Lot 3a £400,000
Lot 3b £450,000
Lot 3c £450,000
Providers are expected to have staff with experience of safeguarding and supporting vulnerable children and young people, understand why children and families access services, and must be able to deliver safe, proven, effective, trauma informed, and outcome focused care and support.
The Council is inviting applicants to tender to join the Open Framework Scheme for the following Framework Lots:
- Lot 1a: Short Breaks (Non-CQC registration required, no personal care)
- Lot 1b: Short Breaks (CQC registration required for personal care activities)
- Lot 1c: Short Breaks (Complex, personal care and health related care and support)
- Lot 2: Planned Intervention
- Lot 3a: Urgent support needed on the day or the following day (Non-CQC registration required, no personal care)
- Lot 3b: Urgent support needed on the day or the following day (CQC registration required for personal care activities)
- Lot 3c: Urgent support needed on the day or the following day (Complex, personal care and health related care and support)
Providers may apply for one or more lots depending on their offer.
Providers delivering under all lots will be required to employ staff with local knowledge to support our young people.
CPV: Medical practice and related services · Social services · Welfare services for children and young people
How this framework works
From the published notice- Framework period
- 8 yrs from 1 Feb 2027
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedWhat it takes to wini
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
Evaluation split and conditions of participation as published; the tender pack may add morei
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
- “Community Support Framework - CAFS/2025/290” is a framework: the contest is a place on its panel, not a single contract.
Pipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How Stoke on Trent City Council buys Social work services (CPV 8531), and who usually turns up
Stoke on Trent City Council’s published record next to the market for the same work. Compared with other frameworks and DPS only. Whole-market view: Social work services (CPV 8531) →
How the contest usually goes
Winner shares use published awards; bid and price charts use contested lots.
i
How often small and medium firms win.
Share of awards where the winner’s size is known.
The counts under this question show how many awards have a known supplier size.
Small firms have won here. Neither number says whether you qualify; it describes who has been winning.
i
How often local firms win similar work.
Winners with a registered address in the delivery region, out of awards with a known address.
Local means the winner is registered in the region where that award was delivered. The market figure counts awards delivered in West Midlands.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners were registered in the region where that award was delivered.
i
How long buyers here take to decide after bids close.
Middle value in days from the bid deadline to the award date, on competitions that published both.
Only decided tenders count, so slow ones still waiting are not in.
Half of these awards have an award date within 97 days of the bid deadline.
i
How often work is awarded with no recorded rival.
Direct awards and tenders where every published lot count shows one bid.
The market share is a minimum: some awards have no bid count.
Thin markets produce this too; it is not proof of a tailored specification.
Direct awards or one recorded bid are common here. Check the route before spending time on a bid.
How many bids did past lots attract?
i
How many bids past lots received.
Each colour is a bid-count range. Only competed lots with a published count are included.
Past bids do not predict this tender.
1 bid11% / 8%
2–344% / 8%
4–633% / 23%
7+11% / 62%
How did awards compare with estimates?
i
Where winning prices landed against estimates.
Each colour shows awards below, close to or above the published estimate, one lot at a time.
On a framework or DPS, prices are agreed when work is called off.
Past prices are a guide, not a bid price.
Not comparable on a framework or DPS: the price is set later, on each call-off.
Assess each lot i
What past awards tell you about each lot.
See the forecast, this buyer’s earlier suppliers and firms with relevant wins.
No supplier is confirmed as a bidder.
i
What past awards tell you about each lot.
See the forecast, this buyer’s earlier suppliers and firms with relevant wins.
No supplier is confirmed as a bidder.
Open a lot for its forecast, this buyer’s previous supplier and possible competitors, from published award history, not a bid list
Lot #1CPV 85Published estimate£20m
This lot lists more than one class in CPV 85. The comparison uses that group.
i
How many bids this lot may attract.
The forecast uses similar past competitions. The bar shows either that forecast or past bid counts; the line below says which.
Each lot shows its own forecast based on its own category; forecasts for different lots of the same notice are not comparative. The bar shows 91 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid7%
2–311%
4–623%
7+59%
i
Where the award price may land.
The forecast uses similar awards and the buyer’s estimate. The band covers the middle half of likely prices.
No comparable awards for this lot yet.
A statistical guide from past awards, not a price to bid.
Who has supplied this buyer on similar work? i
Who has done similar work for this buyer.
Past contracts are matched by buyer, title and type of work.
A past supplier may not bid again.
i
Who has done similar work for this buyer.
Past contracts are matched by buyer, title and type of work.
A past supplier may not bid again.
No earlier contract of this buyer matches this lot on the published record.
Who could compete for this lot? i
Who could compete for this lot?
Firms with relevant past wins. On a framework, we show firms on that agreement.
None is confirmed as a bidder.
i
Who could compete for this lot?
Firms with relevant past wins. On a framework, we show firms on that agreement.
None is confirmed as a bidder.
Candidate suppliers for this notice have not been worked out yet, so this is not a verdict that nobody fits.
About this data
- Source. Official UK public procurement notices (Find a Tender), reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0. New notices arrive through the day; the figures are rebuilt nightly.
- Two views, kept apart. The authority’s own track record and the wider market for the same kind of work sit side by side and are never mixed. Where the local picture is too thin, a figure widens to a broader market and says which one it used.
- Forecasts are labelled. The price forecast and its range, possible competitors and the earlier-work matches are our estimates from past awards: not published facts, not win chances and not price advice. Official notices do not say who is bidding.
- Every figure shows what it rests on. Not every notice publishes a bid count, a value or a delivery region, so each figure carries the number of records behind it, and one built on few records is marked as such. The on a figure explains it; the counting rules are in the methodology. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Planned procurement
- Procurement threshold
- Above threshold (FTS publication)
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Framework agreement
- Who may use this agreement
- Not stated in the notice; call-off rights may be limited to the establishing authority
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 5 Aug 2026, 14:07 BST
- Last source update
- 5 Aug 2026, 14:07 BST
- Authority reference
CAFS/2025/290- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-074238- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06dc80Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Appointment period ends
- —
Timeline
5 Aug 2026 → 1 Feb 2027 · 4 dates- Planning notice published81 days ago5 Aug 2026, 14:07 BST
- Market engagement66 days ago19 Aug 2026, 23:59 BST
The 0-25 Commissioning Team would like to invite providers to attend an upcoming online engagement event on Wednesday 19th August 2026, 14:00-15:30 to discuss this opportunity further.
To book your place, please email [email protected] stating you wish to book a place on the Community Support Framework Market Engagement Event on 19th August 2026 the following information:
- Company name
- Attendee name
- Attendee job role
- Office address and postcode
- Contact telephone number
- Email address
- Company website address (if applicable)
Providers should detail which Framework Lots your organisation may tender for (if known). See above for a brief description of the Framework Lots.
Please state if you wish to attend and are from a bid writing company representing another business.
Please use the email subject: EOI, Community Support Framework Market Engagement Event August 2026
- Tender notice expected65 days ago20 Aug 2026, 23:59 BST
- Today25 Oct 2026
- Contract startsin 99 days1 Feb 2027
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published5 Aug 2026, 14:07 BSTUK2
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Pipeline notice- Awards (0)
- No award published
- Contracts (0)
- No contract published
- Bid statistics
- No aggregate bid statistics published
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Official documents & specifications (1)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender