Official UK procurement notice
Contract for the provision of Short Breaks for Disabled Children
Authority: Cheshire East Council (Local council)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionCheshire East Council is looking to provide a range of short breaks for disabled children (aged 0 to 18) and their families, resident in Cheshire East, in various settings and of various lengths ranging from a couple of hours to a half/full day session, provided after school at weekends and in school holidays. The services will be available at a time to suit the targeted individuals in order to provide flexible access. This will depend on the nature of the service being offered and will often include delivery out of standard working hours.
It is the intention of Cheshire East Council to commission 'free to access' short break sessions/activities. Therefore, any bids submitted will cover the costs in full within the pricing schedule, without the need for subsidies from children and families accessing the session/activity. All services will be operational from 5th January 2026.
Targeted Universal Short Breaks (Community Short Breaks)
The Council is looking to commission a Lead Provider to deliver range of short breaks for disabled children (aged 0 to 18) and their families who are resident in Cheshire East, in various settings and of various lengths ranging from a couple of hours to a half/full day session, provided after school, at weekends and in school holidays. This service will deliver the Universal Targeted Short Breaks offer.
The Lead provider may arrange and deliver the sessions directly or subcontract to other local providers that may deliver specific activities, ensuring comprehensive coverage across the Cheshire East Footprint. Collaboration with other local providers, the voluntary and community sector and Family Hubs will be central to the delivery of this service.
Targeted Specialist Short Breaks (Community Short Breaks)
A highlighted gap in provision has been for young people with more complex needs who require additional support to access the commissioned short break offer. A specific offer is proposed within the commission to deliver a range of activities within the community that can be accessed by pupils with a more severe or substantial disability has a significant impact on one or more of the following outcomes:
- Physical ability
- Communication and understanding
- Awareness of risk and danger
- Behaviour
- Independence
These arise from one or more of the following:
- A severe or profound learning disability
- A severe physical disability
- A substantial degree of visual impairment
- Moderate and severe hearing loss
- A complex autistic spectrum condition with severe learning difficulty
- A complex medical health condition, life limiting condition
These sessions would require a higher level of staffing and oversight with staff who are trained to meet the needs of more complex pupils. The pupils would be assessed by the local authority following its current processes and referred through to the lead provider as requiring the specialist offer. It is envisaged that this would be a time limited offer unlike the Universal Targeted Offer.
- The authority expects to re-tender this requirement around 1 May 2029, 23:59 BST.
- How the procedure runs: The procurement process adopted by the Council is based upon the Competitive Flexible procedure. In brief, the process will be as follows: - All suppliers that express an interest in the opportunity will be provided with access to the tender documents including Procurement Specific Questionnaire (PSQ) Response Document that contains pass/fail conditions of participation and a Competitive Flexible Procedure (CFP) Response Document that contains the award stage Pricing Schedule, Qualitative Questions and Provider Presentation Requirements. Both the PSQ Response Document and the CFP Response Document require completion in full and submission at the same time, prior to the tender deadline. All tenderers that pass the conditions of participation (PSQ) will progress to the award stage and their CFP Response document will be assessed. All tenderers that pass the conditions of participation (PSQ) will be invited to deliver a qualitative presentation and have this assessed as part of the award stage. Tenderers that fail the conditions of participation, contained within the PSQ response document, will not progress to award stage and their CFP response document will not be assessed.
- No preliminary market engagement: some market engagement in the form of a survey took place between the 11th June 2024 and 5 July 2024, prior to the go live of the Procurement Regulations 2024.
CPV: Daycare services for disabled children and young people
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1AwardedRenewalPublished value£880,000
- Economic & financial standing
Please refer to Procurement Documents (PSQ Response Document) by expressing an interest in Project ID DN773039 at www.the-chest.org.uk ↗
- Technical & professional ability
Please refer to Procurement Documents (PSQ Response Document) by expressing an interest in Project ID DN773039 at www.the-chest.org.uk ↗
What 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).
Published sub-criteria (3)
- Qualitative Questions: 70%
- Presentation: 10%
- Financial Evaluation: 20%
Published award criteria (3)
- Qualitative Questions: Written responses
- Financial Evaluation: Pricing schedule
- Presentation: Provider presentation
- Economic & financial standing
Please refer to Procurement Documents (PSQ Response Document) by expressing an interest in Project ID DN773039 at www.the-chest.org.uk ↗
- Technical & professional ability
Please refer to Procurement Documents (PSQ Response Document) by expressing an interest in Project ID DN773039 at www.the-chest.org.uk ↗
- Price carries 20 of 100 points: a 10% discount moves about 2 points. The method statement decides this lot, not the discount.
Price arithmetic assumes straight proportional scoring; the tender pack may use another formula.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Procedure method
- Competitive flexible procedure
- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Awarded
- Procurement threshold
- Above threshold (FTS publication)
- Regulatory regime
- Light touch regime
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Yes (GPA)
- Recurring procurement
- Yes · next expected 1 May 2029
- First published
- 30 Apr 2025, 14:52 BST
- Last source update
- 30 Jan 2026, 12:39 GMT
- Award evaluation window
- Submission end – 21 Jul 2025
- Authority reference
C2864- FTS notice number
2025/S 000-018067- Latest notice
- Contract details notice (UK7)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-050a5fFind a Tender- Contract terms summary
Please refer to Appendix B Conditions of Contract & Appendix B.1 TUPE Schedule. The TUPE Liability information is attached at Appendix D.
- How it runs
The procurement process adopted by the Council is based upon the Competitive Flexible procedure.
In brief, the process will be as follows: -
All suppliers that express an interest in the opportunity will be provided with access to the tender documents including Procurement Specific Questionnaire (PSQ) Response Document that contains pass/fail conditions of participation and a Competitive Flexible Procedure (CFP) Response Document that contains the award stage Pricing Schedule, Qualitative Questions and Provider Presentation Requirements.
Both the PSQ Response Document and the CFP Response Document require completion in full and submission at the same time, prior to the tender deadline.
All tenderers that pass the conditions of participation (PSQ) will progress to the award stage and their CFP Response document will be assessed.
All tenderers that pass the conditions of participation (PSQ) will be invited to deliver a qualitative presentation and have this assessed as part of the award stage.
Tenderers that fail the conditions of participation, contained within the PSQ response document, will not progress to award stage and their CFP response document will not be assessed.
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- 9 Jun 2025, 14:00 BST
- Clarification deadline
- 30 May 2025, 10:00 BST
- Submission channel
- Official e-sourcing portal
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
- Accepted languages
- en
Unrestricted access to this opportunity is available via the Chest North West Portal, register for free at www.the-chest.org.uk ↗ and express an interest in project ID DN773039
Timeline
30 Apr 2025 → 30 Jan 2026 · 8 dates- Tender notice published30 Apr 2025, 14:52 BST
- Clarification questions by30 May 2025, 10:00 BST
- Submission deadline9 Jun 2025, 14:00 BST
- Assessment summaries sent15 Jul 2025, 00:00 BST
- Award decision expected by21 Jul 2025, 23:59 BST
- Standstill ends25 Jul 2025, 23:59 BST
- Contract starts290 days ago5 Jan 2026
- Latest notice published265 days ago30 Jan 2026, 12:39 GMT
Notice history
5 events · 3 releases on Find a Tender · since 30 Apr 2025- Tender notice published30 Apr 2025, 14:52 BSTUK4
- Contract award notice published15 Jul 2025, 13:21 BSTUK6
- Status changed to complete15 Jul 2025, 13:21 BST
- Contract signature expected4 Aug 2025, 23:59 BSTscheduled
- Contract details notice published30 Jan 2026, 12:39 GMTUK7
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast| Awarded to | Value | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Endorphins Group5 Jan 2026 – 4 Jan 2029 · up to 4 Jan 2030Extensions: Initial Period: 05/01/2026 - 04/01/2029 (36 months) with the option to extend of 1 x 12 months to 04/01/2030 Extensions will be implemented at the sole discretion of the Council. | £879,648 | 11 Jul 2025 | Awarded |
Contracts
Contract for the provision of Short Breaks for Disabled Children · The Endorphins Group
- Signed
- 23 Oct 2025
- Value
- £879,648
- Period
- 5 Jan 2026 – 4 Jan 2029 · up to 4 Jan 2030 with extensions
- Status
- active
- Extensions
- Initial Period: 05/01/2026 - 04/01/2029 (36 months) with the option to extend of 1 x 12 months to 04/01/2030 Extensions will be implemented at the sole discretion of the Council.
Bid statistics published by the authority
| Bids | SME | VCSE | Valid bid range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2final-stage tenders · 4 at stage one | 2 | 1 | — |
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Bidders & participating suppliers
1 commercial party on the notice- ENDORPHINS GROUP LTDAwarded supplier
Official documents & specifications (3)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Contract details notice Contract details notice on Find a Tender
- Contract award notice Contract award notice on Find a Tender
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender