Official UK procurement notice
Educational Psychology Assessment Delivery - Purchase of Locum EPs to complete assessments
Authority: Stoke-on-Trent City Council (Local council)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionProvision of suitably qualified and appropriately experienced Educational Psychologists to undertake educational psychology assessments and provide educational psychology reports and advice for eligible children and young people (CYP) in Stoke-on-Trent. Services will support the Council in fulfilling its statutory duties under the Children and Families Act 2014, SEND Code of Practice and associated regulations, including assessments and psychological advice for Education, Health and Care Needs Assessments (EHCNAs).
Services may include educational psychology assessments (or elements thereof), preparation of educational psychology reports and advice, additional psychological advice and attendance at tribunals, as required by the Council. Assessments may be delivered face-to-face or virtually at locations within or outside Stoke-on-Trent, as specified by the Council.
Professionals must be HCPC registered, appropriately qualified and experienced, hold an Enhanced DBS check and comply with applicable safeguarding, data protection, health and safety and professional requirements. Assessments and reports must be completed to the Council's required quality standards and within the timescales specified at referral, including statutory timescales where applicable. Reports must be accurate, professionally presented and submitted using the Council's prescribed templates and secure communication arrangements.
Work will be allocated by the Council on an as-required basis and there is no guarantee of any minimum volume of work. Payment will be made at the fixed rates set out in the Pricing Schedule for each assessment or other agreed work item
- The authority expects to re-tender this requirement around 1 Feb 2028, 23:59 GMT.
CPV: General management consultancy services · Psychiatrist or psychologist services · Recruitment services
How this framework works
From the published notice- Type
- Closed framework
- Call-offs
- call-offs are awarded directly to appointed suppliers, without further competition
- Bids received
- 3 bids received · 3 suppliers appointed
- Framework period
- 2 yrs · up to 3 yrs from 27 Aug 2026
Published description of the framework
The providers are ranked first, second and third and referrals are made as follows:
The Councils Educational Psychology Service undertakes the initial prioritisation of each referral based upon needs as detailed in the referral.
The Professional will be contacted via email to check their availability to undertake work, along with priority of referrals. On acceptance of referrals the relevant information required to undertake the assessment will be forwarded to the Professional via secure email.
If the Professional does not have capacity to complete the assessments/ reports etc. within the required time period as detailed within the referral email, the Professional must decline the referral.
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1AwardedRenewalPublished value£1,920,000
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)
- Quality: 30%
- Commercial: 60%
- Social Value: 10%
Published award criteria (3)
- Quality
- Social Value
- Commercial
- Price carries 60 of 100 points: a 10% discount moves about 6 points. This one is won on the number: sharpen the price before polishing the prose.
- “Educational Psychology Assessment Delivery - Purchase of Locum EPs to…” is a framework: the contest is a place on its panel, not a single contract, and call-offs are awarded directly: getting appointed is the whole game.
Price arithmetic assumes straight proportional scoring; the tender pack may use another formula.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Procedure method
- Open procedure
- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Awarded
- 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
- Yes · next expected 1 Feb 2028
- First published
- 27 Mar 2026, 10:16 GMT
- Last source update
- 2 Oct 2026, 10:32 BST
- Award evaluation window
- Submission end – 1 Aug 2026
- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-028570- Latest notice
- Contract details notice (UK7)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-067618Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Appointment period ends
- 1 May 2026, 23:59 BST
- Submission channel
- Official e-sourcing portal
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
- Accepted languages
- en
Timeline
27 Mar 2026 → 2 Oct 2026 · 8 dates- Planning notice published209 days ago27 Mar 2026, 10:16 GMT
- Tender notice published209 days ago27 Mar 2026, 14:04 GMT
- Admission / appointment period ends174 days ago · period end, not a bid countdown1 May 2026, 23:59 BST
- Award decision expected by82 days ago1 Aug 2026, 23:59 BST
- Assessment summaries sent77 days ago7 Aug 2026, 00:00 BST
- Standstill ends65 days ago18 Aug 2026, 23:59 BST
- Contract starts57 days ago27 Aug 2026, 00:00 BST
- Latest notice published20 days ago2 Oct 2026, 10:32 BST
Notice history
9 events · 4 releases on Find a Tender · since 27 Mar 2026- Preliminary market engagement notice published27 Mar 2026, 10:16 GMTUK2
- Tender notice published27 Mar 2026, 14:04 GMTUK4
- Status changed to active27 Mar 2026, 14:04 GMT
- Procurement method changed27 Mar 2026, 14:04 GMT
- Deadline published: 1 May 2026, 23:59 BST27 Mar 2026, 14:04 GMT
- Contract award notice published7 Aug 2026, 11:34 BSTUK6
- Status changed to complete7 Aug 2026, 11:34 BST
- Contract signature expected24 Aug 2026, 23:59 BSTscheduled
- Contract details notice published2 Oct 2026, 10:32 BSTUK7
Routine re-releases (4)
- 2026-03: 1 release · 27 Mar 2026
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast| Awarded to | Value | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hammond Clarke LtdSME, Permanent Futures Ltd 'Futures'SME, Psychology DirectSME1 Sept 2026 – 31 Aug 2028 · up to 31 Aug 2029Extensions: There is an option to extend this contract for one period of 12 months. This decision is dependent upon the outcome of Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) which is likely to lead to structural changes to local government in Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent. | £1,920,000 | 7 Aug 2026 | Awarded |
Contracts
Contract 1 · Hammond Clarke LtdSME, Permanent Futures Ltd 'Futures'SME, Psychology DirectSME
- Signed
- 1 Sept 2026
- Value
- £1,843,000
- Period
- 1 Sept 2026 – 31 Aug 2028 · up to 31 Aug 2029 with extensions
- Status
- active
- Extensions
- 1 year extension applicable for the same model, same specification...
Bid statistics published by the authority
| Bids | SME | VCSE | Valid bid range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3final-stage tenders · 9 at stage one | 3 | 0 | — |
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Framework contractors & participating bidders
3 commercial parties on the notice- HAMMOND CLARKE LIMITEDFramework contractor
- PERMANENT FUTURES LIMITEDFramework contractor
- PSYCHOLOGY DIRECT LIMITEDFramework contractor
Official documents & specifications (4)
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
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender