Official UK procurement notice
Parent Chat - Digital Parenting Support
Authority: Leicester City Council (Local council)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionLeicester City Council (LCC) is seeking to commission a Parent Chat service to enhance the parenting support available to Leicester-based parents and carers of children and young people aged 0 to 19 years, or up to 25 years for those with SEND. The service forms part of the Council’s Family Hubs and Start for Life programme and is intended to provide a digital parenting support offer for families across the city. The proposed contract is expected to commence on 14th January 2027 and run until 13th January 2029. The Parent Chat service will provide access to information, advice and guidance on parenting topics including behaviour management, routines, infant feeding, school issues, developmental stages, relationships, becoming a parent, and speech and communication. The service will also provide access to 1:1 support from trained workers through channels such as telephone, text, email or webchat, offering advice, signposting and support to help families access appropriate local and national services. The provider will be expected to work with Leicester City Council and partners to promote the service through a Leicester-focused digital marketing approach and ensure the service is accessible to all parents and carers, taking account of language needs, literacy levels and accessibility requirements. The service must also provide data insights and reporting, maintain appropriate safeguarding arrangements, and ensure the security and confidentiality of service-user information.
CPV: Guidance and counselling services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1Published value£124,000
- Value
- £124,000 exc. VAT · £148,800 inc. VAT
- Condition of participationLeicester City Council (LCC) is seeking to commission a Parent Chat service to enhance the parenting support available to Leicester-based parents and carers of children and young people aged 0 to 19 years, or up to 25 years for those with SEND. The service forms part of the Council’s Family Hubs and Start for Life programme and is intended to provide a digital parenting support offer for families across the city. The proposed contract is expected to commence on 14th January 2027 and run until 13th January 2029. The Parent Chat service will provide access to information, advice and guidance on parenting topics including behaviour management, routines, infant feeding, school issues, developmental stages, relationships, becoming a parent, and speech and communication. The service will also provide access to 1:1 support from trained workers through channels such as telephone, text, email or webchat, offering advice, signposting and support to help families access appropriate local and national services. The provider will be expected to work with Leicester City Council and partners to promote the service through a Leicester-focused digital marketing approach and ensure the service is accessible to all parents and carers, taking account of language needs, literacy levels and accessibility requirements. The service must also provide data insights and reporting, maintain appropriate safeguarding arrangements, and ensure the security and confidentiality of service-user information.
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 award criteria (2)
- Quality
- Price
- Condition of participationLeicester City Council (LCC) is seeking to commission a Parent Chat service to enhance the parenting support available to Leicester-based parents and carers of children and young people aged 0 to 19 years, or up to 25 years for those with SEND. The service forms part of the Council’s Family Hubs and Start for Life programme and is intended to provide a digital parenting support offer for families across the city. The proposed contract is expected to commence on 14th January 2027 and run until 13th January 2029. The Parent Chat service will provide access to information, advice and guidance on parenting topics including behaviour management, routines, infant feeding, school issues, developmental stages, relationships, becoming a parent, and speech and communication. The service will also provide access to 1:1 support from trained workers through channels such as telephone, text, email or webchat, offering advice, signposting and support to help families access appropriate local and national services. The provider will be expected to work with Leicester City Council and partners to promote the service through a Leicester-focused digital marketing approach and ensure the service is accessible to all parents and carers, taking account of language needs, literacy levels and accessibility requirements. The service must also provide data insights and reporting, maintain appropriate safeguarding arrangements, and ensure the security and confidentiality of service-user information.
- Price carries 20 of 100 points — a 10% discount moves about 2 points. The method statement decides this lot, not the discount.
- Turnover usually expected at this size: about £123,830 (twice the annual value).
Price arithmetic assumes straight proportional scoring — the tender pack may use another formula. Turnover is an indicative market norm (≈2× annual value), not a published condition.
Competition analysis · published record, not a forecast of who will bid
How Leicester City Council buys Social work services (CPV 8531) — and who usually turns up
Leicester City Council’s own published record, next to the published market for the same work. Frameworks and DPS are kept out: they attract a different number of bids. 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.
Here, local means registered in East Midlands.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered in East Midlands.
i
How long buyers here take to decide after bids close.
Middle value in days from the deadline to the first award notice, on competitions that published both dates.
Only decided tenders count, so slow ones still waiting are not in.
Half of these awards were announced within 52 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.
Both shares are minimums: 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 bid0% / 20%
2–350% / 27%
4–617% / 33%
7+33% / 20%
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.
Past prices are a guide, not a bid price.
Below estimate29% / 25%
Within ±2%71% / 63%
Above estimate0% / 13%
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 8531Published estimate£124k
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.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid15%
2–329%
4–627%
7+29%
i
Where the winning price may land.
The forecast uses similar awards and the buyer’s estimate. The band covers the middle half of likely prices.
Based on 15 comparable awards. Each lot reflects its own category; forecasts for different lots of the same notice are not comparative.
A guide, not a price to bid.
Middle 50%£114k–£124k
Estimate£124k
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.
| Supplier | This buyer’s earlier contract | Lot | Award value | Match |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AGE UK LEICESTER SHIRE AND RUTLANDWorked for this buyer | ASC0259 - Dementia Support Servicenotice published Jan 2021 | — | — | 78% match |
| SCHOOLS HEALTH EDUCATION UNIT LIMITEDWorked for this buyer | Leicester Children and Young People's Health and Wellbeing Survey 2025/26runs to Jan 2027 | — | £50k | 77% match |
| Mosaic 1988 LtdWorked for this buyer | ASC0322 - Participation Servicenotice published Jun 2026 | — | — | 77% match |
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.
| Supplier | Won in this category | Live contracts | Award vs estimate |
|---|---|---|---|
Family ActionLarge | £27m45 awards in 36m · last this month | 21 live · £22m iPublic contracts this supplier still holds. Its awards whose published end date is still in the future, with their values. Many contracts publish no end date, so this is a floor, not the whole book. Unexpired says nothing about spare capacity. | at estimate n=12 |
| £366k7 awards in 36m · last 4 months ago | 4 live · £264k iPublic contracts this supplier still holds. Its awards whose published end date is still in the future, with their values. Many contracts publish no end date, so this is a floor, not the whole book. Unexpired says nothing about spare capacity. | at estimate n=1 | |
| £260k1 awards in 36m · last 4 months ago | 1 live · £260k iPublic contracts this supplier still holds. Its awards whose published end date is still in the future, with their values. Many contracts publish no end date, so this is a floor, not the whole book. Unexpired says nothing about spare capacity. | no comparable pairs | |
| £809k2 awards in 36m · last 10 months ago | 2 live · £809k iPublic contracts this supplier still holds. Its awards whose published end date is still in the future, with their values. Many contracts publish no end date, so this is a floor, not the whole book. Unexpired says nothing about spare capacity. | at estimate n=1 | |
Kooth PLCLarge | £3.6m9 awards in 36m · last 4 months ago | None on file | at estimate n=1 |
Coverage and what to read with care
- Each figure explains itself. The on a figure says what it is, how it is counted and which scope this notice’s own record came from (class, division, all categories, or the authority’s 24-month row). The two sides are never blended. A lot’s own market is read at its delivery region where the lot names one; where it names several, or none that can be resolved, the chart falls back to the UK-wide record for the same category and says so under the bar. An empty cell means the source published nothing usable. Long form: Methodology.
- When we call out a difference. A buyer figure is only flagged against the market when the sample is large enough that the gap is unlikely to be chance; at most two callouts appear, always phrased as a comparison with both numbers and the sample size.
- Coverage (re-measured 5 Oct on the live record, 94,497 awarded procedures of the last three years). 51 % publish a bid count and 72 % a delivery region, so the market column reads the authority’s registered region when the notice names none, labelled. Of the 17,687 award-vs-estimate pairs, 34 % sit exactly on the estimate — the buyer published the award at the figure it advertised. n is on every figure; a thin sample is muted, never hidden, and a distribution is not drawn as percentages below ten observations.
- “Match”, text similarity, the expected-bid figure and the distribution drawn beneath it are model outputs, not published facts or win probabilities. Find a Tender does not publish who is bidding. Never shown: contact details, payment behaviour, or a recommended price.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Procedure method
- Below threshold - open competition
- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Open for tender
- Procurement threshold
- Below threshold
- Regulatory regime
- Light touch regime
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 12 Oct 2026, 11:58 BST
- Last source update
- 12 Oct 2026, 11:58 BST
- Authority reference
SCE0071- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-096017- Latest notice
- Tender notice (UK4)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-07857bFind a Tender
How to participate & submission route
Official notice Submit via ProContract (Due North)- Requests to participate (first stage)
- —
- Tender submission deadline
- 9 Nov 2026, 12:00 GMT
- Clarification deadline
- 26 Oct 2026, 12:00 GMT
- Submission channel
- Official e-sourcing portal
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
Timeline
4 published dates · Europe/London- Tender notice published1 day ago12 Oct 2026, 11:58 BST
- Clarification questions byin 13 days26 Oct 2026, 12:00 GMT
- Submission deadlinein 27 days9 Nov 2026, 12:00 GMT
- Contract startsin 93 days14 Jan 2027
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Nothing awarded yet- Awards (0)
- No award published
- Contracts (0)
- No contract published
- Bid statistics
- No aggregate bid statistics published
Notice history
2 events · 1 release on Find a Tender · since 12 Oct 2026- Tender notice published12 Oct 2026, 11:58 BSTUK4
- First tender notice published12 Oct 2026, 11:58 BST
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Official documents & specifications (9)
Official links; attachments are not copiedTender pack and attachments
- Bidding documents and specifications Tender Response Document
- Bidding documents and specifications TCs of Participation
- Bidding documents and specifications The Council's Detailed Requirements
- Bidding documents and specifications Tender Instructions
- Bidding documents and specifications Parental Chat Service Agreement
- Bidding documents and specifications Tupe Part 1
- Bidding documents and specifications Tupe Part 2
- Bidding documents and specifications Service Levels and KPIs
Notices published for this procedure
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender