Official UK procurement notice
PQNV 025 - Digital Mental Health Prevention and Emotional Wellbeing Support Offer in Shropshire
Authority: Shropshire Council (Local council)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionTHIS IS NOT A CALL FOR COMPETITION. THIS IS A MARKET ENGAGEMENT.
Shropshire Council is currently reviewing its future approach to universal mental health prevention and early-help support. As one part of this review, the Council wishes to understand the range of digital mental health prevention and emotional wellbeing models currently available, their evidence base, accessibility, affordability and potential applicability to Shropshire.
This engagement does not indicate that the Council has decided to recommission a digital service. Findings will inform a wider options appraisal alongside local needs evidence, review of current provision, stakeholder engagement and consideration of alternative approaches.
The overarching aim is to ensure that residents with low-level mental health or emerging wellbeing needs can access timely, appropriate support that helps prevent escalation into more complex need and reduces avoidable demand on statutory services. Digital support is being considered as part of a wider suite of accessible offers that may include social prescribing, Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) provision and community-based support. Any future model will need to take account of Shropshire’s rurality and the diverse needs, preferences and circumstances of local residents, alongside local system priorities, strategies and policies.
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Strategic context
Mental health and wellbeing are central to quality of life, resilience and the ability to participate in education, work, family life and communities. Good mental wellbeing is also protective against physical illness, social inequalities and unhealthy lifestyles.
Demand for mental health support has increased significantly, particularly among children and young people, many of whom experience long waits for care. Nationally, around one in five people are affected by a common mental health condition, and a substantial proportion of mental health problems are established by early adulthood (age 24).
This reinforces the importance of prevention and early intervention. Providing timely support for people with low-level mental health needs can help people manage distress earlier, maintain independence and stay connected to education, work, family life and their communities.
The emerging national direction for mental health in England also places greater emphasis on shifting from crisis-led care towards prevention, delivering support at place and within communities, and embracing the opportunities offered by digital innovation. The future offer in Shropshire should therefore support earlier, proportionate and accessible help, while complementing wider local mental health, wellbeing and community support pathways.
Current service context
Shropshire Council currently commissions a digital mental health and emotional wellbeing offer for residents aged 16+, providing anonymous online access to moderated peer support, self-management resources and learning tools. The current arrangement provides a limited number of licenses annually.
The Council is not necessarily seeking a like-for-like replacement through this engagement and is interested in understanding alternative digital models, approaches and innovations that could achieve preventative and early-help outcomes.
The Council is interested in understanding features that;
Are accessible without diagnosis or clinical referral
Supports people experiencing emerging mental ill health or reduced emotional wellbeing
Encourages self-management and early-help
Provides safe onward escalation where necessary
Is accessible across a large rural geography
Can reach groups that may not engage with traditional services
Is capable of generating meaningful information about reach, utilisation and outcomes to support review of impact and best value discussions
CPV: Health services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedLot #1Lot 1Planned
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
- 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
- No (one-off requirement)
- First published
- 25 Sept 2026, 17:20 BST
- Last source update
- 25 Sept 2026, 17:20 BST
- Authority reference
PQNV 025- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-077af9
How it was run
- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
3 published dates · Europe/London- Planning notice publishedearlier today25 Sept 2026, 17:20 BST
- Market engagementin 17 days12 Oct 2026, 23:59 BST
Organisations interested in participating in this pre-market engagement exercise are asked to respond to the questions below by 4pm on Monday 12th October 2026 by emailing [email protected] Please use the following title for your email: PME: Digital Mental Health Prevention and more…
Emotional Wellbeing Support Offer Following receipt of responses, providers will be invited to attend a short follow up Microsoft Teams meeting week commencing 2nd November 2026, if needed. Please note, this date may change. Appointments will last approximately 45 minutes. If required, providers will be contacted by [email protected] to arrange a meeting with the lead Public Health Consultant and system partners. Once confirmed, participants will receive a Microsoft Teams meeting invitation and joining instructions. Personal details will be stored securely, treated confidentially and used only for the purpose of communicating about this engagement opportunity. Questions Your delivery model and preventative role: Briefly describe your digital offer, the population it is intended for and how it supports mental health prevention, early help and self-management before specialist or clinical intervention is required. What is distinctive about your approach compared with conventional digital self-help or peer support models? Accessibility, reach and engagement: How do residents' access and engage with the service and what level of annual reach and active use could reasonably be expected for a Shropshire Local Authority area offer? Please describe any registration or license limits, how demand above capacity would be managed and what support you provide to promote uptake and continued engagement. Inclusion and Shropshire fit: How would your service provide accessible, inclusive and equitable service for Shropshire residents including for rural communities, people experiencing digital exclusion or low digital confidence and those with additional accessibility, disability, language or cultural needs? How could the offer be tailored to local needs, pathways (including local information and signposting) along with identifying priority populations. Digital innovation and user experience: What digital tools, features or service design approaches would you use to promote early help, improve user experience, encourage engagement and provide added value beyond traditional support models? Evidence and Outcomes: What evidence supports the effectiveness of your approach for prevention and early help outcomes? Please state if this is independent evidence or internal provider generated evaluation and describe the outcomes routinely measured, including any evidence relating to wellbeing changes, self-management, prevention of escalation or use of other services. Reporting and intelligence: What routine commissioner information, insights and data can be provided to support service monitoring, learning, assurance and reporting to relevant boards or governance groups? For example, on access, utilisation, demographics/inequalities, outcomes and user experience? Affordability, added value and sustainability: For the purposes of this market engagement only, please describe what could be provided within an indicative annual affordability envelope of approximately £30,000 excluding VAT. This does not represent an approved budget or commitment to commission. Safeguarding, risk and clinical governance: Please describe safeguarding, risk management, escalation and clinical governance arrangements would you put in place to ensure residents receive safe, appropriate and timely support, including where needs escalate beyond the intended scope of the service? This pre-market engagement exercise does not constitute the commencement of a formal procurement process, and the Council is not committed to undertaking a procurement following this engagement. For the avoidance of doubt, information provided in response to this engagement will not be used by the Council to assess providers in any subsequent procurement process. The purpose of this exercise is to enable potential providers to share views, evidence and insight to inform the Council’s consideration of future service design and commissioning options. Any information provided by the Council during this process is for the purposes of pre-market engagement only. No representation, warranty or undertaking is given by the Council as to the accuracy or completeness of the information provided, and the Council accepts no liability in relation to it. - Contract startsin 297 days20 Jul 2027, 00:00 BST
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Pipeline notice- Awards (0)
- No award published
- Contracts (0)
- No contract published
- Bid statistics
- No aggregate bid statistics published
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published25 Sept 2026, 17:20 BSTUK2
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