Care tenders in the UK: where to find them and which to bid for

Published 30 October 2026

Councils and NHS bodies buy a lot of care, including home care and supported living. There are plenty of care notices, but few of them state a small value, and how competitive they are depends on how the buyer runs the process. This guide covers where care tenders are advertised, which rules apply, how many bids they get, what buyers ask for and how to choose which ones to bid on.

Where care tenders are advertised

• Find a Tender (find-tender.service.gov.uk) is the main place. Since the Procurement Act 2023 came in on 24 February 2025, it has been part of the government's Central Digital Platform, which carries both larger and smaller notices for England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It's free to search, and you can set up email alerts.
• Contracts Finder (contractsfinder.service.gov.uk) still lists procurements that started under the old rules before 24 February 2025.
• Scotland has its own procurement rules and its own portal, Public Contracts Scotland.

Which rules apply

Care contracts don't all follow the same rules, so check which ones the notice names.

• Social care is usually a "light touch" contract. Under section 9 of the Procurement Act, light touch contracts are for services listed in the Procurement Regulations 2024, which include health, social and related services. Buyers have more freedom over the process. For example, there are no minimum time limits for bids and no mandatory standstill period.
• Some care can be awarded directly. For light touch services provided to a particular person, the Act allows a direct award on the ground of "user choice", for example where the person or their carer has said which provider they want.
• NHS-type health care services follow the Provider Selection Regime. In England, NHS England says the Provider Selection Regime applies when NHS England, integrated care boards, NHS trusts, local authorities and combined authorities arrange health care services in its scope. Those services are outside the Procurement Act.

How many are there?

We counted notices whose main classification code is social work and care services. Between 1 September and 28 October 2026, Find a Tender had about 122 new care tender notices a month. Only about 25 a month stated a value under £500,000. Notices that didn't state a value aren't in that figure.

Who wins them

Of the 215 care contracts awarded on Contracts Finder between 1 July and 28 October 2026, 42 (20%) went to small and medium-sized businesses. Our sector breakdown compares care with the other sectors.

How competitive are they?

Some award notices say how many bids each lot received. Across 231 care lots with a published count, the median was 1 bid and 53% had only one. That low number doesn't mean an easy win. Almost half of those lots (112 of 231) came from limited procedures, where 92% had one bid. Care lots awarded through an open procedure had a median of 9 bids. Our guide to how many bids public tenders get compares the sectors.

What buyers usually ask a care business for

Every tender is different, so read the documents. These come up often:

• CQC registration. In England, the Care Quality Commission says it is an offence to carry on a regulated activity without being registered. Personal care, such as home care and supported living, is a regulated activity, and a domiciliary care agency must register. Check which regulated activities the contract needs and that your registration covers them.
• Registration on the Central Digital Platform. Before a contract is awarded, the buyer needs your registration and unique identifier. Registration is free. Our Central Digital Platform guide walks through it.
• Quality answers. In our count of notices that published award criteria, 74 of 165 care notices (45%) had a criterion with "social value" in its name or description. That's the highest share of our six sectors. Our social value guide covers how to answer one.
• Proportionate conditions. For larger contracts, buyers can only test your legal and financial capacity and your technical ability, and only in ways that are proportionate to the contract.

Which ones to skip

A bid takes time. The FSB found that it takes small businesses five days on average to prepare a bid. Before you start, check:

1. Process. Is it an open competition, a framework you need to join first, or a direct award? A framework can mean a bid now and the work later.
2. Size. Can you staff every package from day one, with the care workers you have?
3. Location. Care is delivered where people live, so check the area against where your staff are based.
4. Registration. Make sure your CQC registration covers the regulated activities the contract needs.
5. Fit with your evidence. If you have no similar service to point to, a smaller lot is a better first win.

For more on where to start, see our guide to tender help for small businesses.

Get the care shortlist

UK Tender Desk, from Your Evenings Ltd (that's us), is a one-off £149 diagnostic for small businesses in construction trades, training, transport, care, cleaning and catering. It's done for you. We look at live tenders on Find a Tender and Contracts Finder, pick up to 5 that suit a business your size, and tell you what to fix before you bid. It arrives by email within 5 working days of your form, with no call. If it's late, you don't pay. If no live tender fits, we say so and why.

See what the diagnostic looks like · Get your tender shortlist for £149

Sources

• Find a Tender and Contracts Finder
• Procurement Act 2023, section 9 (light touch contracts) and section 22 (conditions of participation)
• GOV.UK: Light Touch Summary Document (time limits, standstill, user choice; read 30 October 2026)
• NHS England: Provider Selection Regime frequently asked questions (read 30 October 2026)
• CQC: Personal care and CQC: Scope of registration (read 30 October 2026)
• GOV.UK: Registration of domiciliary care agencies (England) (read 30 October 2026)
• FSB press release, 15 December 2025
• Our counts: Find a Tender and Contracts Finder open data (OCDS), counted by Your Evenings Ltd on 30 October 2026. Care is classification codes 853 and 85000000 (social work and related services).

This guide summarises the official sources above. It isn't legal advice. Check the notice and tender documents for each contract.

Written with AI assistance by the Your Evenings team at Your Evenings Ltd. Last updated 30 October 2026.