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Healthcare Tender Sectors We Support

Domiciliary Care Tenders

Win domiciliary care tenders and home care contracts across the UK. Specialist bid writing, CQC-ready evidence and live tender support from Care Sync Experts.

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Domiciliary care tender documents

Domiciliary care tenders are how local authorities and the NHS award home care contracts to providers. Winning them turns one-off referrals into steady, fundable hours. Care Sync Experts writes domiciliary care tenders that score against the evaluator's criteria, evidence your CQC compliance and reflect how your service actually runs.

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Domiciliary Care Contracts Councils Have Commissioned

Published home care and domiciliary contract notices, with the buyer, the commissioning authority and the contract value where one was given. Reading the recent awards for an area tells you who commissions there, how they package the work and what they pay, which is worth knowing before you write a word of a bid.

Showing 40 of 56 notices, ranked by contract value and then by publication date.

These are published contract notices from our feed of UK health and social care procurement, shown newest and largest first. They are a record of what has been commissioned, not a list of what is open today, so check the buyer's own portal before you plan a bid. Search the full notice archive.

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Who this is for

For new and established domiciliary care and home care providers across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, bidding for council frameworks, dynamic purchasing systems, NHS packages and spot contracts. What we do: help you find the right opportunities, complete the selection stage, and write the quality responses through our tender writing service. What to do next: book a free consultation, or send us the tender you are looking at and we will tell you honestly whether it is worth bidding.

Domiciliary care contracts: key facts

Domiciliary care is the regulated activity of personal care, delivered through scheduled visits in a person's own home.

Most work is commissioned by councils through frameworks and dynamic purchasing systems, often split into geographic lots.

A minimum CQC rating of Good is commonly required to qualify.

Continuity of carer and electronic call monitoring are central scoring themes.

The biggest demand is the how to get domiciliary care contracts and clients cluster.

Adult social care procurement is governed by the Procurement Act 2023, usually the light touch regime.

What are domiciliary care tenders?

A domiciliary care tender is a formal procurement process in which a commissioner, usually a local authority or an NHS body, invites providers to bid to deliver personal care and support in people's own homes. The commissioner sets the requirements and the scoring, and providers submit written responses and prices. A successful bid secures a place on a framework, a dynamic purchasing system or a contract for a fixed term.

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Domiciliary care is the regulated activity of personal care, regulated by the Care Quality Commission, delivered through scheduled visits in a person's own home.

It differs from supported living, where housing and care are separate, from live-in care, which is continuous presence, and from reablement, which is short and goal-focused

Care professional during home visit

Domiciliary care, supported living, residential and live-in care compared

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Geographic coverage area

Commissioners mark down responses that blur these models, so the language in your bid must match the service being procured.

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Domiciliary care, supported living, residential and live-in care compared

Commissioners mark down responses that confuse these models, so your bid must match the service being procured.

Feature

Domiciliary care

Supported living

Residential care

Live-in care

Where the person lives

Their own home

Their own tenancy

The provider's care home

Their own home

CQC regulated activity

Personal care

Personal care

Accommodation with personal care

Personal care

Support pattern

Scheduled visits

Flexible, on or off site

24-hour in a home

Continuous one to one

Best suited to

People needing help at home through visits

Adults building independence

Adults needing 24-hour care

People needing constant support at home

The domiciliary care contract market

Demand for care at home continues to grow as more people are supported to stay independent in their own homes rather than move into residential or nursing care. Most of this work is commissioned by councils and the NHS, which means public tenders are the main route to sustainable, fundable referrals.

For many providers, a place on the right framework is the difference between ad hoc private clients and predictable contracted hours. You can see current opportunities on our live tenders hub.

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📈 Growing demand

More people are being supported to stay at home rather than move into residential or nursing care, driving consistent growth in commissioned home care hours.

🏛 Council & NHS commissioning

The vast majority of home care work is commissioned by local authorities and the NHS through public procurement not through private referrals.

🔗 Frameworks = predictable income

A place on the right framework converts ad hoc private clients into contracted, predictable hours, the foundation of a sustainable domiciliary care business.

How domiciliary care is commissioned

Councils and NHS bodies buy home care through several models. Knowing which one you face changes your whole approach.

🏛 Frameworks

An approved list of providers, often split into tiers and geographic lots. Higher tiers usually receive more referrals.

📋 Dynamic Purchasing Systems

An open list you can join at set points, with mini-competitions for individual packages.

🔄 Open Frameworks

A newer model under the Procurement Act 2023 that reopens at intervals, so new providers can join later.

📦 Block Contracts

Guaranteed volumes of hours for a fixed price

🔔 Spot & Call-off Contracts

Individual packages purchased as needs arise.

Care professional during home visit

📍 Lot & Tier Strategy

Lots are usually geographic, district by district, with separate lots for complex needs, dementia, or learning disability and autism. Bidding for every lot is rarely the right move. We help you target the lots and tiers you can realistically staff and deliver, because over-committing and then failing to mobilise damages your standing with the commissioner and your future scores.

Procurement Act 2023 legislation

The rules: Procurement Act 2023 and the Provider Selection Regime

Adult social care commissioned by local authorities, including domiciliary care, now sits under the Procurement Act 2023, which went live on 24 February 2025. Health care services commissioned by the NHS are arranged under the Provider Selection Regime, in force since 1 January 2024.

In practice, most domiciliary care contracts are run as light touch regime procurements under the Procurement Act 2023. This gives commissioners flexibility in how they design the process, while still requiring fair and transparent evaluation. Open frameworks and the competitive flexible procedure are becoming more common. Where the NHS commissions home based health care, the Provider Selection Regime may apply instead. We keep every response aligned with the regime that governs each opportunity.

The domiciliary care tender process step by step

Like most public procurement, domiciliary care tenders usually follow two stages.

Stage 1

The selection questionnaire (SQ or PQQ): company information, financial standing, insurance, exclusion grounds and core compliance. For home care this almost always includes your CQC registration and rating. Incomplete answers lead to disqualification.

Stage 2

The invitation to tender (ITT): the quality method statements. This is where the contract is won or lost. You answer set questions on how you will deliver the service, usually within strict word counts, and you submit your price.

Minimum criteria you usually need to qualify

Most domiciliary care tenders set minimum requirements before your quality answers are even read.

⭐ CQC registration and rating

You normally need to be registered with the CQC for the regulated activity of personal care. Many commissioners require an overall rating of Good as a minimum, although some will consider Requires Improvement or newly registered providers on request.

📍 Local Presence

A registered office or branch within the commissioner's area is often expected to demonstrate local knowledge and delivery capacity.

💰 Financial Standing

Audited accounts, a minimum level of turnover and adequate insurance to show you can sustain delivery over the contract term.

📄 Policies & Evidence

Safeguarding, medication, business continuity, recruitment and quality assurance policies that reflect current legislation and regulation.

💡 If your CQC rating or documentation is not yet where it needs to be, we can help you get there before you bid, because we are also a CQC registration and compliance consultancy. That is something a pure bid writer cannot offer.

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CQC requirements for care professionals

Common domiciliary care tender questions

You will not be asked all of these in a single tender, but the same themes recur. Preparing strong, evidenced answers in advance builds a reusable bid library.

Person-centred care and co-production with the people you support

Outcomes-focused delivery, and how you evidence maintained independence and reduced hospital admissions.

Safeguarding, the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards.

Workforce: recruitment, retention, training, supervision and capacity.

Continuity of carer, and electronic call monitoring of visits.

Medication management and accurate recording.

Social value and community benefit, which can carry a high weighting.

Business continuity and mobilisation of a new contract.

Duties under the Care Act 2014, quality assurance, complaints handling and continuous improvement.

What a winning answer looks like

Generic care language scores poorly. A high-scoring domiciliary care answer names the systems you use, names the roles responsible, gives a dated real example, quantifies the outcome, and maps every point back to the exact wording of the scoring criterion.

We translate how your service actually runs, your rotas, your monitoring data and your case examples, into that evaluator-grade evidence.

The winning answer formula:

Name the system → Name the role → Give a dated example → Quantify the outcome → Map to the criterion

Care professional home visit

How to win domiciliary care tenders in six steps

01

CQC Registration

Confirm CQC registration for personal care and a strong rating, since Good is commonly the minimum.

02

Target the Right Lots

Target the right frameworks, dynamic purchasing systems and lots for your capacity and area.

03

Find Opportunities

Find opportunities on Find a Tender, Contracts Finder and council portals.

04

Map to Criteria

Map every quality question to the published scoring criteria.

05

Evidence Your Service

Evidence continuity of carer, electronic call monitoring, safeguarding and outcomes with named systems and dated examples.

06

Price Sustainably

Price sustainably for travel and visit time, then quality-check and submit before the deadline.

Care professional home visit
Live Tenders HubHow to Get Contracts →

How to get domiciliary care contracts and clients

To win domiciliary care contracts you need to be registered and rated by the CQC, be visible on the right tender portals, and submit well-evidenced, specification-matched responses before the deadline. The practical steps are:

CQC Registration

Register and maintain a strong CQC rating, since this often decides whether you are even eligible.

Monitor the right portals

Monitor opportunities on the official GOV.UK portals, Find a Tender and Contracts Finder, as well as your regional council portals.

Get onto frameworks & DPS

Get onto the frameworks and dynamic purchasing systems that serve your area.

Build a bid library

Build a bid library of strong, evidenced answers you can tailor for each opportunity.

Use feedback to improve

Use the feedback from every result to improve your next submission.

Challenges we help you overcome

Domiciliary care tenders present specific, recurring challenges that trip up even established providers. Here is how we address each one.

👥 Workforce Capacity

Evidencing reliable recruitment and retention so commissioners trust you can staff the contract.

🔄 Continuity of Carer

Showing how your rota design and electronic monitoring keep the same workers with each person. A central scoring theme commissioners test hard.

🌍 Social Value

Responding to community benefit criteria that now carry real scoring weight in the score.

💷 Sustainable Pricing

Presenting rates that are competitive for the commissioner and viable for you. Covering travel time, visit time, and safe staffing etc. without undercutting your own sustainability.

Why choose Care Sync Experts for domiciliary care tenders

We are a specialist health and social care consultancy, not a generic bid writer. Two things set us apart.

CQC + Compliance Consultancy

We combine tender writing with CQC, CIW and RQIA registration and compliance — so if your rating or documentation is not contract-ready, we fix the root cause, not just the bid.

Live Tenders Hub

We maintain a live tenders hub so we help you find the right opportunities as well as win them — something a pure bid writer cannot offer.

Original, Evidence-Led Writing

We maintain a live tenders hub so we help you find the right opportunities as well as win them — something a pure bid writer cannot offer.

We are a specialist health and social care consultancy, not a generic bid writer.

Two things set us apart. First, we combine tender writing with CQC, CIW and RQIA registration and compliance, so if your rating or documentation is not yet contract-ready, we can fix the root cause, not just the bid. Second, we keep a live tenders hub, so we help you find the right opportunities as well as win them. Every response is original, evidence-led and written in plain, professional English.

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Other tender sectors we support

Care Sync Experts writes tenders across the health and social care sector. Explore the other settings we support:

Supported Living Tenders

Tenancy-based support for adults with a disability or mental health needs.

Learn more →

Residential Care Tenders

Accommodation with personal care in a registered care home.

Learn more →

Nursing Care Tenders

Care homes providing nursing alongside personal care.

Learn more →

Extra Care Tenders

Care and support in extra care housing schemes.

Learn more →

Reablement Tenders

Short, goal-focused support to regain independence.

Learn more →

Children's Services Tenders

Ofsted-regulated services for looked-after children and care leavers.

Learn more →

All Tender Sectors

Browse every health and social care tender sector we cover.

Browse all →

Frequently asked questions

Local councils award home care through frameworks, dynamic purchasing systems and spot contracts, published on their own tender portals and on the GOV.UK sites Find a Tender and Contracts Finder. To be considered you usually need CQC registration, often a Good rating, evidence of financial standing, and a strong quality submission. We help you find the right opportunities and write responses that match the council's scoring.
You almost always need to be registered with the Care Quality Commission for the regulated activity of personal care. Many commissioners set a minimum overall rating of Good, although some will accept Requires Improvement or newly registered providers on request through a clarification question. If your rating is a barrier, we can support your CQC registration and compliance so that you become eligible to bid.
New providers usually build a mix of council and NHS contracted work alongside private clients. The fastest sustainable route is getting onto local frameworks and dynamic purchasing systems, supported by a strong CQC rating, clear referral information and a professional online presence. Private clients tend to follow from reputation, reviews and word of mouth once your service is established.
Most tenders run in two stages. First, a selection questionnaire covering company information, finances, insurance and CQC compliance. Second, an invitation to tender with quality method statements and your price. Responses are submitted through a portal before a fixed deadline. The quality stage, scored against set criteria, is where most contracts are won or lost.
The Procurement Act 2023 went live on 24 February 2025 and governs how councils buy adult social care, including domiciliary care. Most home care is procured under its light touch regime, with open frameworks and the competitive flexible procedure becoming more common. NHS-commissioned home health care may instead fall under the Provider Selection Regime, in force since January 2024. We align each response with the rules that apply to that opportunity.
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Tell us about the domiciliary care tender you are considering and we will give you an honest view on whether to bid and how to win it.

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