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Supported living tenders

Supported living tenders in the UK

A supported living tender is how a council, sometimes with the NHS, buys care and support for adults who live in their own home under their own tenancy: people with a learning disability, autistic people and people with mental health needs or a physical disability. The contract pays for the care, not the house. Most are bought through frameworks and dynamic purchasing systems split into lots, scored mainly on quality, and need CQC registration for personal care.

See supported living tendersTender writing from £1,500 + VAT
A support worker kneeling to talk with a woman who uses a wheelchair in her own kitchen

Open now · closes 12 Nov 2026

Provision of General Supported Living Services

Bridgend County Borough Council£83.4m

Usual share of marks for quality
50 to 80%
of marks for quality
Typical council rate in 2026/27
£22 to £26
an hour in 2026/27

In supported living the home belongs to the person, not to you. Panels score how you help people run their own lives, and how well you work with their landlord.

A young man with Down's syndrome looking through a photo book with his support worker in his living room

Supported living tenders, Nov 2026

Sources: our tender feed, CQC State of Care 2024/25, NHS England July 2026

supported living tenders open today, worth £1.3bn together
11
across 31 frameworks, DPSs and contracts councils plan to tender next
£1.5bn
supported living services registered with CQC, up from 2,612 two years earlier
3,823
autistic people and people with a learning disability still in hospital
2,115

Supported living tenders open and coming up

Updated 10 Nov 2026, refreshed every 30 minutes

Council and NHS notices for supported living, supported accommodation and individual packages across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Frameworks run five to ten years, so the notices coming up matter as much as the ones open today.

open for bids today, including dynamic purchasing systems you can join
11
pipeline and market engagement notices, and their published value
31 · £1.5bn
supported living awards in the last 18 months, most of them individual packages
59

Showing 1 to 9 of 31

Market engagement · tender expected 30 Nov 2026

Value

£60.8m

Supported Living Framework

Buyer
Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council
Area
Redcar and Cleveland, North East
Service
General supported living, Framework
Contract term
1 Oct 2027 to 1 Oct 2035
Show interestMore details

Supported accommodation for 16 and 17 year olds is regulated by Ofsted. See children's services tenders.

Children's services tendersAll care tenders

One home, two separate agreements

Supported living separates the housing from the care. The person rents their home from a landlord and gets their care from a registered provider, so a supported living tender buys the care and support only. Bids that blur the two lose marks, and services that blur them can fail registration.

The council commissions the care. The person holds a tenancy with a landlord and a separate support agreement with a CQC registered care provider.

The council, sometimes with the NHS

Assesses needs under the Care Act 2014, runs the tender and pays the care provider, or funds a direct payment.

Landlord or housing association

Provides the home

Owns or leases the property and gives the person a tenancy or licence. Rent is usually paid by Housing Benefit, and from 2027 most schemes will need a council licence.

A man being welcomed at the front door of his new home, with his bags beside him

The person, as a tenant

Holds the tenancy and the choice

Chooses who supports them and can change care provider without moving out.

Care provider, the tender winner

Provides the care and support

Registered with CQC for personal care. Delivers the support plan, paid by the hour, with sleep-ins or waking nights where needed.

The tenancy test

Four questions commissioners and CQC use to decide whether a service is really supported living. If you are the landlord and the care provider, CQC may say the service needs to register as a care home instead.

  1. 01

    Can the person change care provider without losing their home?

    This is the first question commissioners and CQC ask. If the answer is no, it is not supported living.

  2. 02

    Are the tenancy and the care agreement separate?

    Two documents, two different parties, and neither one conditional on the other.

  3. 03

    Did the person choose where and who they live with?

    Shared houses need evidence of choice and compatibility, not a list of whoever was referred.

  4. 04

    Is it their home in practice?

    A key to their own door, visitors when they like, their own furniture and no staff office in the lounge.

Supported living, supported accommodation and the rest

Five settings that sound alike and are bought in different ways. Check which one a notice is for before you read the specification, because the regulator decides whether you can bid at all.

  • Supported living

    Who it is for
    Adults with a learning disability, autistic adults, and adults with mental health needs or a physical disability
    Whose home it is
    The person's, with their own tenancy
    Regulator
    CQC, for personal care only
    What the tender buys
    Hours of care and support
    Typical 2026 price
    £22 to £26 an hour

  • Residential care

    Who it is for
    Adults, mostly older people, who need care around the clock
    Whose home it is
    The care home's
    Regulator
    CQC, for accommodation with personal or nursing care
    What the tender buys
    A bed at a weekly fee
    Typical 2026 price
    About £956 a week, over 65s

  • Supported accommodation

    Who it is for
    Looked after children and care leavers aged 16 and 17
    Whose home it is
    The provider's or a landlord's
    Regulator
    Ofsted, since October 2023
    What the tender buys
    A place with support, at a weekly fee
    Typical 2026 price
    Weekly fee per young person

  • Supported housing

    Who it is for
    Adults who need housing support, such as after homelessness or in recovery
    Whose home it is
    A landlord's, often a charity
    Regulator
    Council licensing expected from 2027
    What the tender buys
    Housing related support
    Typical 2026 price
    Rent through Housing Benefit, support by contract

  • Supported lodgings

    Who it is for
    Young people leaving care, usually 16 to 25
    Whose home it is
    A host family's
    Regulator
    The council's leaving care service
    What the tender buys
    A room and support from a host
    Typical 2026 price
    £193 to £323 a week to the host

England. Prices are 2026/27 council rates and host payments, and the 2025/26 national average care home fee. Bidding for the others? Residential care tenders and children's services tenders.

How councils buy supported living in 2026

Five ways, each shown with a real procurement. Most supported living is bought under the light touch rules of the Procurement Act 2023, which let councils design their own process, so read the tender documents rather than assuming.

  1. 01

    Framework with lots

    One tender sets up a list of approved providers for four to ten years, split by client group, area or level of need. Work is then offered to the providers on the list, by ranking or by mini competition.

    Reading, 2026 to 2031

    • £120m in three lots
    • 34 places awarded in February 2026
    • Community support lot capped at five providers

    What it means for youMiss the window and you wait years. Watch for the pipeline notice.

  2. 02

    Open framework

    New under the Procurement Act 2023. A framework that must reopen to new providers within its first three years, and can last up to eight years in total.

    Durham, 2026 to 2031

    • £289m in four lots
    • Price and quality pass or fail against maximum prices
    • 36 to 45 providers on each lot

    What it means for youGetting on is the easy part. Referrals then go to the providers commissioners trust.

  3. 03

    Dynamic purchasing system

    An approved list that stays open, so providers can apply at any time. Packages are then sent to everyone on it for a quick price and quality bid.

    Medway and Leicestershire

    • Medway £74.8m, three lots, 65% quality and 35% price
    • Leicestershire £157m, open until February 2029
    • Older DPSs can run until 23 February 2029

    What it means for youThe best door for a new provider, because you can join when you are ready.

  4. 04

    Locality or scheme contracts

    Named houses, schemes or areas, each a lot, often taking over an existing service and its staff under TUPE.

    Bridgend and Brent, 2026

    • Bridgend £83.4m, seven areas, two lots at most per provider
    • Brent six mental health sites in two lots, £7.6m
    • Brent scored 50% quality, 40% price, 10% social value

    What it means for youBigger, steadier contracts, but you must show you can take over people's support safely.

  5. 05

    Individual packages

    A council buys support for one person when its framework cannot meet their needs, often out of area or for complex needs.

    Darlington, Durham, Norfolk

    • Awards of £92,000 to £664,000
    • Often without a full tender
    • Common for complex and out of area support

    What it means for youA route to your first contract and the track record that frameworks ask for.

NHS funded support, such as for people leaving long-stay hospital under Building the Right Support, may be bought under the NHS Provider Selection Regime instead. Values exclude VAT except Medway's. Sources: the tender and award notices on Find a Tender, September 2025 to October 2026.

How supported living tenders are scored

Quality wins supported living. In five recent procurements it carried 50% to 80% of the marks, one council gave 45% to an interview, and one made price a simple pass or fail.

How five supported living tenders were weightedFrom the notices on Find a Tender, 2025 and 2026

  • Bridgend

    Seven locality lots, 2026

  • Medway

    Supported living DPS, 2025

  • Redbridge

    LD, MH and autism, lots 1 and 2

  • Brent

    Six mental health sites, 2026

  • Durham

    Open framework, 2026

Quality: written answersQuality: interviewPriceSocial value

  1. 01

    Support planning and outcomes

    Goals the person sets, in their words, with skills tracked over time and a plan for moving on to less support where they want it.

  2. 02

    Positive behaviour support

    Understanding what behaviour communicates, reducing restrictive practice and overmedication, as STOMP asks, with figures to show it.

  3. 03

    Staff, training and culture

    Values-based recruitment, Oliver McGowan training, consistent teams the person helps choose, and how you keep staff.

  4. 04

    Housing and tenancy rights

    Your housing partners, how you find homes for referrals and how you protect the tenancy if the care changes hands.

  5. 05

    Safeguarding, risk and capacity

    Positive risk-taking that is recorded, the Mental Capacity Act in daily decisions, medicines and learning from incidents.

  6. 06

    Mobilisation and social value

    Taking over existing support and staff under TUPE without disruption, and local jobs and partnerships you can report on.

A worked example

“How will you support people to develop their independent living skills?”

Could be any service, scores low
“We are passionate about person-centred care. Our dedicated staff support service users with cooking, cleaning, shopping and budgeting, and encourage them to be as independent as possible. We hold regular reviews to make sure their needs are met.”
  • Lists tasks staff do, not skills the person gains
  • No goals, no measure and no example
  • “Service users” and “needs met” read as care home language
Specific and measured, scores high
“Each person chooses up to three skills to work on, such as making their own lunch or getting the bus to work, and we record where they start. Staff use the same steps every time, prompting before helping, and log progress at every shift. Plans are reviewed with the person each month. Last year [your figure] people met a goal they set, and [your figure] safely reduced their support hours.”
  • The person chooses the goal and the baseline is recorded
  • A method the panel can picture, shift by shift
  • Ends with your own figures, including hours reduced

What councils pay for supported living in 2026/27

Councils are paying about £19 to £26 an hour for supported living this year, with complex support at the top. Providers' own fair cost model puts day support at £24.00 to £26.08, so many standard rates sit below what it costs to run.

Hourly supported living rates, 2026/27From council fee reports, March to April 2026

  • Derby £19.28 to £23.42

    Proposed maximums, three lots

  • Birmingham £22.07

    Standard rate

  • Bury £22.97 to £23.73

    Standard and Real Living Wage

  • Bradford £23.20

    Standard rate

  • Essex £23.40 to £25.96

    Non-complex and complex

  • Nottinghamshire £24.00 to £26.36

    Standard and enhanced

Providers' fair cost range for day support, £24.00 to £26.08Council rate or rangeNational Living Wage £12.71 an hour

Sleep-in rates

Sleep-in time only counts towards the minimum wage when a worker is awake to work, after the Supreme Court's 2021 ruling in Mencap v Tomlinson-Blake. That is why some councils pay a flat night rate, and some hourly rates sit below £12.71.

Bradford
£100.73 a night
Derby
£119.82 a night
Nottinghamshire
£13.83 an hour
Essex
£12.68 an hour
Providers' fair cost
£99.39 to £130.90 a night

Pricing a supported living bid

  1. 01

    Start from the cap

    Many councils publish maximum rates in the tender pack, and some, like Durham, reject any price above them. Bid inside it or you are out.

  2. 02

    Build the hour up

    £12.71 National Living Wage, employer National Insurance at 15%, pension, holiday, training, supervision, management and a surplus. The providers' fair cost model comes to at least £24.00 for an hour of day support.

  3. 03

    Price shared hours fairly

    In a shared house some hours are shared between tenants and some are one to one. Show how you split them, as commissioners will check.

Property strategy

Win the contract before you take on the house

When a supported living tender asks you to show access to suitable accommodation, it wants a plan and housing partners, not a property you own. Providers who lease houses first often pay rent on empty homes for months, and being landlord and care provider at once can fail the separation test.

  1. 01

    Partner with a housing provider

    A housing association or specialist landlord sources and manages the homes while you deliver the care. That keeps the two agreements separate from day one.

  2. 02

    Write an accommodation strategy

    A short plan in your bid: how you find homes for referrals, the types of property each client group needs, who your partners are and how tenancy rights are protected.

  3. 03

    Sign leases after the award

    Once you know the area, the client group and the referrals, secure property with purpose. Needs change, and empty houses still cost rent.

Buying property before your first tender? This will cost you everything

Why supported living tenders ask for an accommodation plan, not a property, and how providers end up paying rent on empty houses.

Coming in 2027

Councils are expected to start licensing supported housing from 2027, with national standards as licence conditions and the higher rate of Housing Benefit tied to the licence. Choose housing partners who will meet them.

The seven stages of a supported living tender

Shown with Bridgend's supported living tender, open now. From the first conversation with providers to the contract start is almost a year, and the tender itself is open for about nine weeks.

  1. May to June 2026

    Market engagement

    The council asked providers how the new service should work.

  2. 21 July 2026

    Cabinet approval

    £10.2m a year for 89 people in 34 houses, split into seven local areas.

  3. 11 September 2026

    Tender notice

    £83.4m on Find a Tender, open procedure under the light touch rules.

  4. Until 23 October 2026

    Clarification questions

    Questions to the council on the portal, with answers shared with every bidder.

  5. 5

    12 November 2026Now

    Submission

    Method statements and price, after the deadline moved in the 14 October notice.

  6. 6

    November to December 2026

    Evaluation and interview

    Written answers 35%, interview 45% and price 20%.

  7. 7

    Award due 18 January 2027

    Award and mobilisation

    Standstill, then three months to take over support before 1 April 2027.

The lesson: almost half of Bridgend's marks come from the interview. Your registered manager and the people who will run the service need to know the bid, the houses and the people supported, so prepare them alongside the written answers.

Where to find supported living tenders, and what you need to bid

Notices are published on the national services and then run on each council's own portal, so register on both. Our tender feed brings them together and links straight to each notice.

What you need before you bid

  • Registration for personal care

    CQC in England, Care Inspectorate Wales, the Care Inspectorate in Scotland or RQIA in Northern Ireland, for the right service type.

  • A rating, or a route without one

    Many frameworks ask for a rating of Good. Dynamic purchasing systems and open frameworks often accept newly registered providers.

  • The right registered manager

    Experience with the people you will support, whether that is learning disability, autism or mental health.

  • Practice built on the guidance

    Right support, right care, right culture, positive behaviour support, STOMP, the Mental Capacity Act and Oliver McGowan training.

  • Housing partners

    Named landlords or housing associations and an accommodation strategy, rather than property you own.

  • The basics that are checked first

    Insurance, accounts, policies and examples of your work, all pass or fail before anyone reads your answers.

Not registered yet? Our supported living start-up package covers CQC registration and the policies commissioners ask for.

Tender success stories

Tenders we have helped care providers win

Essex's 2025 supported living framework, Milton Keynes' supported living open framework and both of Southend's community lots, won with bids we wrote. Each letter is the council's own.

council awards
10
councils
9
tenders won by Living Plus Care
6 of 7

Results from bids we wrote with each provider, as told in their success stories. Each letter opens the council's own notice. Living Plus Care Services shared a registered office with us and, until September 2026, a director, so its results are not an independent endorsement.

All success stories

Supported living tender writing

We write supported living tenders with providers, from frameworks and dynamic purchasing systems to single schemes and individual packages, for learning disability, autism, mental health and complex needs. One fixed fee per tender, agreed before we start.

  1. 01

    Bid or no bid

    We read the pack with you: the lots, the client groups, the price cap, any TUPE and whether you can staff the areas you want.

  2. 02

    Evidence and partners

    Your outcomes, case studies and housing partners gathered and written up before the deadline is close.

  3. 03

    Quality answers

    Support planning, positive behaviour support, staffing, safeguarding and tenancy rights, written to the scoring guide.

  4. 04

    Price and social value

    An hourly rate and sleep-in price inside the cap that still pays your staff, and social value you can report on.

  5. 05

    Compliance check and upload

    Every form, declaration and attachment checked against the instructions before it goes on the portal.

  6. 06

    Interview and mobilisation

    Interview practice for your manager and team, then a plan for the first referrals or the handover of existing support.

A young man planning his week on a tablet with his support worker at the table in his flat

Fixed fee

From £1,500

+ VAT per tender, agreed before we start

Book a consultationMore about our tender writing

Watch before you bid

Turning a framework place into referrals, the tenancy test commissioners and CQC apply, and how new providers win their first public contract.

Supported living referrals: the framework strategy nobody explains

Getting onto a supported living framework is only the start. How providers turn a place on the list into referrals.

The tenancy test every supported living provider gets wrong

Right support, right care, right culture in practice: location, real tenancies and person-centred support.

How new care providers can win council and NHS tenders with no references

Routes into public contracts for providers without a track record, starting with the ones that stay open.

Related guides and tender sectors

Some of the providers we have worked with

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What care providers say about working with us

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Bidding for a supported living tender?

Send us the tender or tell us which council you want to work with. We will tell you honestly whether you are ready for that framework or lot, and write a bid that answers what the commissioners asked, at a fixed fee.

  • An honest bid or no bid view on the tender and its lots
  • Quality answers written to the council's scoring guide
  • An hourly rate and sleep-in price inside the cap
Book a consultation0333 577 0877
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Supported living tender FAQs

Last reviewed

A supported living tender is how a council, sometimes with the NHS, buys care and support for adults who live in their own home under their own tenancy. It covers people with a learning disability, autistic people and people with mental health needs or a physical disability. The contract pays for the care and support, not the house, and is usually a framework, a dynamic purchasing system or a contract for named schemes.
Supported living means a person lives in a home of their own, rented with a tenancy or licence, and gets care and support from a separate provider to live as independently as they want. Because the housing and the care are separate, the person can change their care provider without losing their home. The home might be a flat, a shared house or a self-contained unit in a small scheme.
A supported living service helps people with daily life in their own home: personal care, medicines, cooking, budgeting, paying bills, keeping their tenancy, getting out into the community, work, education and relationships. Support ranges from a few hours a week to 24 hours a day with sleep-ins or waking nights. The aim is more independence over time, not just tasks done for the person.
Adults whose needs meet the national eligibility criteria under the Care Act 2014, assessed by their council's social care team. Most are people with a learning disability, autistic people, people with mental health needs or a physical disability, and young adults moving on from children's services. The council agrees a support plan and funds it directly or through a direct payment.
In England, yes, if your staff will provide personal care, such as help with washing, dressing, eating or medicines. CQC registers the personal care, not the accommodation. Many frameworks also ask for a rating of Good, while dynamic purchasing systems and open frameworks often accept newly registered providers. In Wales register with Care Inspectorate Wales, in Scotland with the Care Inspectorate and in Northern Ireland with RQIA.
On Find a Tender for contracts above the threshold, Contracts Finder for lower value contracts in England, Sell2Wales, Public Contracts Scotland and eTendersNI, and on council portals such as ProContract, Delta and In-Tend, where you download the documents and submit. Our tender feed brings supported living notices together, including pipeline and market engagement notices that show what is coming.
Councils use five main routes: frameworks split into lots by client group, area or need; open frameworks that reopen to new providers; dynamic purchasing systems you can join at any time; contracts for named schemes or areas, often with TUPE; and individual packages bought for one person. Most are run under the light touch rules of the Procurement Act 2023, so each council designs its own process.
Mostly on quality. In recent procurements quality carried between 50% and 80% of the marks: Bridgend 80% with 45% from an interview, Medway 65%, Redbridge 60% and Brent 50% plus 10% for social value. Durham made quality and price pass or fail against maximum prices. Each answer is marked against a published scale, so specific evidence scores and general promises do not.
Clear ways of helping people build independent living skills, goals the person sets with progress you can measure, positive behaviour support and less restrictive practice, values-based staff with Oliver McGowan training, safe risk-taking and safeguarding, housing partners who protect tenancy rights, and a safe plan to take over existing support. Answers need examples and figures, not statements of intent.
In 2026/27 English councils pay roughly £19 to £26 an hour for supported living, with complex support at the top: for example Derby £19.28 to £23.42, Birmingham £22.07, Bradford £23.20, Essex £23.40 to £25.96 and Nottinghamshire £24.00 to £26.36. Providers' own fair cost model puts day support at £24.00 to £26.08 an hour. In a tender you usually bid within the council's published maximum rates.
Usually as a flat rate per night or a lower hourly rate. In 2026/27 Bradford pays £100.73 a night and Derby £119.82, while Nottinghamshire pays £13.83 an hour. Sleep-in time only counts towards the minimum wage when a worker is awake to work, following the Supreme Court's 2021 ruling in Mencap v Tomlinson-Blake, so flat night rates are lawful as long as time spent working is paid properly.
No. When a tender asks you to show access to suitable accommodation it wants a plan and housing partners, not a property you own. Leasing houses before you win means paying rent on empty homes while you wait for referrals, and being both landlord and care provider can fail the separation test. Partner with a housing provider, write an accommodation strategy and sign leases after the award.
Supported living is care and support for adults in their own tenancy, regulated by CQC for personal care. Supported accommodation usually means accommodation with support for looked after children and care leavers aged 16 and 17, regulated by Ofsted since October 2023, or housing support for adults, such as after homelessness. They are tendered separately, so check the regulator in the notice.
Supported lodgings hosts, who give a young person leaving care a room in their home, are paid a weekly allowance by the council. In 2026/27 Milton Keynes pays £282.61 a week and Kent £193.46, or £322.42 for enhanced placements. Rates vary by council, and part of the payment may come from the young person's own rent contribution.
Market engagement, approval of the plan, the tender notice, clarification questions, submission, evaluation (often with interviews) and award followed by mobilisation. Bridgend's 2026 supported living tender shows the timing: engagement in May and June, Cabinet approval on 21 July, the notice on 11 September, submissions in November, an award planned for January 2027 and new contracts from 1 April 2027.
Under the old 2015 rules the four main procedures were open, restricted, competitive dialogue and competitive procedure with negotiation. Since the Procurement Act 2023 took effect on 24 February 2025 there are two competitive procedures, open and competitive flexible, used to award contracts, frameworks, open frameworks and dynamic markets. Older dynamic purchasing systems can run until 23 February 2029.
Yes, but usually not on the biggest framework first. Dynamic purchasing systems and open frameworks let newly registered providers join, and individual packages bought for one person can give you the track record that larger tenders ask for. Pass the basic checks, show housing partners and a strong model of support, and use examples from your team's past work where your company has none.
From the first market engagement to the start of the contract is often nine to twelve months, and the tender itself is usually open for four to nine weeks. Bridgend's notice was published on 11 September 2026 with submissions set for 12 November and contracts planned from 1 April 2027. Start preparing evidence when the pipeline or market engagement notice appears.
Our supported living tender writing starts from £1,500 + VAT per tender, as a fixed fee agreed before we start. It covers the bid or no bid review, quality answers, social value, pricing support, the compliance check and interview practice. Mock inspections to help you reach the rating frameworks ask for start from £1,000 + VAT.
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