How to Win Local Authority Care Contracts

1. How care is commissioned

Adult social care is commissioned mainly by local authorities and Integrated Care Boards (ICBs). Rather than one-off tenders, most spend flows through frameworks, Dynamic Purchasing Systems (DPS), and approved provider lists, with individual care packages then called off against those vehicles.

Getting onto the right framework or DPS early is often the difference between seeing opportunities and never being invited to quote.

• Local authority and ICB frameworks
• Dynamic Purchasing Systems (DPS) and approved provider lists
• Block and spot contracts for care packages
• Council portals, Find a Tender Service and Contracts Finder

2. CQC registration and rating: the gate

In almost all cases, commissioners require CQC registration for the regulated activity being delivered, and your CQC rating is frequently used as a scored or pass or fail criterion. Registration and rating are usually the first thing checked, so they must be in order before you bid.

3. Quality-led, not price-led

Care bids are quality-led. Commissioners score person-centred care, safeguarding, staffing and training, care planning, and CQC compliance. The providers that win are rarely the cheapest; they are the ones that evidence real practice against the exact questions asked, rather than submitting generic policy statements.

4. Price to a sustainable cost of care

Commissioners increasingly scrutinise whether a price is deliverable against the cost of care, including fair pay for care workers. A price that looks cheap but is unsustainable can lose marks or raise red flags. Model your price against the commissioner rate card and your real cost base.

5. What a winning care bid evidences

• CQC registration and a rating that supports the bid
• Person-centred care and safeguarding, evidenced with real practice
• Staffing, recruitment, training and retention models
• Care planning, outcomes and quality assurance
• Local social value against the TOMs framework
• A sustainable price modelled against the cost of care