Care Home and Domiciliary Care Council Framework Tenders
Local authorities buy adult social care through frameworks, dynamic purchasing systems and open frameworks, usually split by service type and geographic patch. A place on one produces consistent referrals. Most councils run four to seven year cycles, so the recommissioning date is knowable years before the notice appears.
Key facts at a glance
- Who commissions it
- Local authorities as adult social care commissioners, under the Care Act 2014 and the Procurement Act 2023
- Routes used
- Frameworks, dynamic purchasing systems, open frameworks and approved provider lists, usually zoned by patch and split by service type
- Commissioning cycle
- Typically four to seven years, with many English authorities reaching a review point between 2026 and 2029
- Common structure
- Standard, complex and specialist lots, with separate zones or patches per lot
- Scale
- Framework values range widely. Recent examples include a joint London borough home care framework estimated between £21M and £160M over its lifespan
- Hard gates
- CQC registration and rating, insurance, financial standing, safeguarding and safer recruitment evidence, and the Data Security and Protection Toolkit
Why a framework place is worth more than a contract
A single care package is revenue. A framework or DPS place is a referral pipeline. Councils place work through the providers on the list, which means a provider off the list is not competing on price, it is not competing at all. This is the single structural reason a care business plateaus while a similar one in the next borough grows.
The corollary is that the window matters enormously. Frameworks reopen on a cycle and a provider who misses it waits years. Portsmouth City Council let an open framework for home-based domiciliary care commencing 1 July 2026 on an initial eight-year term. A provider that missed that notice is outside Portsmouth home care until the mid 2030s unless the open framework readmits.
Open frameworks and DPS models are more forgiving because they readmit periodically, but they still have rounds, and each round still has to be won.
What councils are actually scoring
In most adult social care procurements the rate is set or capped by the authority. That moves the competition almost entirely onto quality, and the quality questions are consistent across authorities: care planning and person-centred outcomes, safeguarding, recruitment and retention, continuity of carer, call monitoring and missed call management, complaints, and quality assurance including how you use your own audit data.
Continuity of carer and workforce stability are where most providers lose marks, because the honest answer is uncomfortable and the dishonest one is easily tested. Councils know sector turnover figures. A response claiming exceptional retention without payroll evidence behind it reads as unreliable and pulls down the scores either side of it.
The other consistent failure is zone selection. Bidding every patch to maximise the award looks ambitious and scores well on paper, then produces refused referrals within three months. Councils record refusal rates, and they are read at the next review. Bid the patches you can staff.
Care homes, NHS continuing healthcare and the ICB route
Care home operators sit across two buyers. The council commissions residential and nursing placements through its own framework or approved provider list, while NHS continuing healthcare and funded nursing care flow from the integrated care board. They have different rules: the council side runs under the Procurement Act 2023 and the ICB side, where the service is a health care service, runs under the Provider Selection Regime.
A provider that only holds a council framework place is leaving the CHC side untouched. We deal with the ICB route on the Provider Selection Regime hub, and with council social care contracting on local authority social care tenders.
Specialist and complex care is where the margin is. Complex domiciliary care, learning disability and autism placements, mental health supported living and children with complex needs are commissioned separately from standard care, at higher rates, with fewer credible bidders. Providers who can evidence the clinical governance to hold those packages should be bidding those lots specifically.
The eligibility gates that disqualify before the writing matters
CQC registration and your current rating are the obvious ones. A rating of requires improvement will not always exclude you, but it has to be addressed head-on in the submission with the improvement plan and the evidence of progress, not left for the evaluator to discover.
Less obvious, and a frequent disqualification, is the Data Security and Protection Toolkit. A care provider with access to personal information held in NHS systems, including NHSmail and proxy access, has to complete it annually, and a provider under an NHS Standard Contract has a contractual obligation to do so. The toolkit moved to version 8 on 18 September 2025, aligned to the NCSC Cyber Assessment Framework, and the submission deadline sits at 30 June. Full detail on the NHS supplier eligibility page.
Then financial standing. Councils test turnover ratios, accounts filing and sometimes parent company guarantees. A provider whose latest accounts are abbreviated or late can fail on arithmetic alone, which is fixable months ahead and not fixable in the week before a deadline.
How Glaxtons works with care providers
We start with a readiness position, not a bid. That means mapping which councils in your area reopen and when, checking your registration, insurance, financial standing, policies and DSPT against what those authorities ask for, and closing the gaps while there is time. That work has value on its own: it makes every subsequent submission faster and it stops a disqualification you will not see coming.
Then we write the quality responses to the published weightings using your own audit data, care plans and outcomes, build the lot and zone strategy around what you can genuinely staff, and manage the portal submission. You keep the bid library, so the next council round starts from your own evidence rather than a blank page.
If the notice is already open, tell us the deadline first. We will say honestly whether it is achievable before we quote. Call 020 3668 5488.
Who should apply?
This page is written for the providers that bid for council care work:
Frequently asked questions
How do I get on a council care framework?
You apply when the authority opens a round. Frameworks and DPS models publish notices on Find a Tender and Contracts Finder and on the council portal. Most run four to seven year cycles, so the practical answer is to identify your councils, find their commissioning intentions, and be ready with CQC, insurance, financial standing and policies before the notice opens.
What is the difference between a framework and a DPS in social care?
A framework is a closed list awarded at a point in time, usually for a fixed term. A dynamic purchasing system, and increasingly the open framework under the Procurement Act 2023, admits new providers in later rounds. DPS and open framework routes are more accessible for a growing provider, but each round is still a competitive submission.
Can a new care provider with no council contracts bid?
Yes, and councils do award to new providers, but only where the risk is visibly managed. That means CQC registration in place, a credible staffing and recruitment plan for the zones you bid, and management with sector track record. Bidding every patch as a new entrant is the fastest way to lose on deliverability.
Does my CQC rating stop me bidding?
Not automatically. A requires improvement rating has to be addressed in the submission with the improvement plan, the actions completed and the evidence, rather than left unexplained. An inadequate rating or an active enforcement position will exclude you from most frameworks until it is resolved.
Do care providers need the Data Security and Protection Toolkit?
If you access personal information held in NHS systems, including NHSmail or GP record proxy access, yes, annually. Providers operating under an NHS Standard Contract have a contractual requirement to complete it. The toolkit is now aligned to the NCSC Cyber Assessment Framework and the submission deadline sits at 30 June each year.
How much does care sector bid support cost?
Fixed fees agreed before work starts, scoped to the framework and the deadline. Readiness work and full bid management are quoted separately because bundling them dilutes both. Glaxtons has a 93% success rate across more than 500 submissions. Call 020 3668 5488.
Open and upcoming framework deadlines
Council care frameworks are let locally rather than nationally, so they do not appear in the national tracker. Ask us to map when your authorities reopen.
See every tracked framework deadlineGetting onto the frameworks that send you referrals
Tell us which councils you operate in and we will map when each one reopens, what would disqualify you today, and which lots are worth bidding. Call 020 3668 5488.