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Leeds Advice Service

Leeds City Council

This public procurement record has 2 releases in its history.

AwardUpdate

28 Jul 2026 at 17:02

Award Notice
Award

15 Jul 2021 at 16:01

Award Notice
Summary of the contracting process

Leeds City Council commissioned the Leeds Advice Service, a public advice service for people living in Leeds. The requirement covers welfare benefits, debt, housing and immigration advice, including Citizens Advice services and casework support. Delivery is designed to handle a significant volume of enquiries through several access routes: face-to-face appointments, telephone, webchat and email. The service spans assisted self-help through to generalist advice, with specialist casework support across the full range of social welfare law subjects. It is classified as legal advisory and representation services. The buyer is Leeds City Council, with delivery across Leeds. The requirement is therefore relevant to advice charities, social welfare law providers and organisations able to coordinate a city-wide, multi-channel advice service.

The procurement is complete and awarded. It used a limited negotiated procedure without publication of a contract notice under Regulation 32(2)(b)(ii), justified on technical grounds because the authority considered the consortium uniquely able to provide the full service range and capacity required. Price was the stated award criterion. Two active awards are recorded for the Leeds Advice Service: Citizens Advice Leeds and Leeds Citizens Advice Bureau. The associated contract values are £9,000,000 and £2,506,825 respectively. The first contract was signed on 15 July 2021; the second was signed on 27 July 2021 and has a recorded duration of 240 days. The contract was amended to extend its end date by eight months, to 31 March 2027. Annual 12-month extensions may be made subject to funding. Valid bids ranged from £4,500,000 to £9,000,000.

This procurement indicates demand for a large, integrated advice operation serving a whole city rather than a single specialist service. A credible future competitor would need to provide welfare benefits, debt, housing and immigration advice, with capability ranging from assisted self-help and generalist advice to casework. The successful delivery model combines face-to-face provision with telephone, webchat and email, so suppliers would need dependable systems and staff across each access route. The requirement also favours organisations able to handle substantial enquiry volumes efficiently and economically, coordinate delivery across partner agencies, and maintain continuity across a broad social welfare law portfolio. Qualified advisers with extensive advice experience, sufficient staffing capacity and the ability to demonstrate comparable multi-channel public advice delivery would be well placed to compete when this requirement returns.

How relevant is this notice?

Notice Information

Notice Title

Leeds Advice Service

Notice Description

Advice services to the citizens of Leeds including Welfare Benefits, Debt, Housing and Immigration.

Lot Information

Lot 1

Provision of Citizens Advice Services for citizens of Leeds.

Options: Yes, the authority may extend the original term of the contract by 12 months annually depending on confirmation of funding.

Procurement Information

Due to the unique way in which these services are delivered by the Leeds Advice Consortium the council intends to directly award a contract on the grounds set out at Regulation 32 (2) (b) (ii) - Negotiated Procedure without prior publication - of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015. The Leeds Advice Consortium are the only organisations that can deliver this service due to their capacity to offer the full range of services required. Market research conducted prior to the previous procurement exercise provided evidence to support this, and only one tender was submitted, from Leeds Advice Consortium. The Consortium was developed specifically for the purposes of the contract. Their model of service delivery handles a significant volume of enquiries ensuring an efficient, effective and economic advice service for the people of Leeds. It includes a choice of access routes and covers the full range of social welfare law subjects from assisted self-help to generalist level, with casework support in welfare benefits, debt, housing and immigration. They have offered face to face advice as well as integrated telephone, webchat and email services which have proved invaluable during the pandemic. The Consortium has staff resources in place to meet all requirements of the service and deliver the range of advice required. Their teams of advisers are suitably qualified and have extensive advice experience.

Notice Details

Publication & Lifecycle

Open Contracting ID
ocds-h6vhtk-02c87e
Publication Source
Find A Tender Service
Latest Notice
https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/071438-2026
Current Stage
Award
All Stages
Award

Procurement Classification

Notice Type
Award Notice
Procurement Type
Standard
Procurement Category
Services
Procurement Method
Limited
Procurement Method Details
Negotiated without publication of a contract notice
Tender Suitability
Not specified
Awardee Scale
SME

Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)

CPV Divisions

79 - Business services: law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and security

CPV Codes

79110000 - Legal advisory and representation services

Notice Value(s)

Tender Value
Not specified
Lots Value
Not specified
Awards Value
Not specified
Contracts Value
£11,506,825 £10M-£100M

Notice Dates

Publication Date
28 Jul 20264 weeks ago
Submission Deadline
Not specified
Future Notice Date
Not specified
Award Date
15 Jul 20215 years ago
Contract Period
Not specified - Not specified
Recurrence
Not specified

Notice Status

Tender Status
Complete
Lots Status
Not Specified
Awards Status
Active
Contracts Status
Active

Buyer & Supplier

Contracting Authority (Buyer)

Main Buyer
Leeds City Council
Additional Buyers

Leeds City Council - PACS

Contact Name
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →
Contact Email
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →
Contact Phone
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →

Buyer Location

Locality
LEEDS
Postcode
LS1 1UR
Postcode Area
Leeds
Country
England
Major Region (ITL 1)
TLE Yorkshire and The Humber
Basic Region (ITL 2)
TLE4 West Yorkshire
Small Region (ITL 3)
TLE42 Leeds
Delivery Location
TLE42 Leeds
Local Authority
Leeds
Electoral Ward
Little London & Woodhouse
Westminster Constituency
Leeds Central and Headingley

Supplier Information

Number of Suppliers
2
Supplier Names

Citizens Advice Leeds

Leeds Citizens Advice Bureau

Further Information

Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS)

View full OCDS Record for this contracting process

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The Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS) is a framework designed to increase transparency and access to public procurement data in the public sector. It is widely used by governments and organisations worldwide to report on procurement processes and contracts.

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