Planning

A New Secure Children's Home for London

LONDON COUNCILS LIMITED

This public procurement record has 3 releases in its history.

PlanningUpdate

17 Sep 2025 at 11:32

UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice
PlanningUpdate

17 Jun 2025 at 11:14

UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice
Planning

30 Apr 2025 at 08:50

UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice
Summary of the contracting process

London Councils Limited, a public authority representing London boroughs, is currently in the planning stage of a significant public procurement project aimed at establishing a new secure children's home in London. This initiative, named the Pan London Secure Children's Home (SCH) project, seeks to provide residential care, education, and health services for vulnerable children with complex needs. The procurement is currently at the market engagement phase, inviting expressions of interest and insights from potential economic operators via online questionnaires due by 31 October 2025. The preliminary market engagement events are planned for 8 and 10 October 2025, taking place online, with registration closing on 6 October 2025. The expected contract period for the provision is from 30 April 2028 to 29 April 2038, with possible renewal, under the industry categories of education and training services, and health and social work services.

This procurement presents significant growth opportunities for businesses experienced in providing residential, educational, and healthcare services to children and young people. Particularly well-suited for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and voluntary community and social enterprises (VCSEs), this tender offers the chance to engage in a long-term project poised to address critical needs in urban child welfare. Providers who can deliver comprehensive, coordinated services and express innovative solutions for the care and education of vulnerable youth are especially encouraged to participate, as the London Councils aim to work collaboratively with partners to establish a sustainable and effective service model. The engagement is designed to inform the market about this upcoming opportunity and shape the future commissioning strategy effectively.

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Notice Information

Notice Title

A New Secure Children's Home for London

Notice Description

*UPDATE*: 17th September 2025 Dear Provider, Thank you for your interest in our proposals to deliver a new and much-needed secure children's home for London. Also, thanks to those that have responded to our previous (two) preliminary market engagement notices and questionnaire regarding the management and operation of the proposed new service. We are pleased to invite you to one of our upcoming online preliminary market engagement events in preparation for this potential procurement opportunity. Event Purpose The session will include further information about the project, insights from professionals with experience of leading secure children's home provision and an overview of our architectural design proposals. There will also be an opportunity for Q & A. Event Details and Registration You are invited to attend on one of the following dates (you do not need to attend both sessions). * Wednesday 8th October 2025, 14:30 - 16:30 Or * Friday 10th October 2025, 13:30-15:30 The events will take place online via Microsoft Teams. Once you have registered, you will promptly receive an invitation with a link to join the session. Please book your place here. https://www.tickettailor.com/events/londonimprovementandinnovativealliance/1848654 The deadline to register is 5pm Monday 6 October 2025. We look forward to meeting you at one of these sessions and we would welcome the opportunity to engage in 1:1 discussions with you following these initial events. Should you need any assistance or have any questions please get in touch. Best regards, London secure children's home programme team London Innovation and Improvement Alliance London Councils Email: newlondonsch@londoncouncils.gov.uk Website: https://www.liia.london/londons-secure-childrens-home-and-plv/ Note about the dates published in this notice: The dates published in this notice are best estimates. The timeline for any future procurement process is dependent on the outcome of this preliminary market engagement exercise, the outcome of the planning permission process and conclusion of relevant local authority governance processes. For further information / broader project updates: Website: https://www.liia.london/londons-secure-childrens-home-and-plv/ Email: newlondonsch@londoncouncils.gov.uk London Councils is the collective of London local government, the 32 boroughs and the City of London Corporation (together, the 'London local authorities'). These organisations come together through London Councils to work in collaboration to deliver their shared ambitions for London and Londoners. London Councils is working with London local authorities to design and deliver a much-needed secure children's home with step-down / transition accommodation in London ('Pan London SCH'). There is no service of this kind in the capital. The proposed provision will provide residential care, education, health and wellbeing services within a safe and secure environment for highly vulnerable children with complex needs. It will also provide a home for children who no longer need to live within a secure environment but will need a period of extra care and support to help them achieve a positive transition back into the community. The outline service model London local authorities will oversee and share the responsibilities of the Pan London SCH via a not-for-profit company that will be wholly owned by London local authorities, currently known as the Pan London Vehicle for Children's Complex Commissioning Ltd ('PLVCCC Ltd'). The aim is for PLVCCC Ltd to commission a delivery partner (provider or group of providers) to run the provision on its behalf and in partnership with an NHS health provider. The plan is to appoint the delivery partner well in advance of the completion of construction works so that they can play a lead role in service development, set up and implementation activities. The intention is for the provision to scale up in phases until it reaches the optimum / most economic occupancy level, taking into account likely demand at the time. The main source of ongoing revenue for the Pan London SCH will come from placements made by individual local authorities and additional funding would support the setup, implementation and scale up period. Please be aware that a location for the proposed SCH has been identified, however construction of the new provision has not yet commenced - the project is currently in the pre planning application stage. Read about the Pan London SCH project here: https://www.liia.london/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/About-the-Pan-London-SCH-project.pdf Engagement process Prior to the commencement of a potential procurement, we wish to engage with organisations who would be interested in delivering services for the Pan London SCH, and/or have experience of delivering similar services. The aim of the engagement process is to: * Inform the market of this potential procurement opportunity. * Gain an understanding of the market's capacity and appetite to participate in a potential procurement process. * Help us understand risks and issues not previously considered and gain insight into potential solutions. * Work collaboratively with providers to understand how services for the Pan London SCH could be best commissioned and provided. * Inform the consideration of options for the future service model. * Inform the next stage business case and procurement strategy. * Develop an approach to commissioning services for the Pan London SCH that reflects the views of providers. Preliminary market engagement questionnaire Your views are important to us, and important to our next steps. As part of the engagement process, London Councils has developed this questionnaire - the insights gathered will help shape the commissioning and procurement requirements, vision and approach ahead of more formal market engagement activities in the near future. This questionnaire is not a call for competition and any future procurement process will be compliant with the Procurement Act 2023. Information submitted will be treated in confidence, will not be individually identified or revealed to third parties and will not prejudice any provider from participating in a future procurement. Any information marked as commercially sensitive will be treated as such. Please identify any information which should not be disclosed because of its sensitivity, providing reasons and the period for which the information will remain sensitive. Please note, issuing this questionnaire and carrying out future market engagement does not commit London Councils, PLVCCC Ltd or London local authorities to commence any related procurement process. Interested parties are requested to complete and submit this questionnaire by Friday 6 June 2025. Any questions please contact newlondonsch@londoncouncils.gov.uk Questionnaire can be located here: : https://forms.office.com/e/C7f7grLith Interested Economic Operators can view additional information at www.proactisplaza.com > register as supplier (if not already) > access London Councils > search for Preliminary Market Engagement, Secure Children's Home. Additional CPVs which could be in scope are: 7512 1000 Admin Educational Services 8000 0000 Education and Training Services 8010 0000 Primary Education Services 8020 0000 Secondary Education Services 8030 0000 Higher Education Services 8031 0000 Youth Education Services 7512 2000 Admin Health and Care Services 8510 0000 Health Services

Planning Information

London Councils would welcome communication from interested economic operators via the Proactis Portal, and would ask for completion of an on-line questionnaire which can be located here: https://forms.office.com/e/C7f7grLith

Notice Details

Publication & Lifecycle

Open Contracting ID
ocds-h6vhtk-0509bf
Publication Source
Find A Tender Service
Latest Notice
https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/057297-2025
Current Stage
Planning
All Stages
Planning

Procurement Classification

Notice Type
UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice
Procurement Type
Standard
Procurement Category
Services
Procurement Method
Not Specified
Procurement Method Details
Not specified
Tender Suitability
SME, VCSE
Awardee Scale
Not specified

Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)

CPV Divisions

80 - Education and training services

85 - Health and social work services

CPV Codes

80000000 - Education and training services

85000000 - Health and social work services

Notice Value(s)

Tender Value
Not specified
Lots Value
Not specified
Awards Value
Not specified
Contracts Value
Not specified

Notice Dates

Publication Date
17 Sep 20255 months ago
Submission Deadline
Not specified
Future Notice Date
31 Aug 20272 years to go
Award Date
Not specified
Contract Period
29 Apr 2028 - 29 Apr 2038 Over 5 years
Recurrence
Not specified

Notice Status

Tender Status
Planning
Lots Status
Planning
Awards Status
Not Specified
Contracts Status
Not Specified

Buyer & Supplier

Contracting Authority (Buyer)

Main Buyer
LONDON COUNCILS LIMITED
Contact Name
tim batkin
Contact Email
tim.batkin@londoncouncils.gov.uk
Contact Phone
+447866671690

Buyer Location

Locality
LONDON
Postcode
EC4R 9AB
Post Town
Central London
Country
England
Major Region (ITL 1)
TLI London
Basic Region (ITL 2)
TLI3 Inner London - West
Small Region (ITL 3)
TLI35 Westminster and City of London
Delivery Location
Not specified
Local Authority
City of London
Electoral Ward
Dowgate
Westminster Constituency
Cities of London and Westminster

Further Information

Notice Documents

Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS)

View full OCDS Record for this contracting process

Download

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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Best regards, London secure children's home programme team London Innovation and Improvement Alliance London Councils Email: newlondonsch@londoncouncils.gov.uk Website: https://www.liia.london/londons-secure-childrens-home-and-plv/ Note about the dates published in this notice: The dates published in this notice are best estimates. The timeline for any future procurement process is dependent on the outcome of this preliminary market engagement exercise, the outcome of the planning permission process and conclusion of relevant local authority governance processes. For further information / broader project updates: Website: https://www.liia.london/londons-secure-childrens-home-and-plv/ Email: newlondonsch@londoncouncils.gov.uk London Councils is the collective of London local government, the 32 boroughs and the City of London Corporation (together, the 'London local authorities'). 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The outline service model London local authorities will oversee and share the responsibilities of the Pan London SCH via a not-for-profit company that will be wholly owned by London local authorities, currently known as the Pan London Vehicle for Children's Complex Commissioning Ltd ('PLVCCC Ltd'). The aim is for PLVCCC Ltd to commission a delivery partner (provider or group of providers) to run the provision on its behalf and in partnership with an NHS health provider. The plan is to appoint the delivery partner well in advance of the completion of construction works so that they can play a lead role in service development, set up and implementation activities. The intention is for the provision to scale up in phases until it reaches the optimum / most economic occupancy level, taking into account likely demand at the time. The main source of ongoing revenue for the Pan London SCH will come from placements made by individual local authorities and additional funding would support the setup, implementation and scale up period. Please be aware that a location for the proposed SCH has been identified, however construction of the new provision has not yet commenced - the project is currently in the pre planning application stage. Read about the Pan London SCH project here: https://www.liia.london/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/About-the-Pan-London-SCH-project.pdf Engagement process Prior to the commencement of a potential procurement, we wish to engage with organisations who would be interested in delivering services for the Pan London SCH, and/or have experience of delivering similar services. 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