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Care at Home

Cheshire East Council

This public procurement record has 2 releases in its history.

Award

03 Aug 2026 at 10:10

UK6 - Contract Award Notice
Award

22 Apr 2026 at 10:24

UK5 - Transparency Notice
Summary of the contracting process

Cheshire East Council commissioned Care at Home, also known as domiciliary care, across the Cheshire East borough. The service provides personalised care and support in people’s homes for adults with eligible needs under the Care Act 2014, helping them live safely and independently rather than moving into residential care. Activities include assistance with daily living, personal care and practical tasks, supporting wellbeing, dignity, autonomy and community participation. The procurement is for social work services without accommodation (CPV 85312000), delivered across Cheshire East. It forms part of Adult Social Care’s preventative and essential care offer and supports the Council’s planned transition towards a borough-wide Neighbourhood Model.

The procurement is complete and the contract was awarded through a direct award to a new closed Care at Home framework, with one lot. The award date was 23 July 2026. The framework value is £73,397,000 gross. Thirty suppliers were selected: Affinity Homecare Group, Archangel Enterprises, Safe Hands Care & Support Services, Evolving Care, Care Connect Cheshire, Provide Care Solutions, Platinum Care Cheshire, SOS Homecare, Sylk Care, Care at Home Group, Homecare4U, Choice Support, Ablewell, Aceso Services, ACS (North), Attentive Carers, JSH Care Services, Care Needs, Mars Cheshire, Cherished Care Services, Spiritual Inspiration, Cheshire Homecare, Eunha Healthcare, Happy Valley Home Care, Insafehands, Lilyrose Care Group, Care Plus Homecare Services, Valleywood Care, Cheshire Rural Care and Delta Care. The contract runs from 1 December 2026 to 30 November 2028, with a Council-controlled extension of up to 12 months, to 30 November 2029. The direct award was justified by continuity of care, existing safe arrangements, workforce pressures and the need to prepare the Neighbourhood Model.

This award shows sustained demand from Cheshire East Council for providers able to deliver reliable, person-centred domiciliary care across a whole borough. The selected market is dominated by small and medium-sized care businesses, alongside larger providers, indicating that credibility can come from local operational coverage as well as scale. A future competitor would need experience supporting adults with eligible social care needs in their own homes, with the workforce, supervision and resilience to maintain safe staffing and uninterrupted care. Strong performance would also depend on preserving dignity, independence, wellbeing and continuity for vulnerable residents while handling daily living, personal care and practical support. Providers should understand statutory adult social care duties and be able to adapt services as the Council develops its Neighbourhood Model.

How relevant is this notice?

Notice Information

Notice Title

Care at Home

Notice Description

Cheshire East Council is recommissioning the care and support services delivered in people's homes across the borough. This is currently known as Care at Home or Domiciliary Care, it is a statutory service delivered under Adults Social Care as part of the Council's preventative and essential care offer. It provides crucial support to adults with eligible needs, as defined by the Care Act 2014, enabling them to remain safely in their own homes. This support helps maintain residents' quality of life, preserves dignity, and ensures that people remain valued members of their communities. Providers currently delivering services under the CEC Care at Home Framework will join the new closed framework via a direct award in accordance with PA23 section 41, schedule 5 paragraph 7.

Procurement Information

Cheshire East Council (CEC) is recommissioning their Care at Home services. This is known as "Care at Home" or "Domiciliary Care". Care at Home services provide personalised care, enabling support to help people remain living safely and independently in their own homes. Services include assistance with daily activities, personal care, and practical tasks, enabling individuals to maintain their wellbeing, autonomy and quality of life without needing to move into residential care. CEC intends to direct award contracts to existing Care at Home providers currently delivering services under the Care at Home Framework to a new Care at Home closed framework (Framework). This direct award will be made in accordance with Section 41 of the Procurement Act 2023 and Schedule 5, Paragraph 7. Contracts awarded under the new Framework will be for a period of two years, with the option to extend up to a further 12 months at the sole discretion of CEC. This approach is intended to provide short term stability, enabling continuity of care for vulnerable residents while CEC undertakes a wider reorganisation towards a borough wide Neighbourhood Model (Neighbourhood Model). The direct award under the new Framework will provide CEC with critical time to plan and implement this transformational approach, ensuring that future mobilisation of the Neighbourhood Model can be undertaken in a managed way that allows providers sufficient time to prepare for, and adapt to, the new service model. This direct award justification is relied upon because the services being procured constitute repeat services, and transferring vulnerable individuals to alternative providers at the point of recommissioning would create disproportionate technical and operational difficulties, including the following: 1. Continuity of Care: There is a risk of avoidable disruption to continuity of care for individuals currently in receipt of services. Maintaining continuity is essential to safeguard vulnerable people and to support CEC in meeting its statutory duties to provide appropriate care and support. 2. Market Continuity: CEC is committed to the successful development and implementation of the Neighbourhood Model and considers it important to provide the existing provider market with sufficient continuity and stability while this work progresses. This approach enables providers to plan effectively for future changes while continuing to deliver essential care services, supporting both business sustainability and uninterrupted service delivery. 3. Workforce Pressures: The adult social care sector continues to experience significant workforce pressures at a national level. Recent changes to immigration policy and sponsorship arrangements, alongside wider labour market challenges, have increased uncertainty for care providers in relation to recruitment and retention. These factors have contributed to constraints on workforce capacity and resilience across the sector. Introducing additional market disruption at the point of recommissioning, through a full competitive procurement, may reasonably risk reduced workforce stability and service continuity, thereby impacting CEC's ability to meet its statutory care obligations. The proposed direct award provides necessary short term stability, enabling providers to maintain safe staffing levels while CEC progresses the implementation of the Neighbourhood Model. 4. Neighbourhood Model: CEC fully intends to undertake a comprehensive procurement exercise within the next two years which will: a. Incorporate lessons learned from the past procurement (2018) and the interim period, to inform and strengthen the design and delivery of the future procurement process, allowing providers sufficient time to prepare; b. Be further informed by market engagement and intensive coproduction; and c. Incorporate service specifications that are shaped by the views and experiences of people who receive care and support. 5. Existing Care Arrangements: A further procurement exercise at this stage could destabilise existing care arrangements that are currently assessed as safe and of acceptable quality, and which enable CEC to meet its statutory obligations under the Care Act 2014 Using this justification ensures that vulnerable individuals remain safely supported within their current care arrangements and do not experience unnecessary changes where the incumbent provider is delivering appropriate quality care. This approach supports continuity of care for people using services and maintains fair and transparent access to opportunities for all existing providers. It also provides essential time for both CEC and providers to support the effective implementation of the Neighbourhood Model.

Notice Details

Publication & Lifecycle

Open Contracting ID
ocds-h6vhtk-06882c
Publication Source
Find A Tender Service
Latest Notice
https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/073035-2026
Current Stage
Award
All Stages
Award

Procurement Classification

Notice Type
UK6 - Contract Award Notice
Procurement Type
Framework
Procurement Category
Services
Procurement Method
Direct
Procurement Method Details
Direct award
Tender Suitability
Not specified
Awardee Scale
Large, SME

Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)

CPV Divisions

85 - Health and social work services

CPV Codes

85312000 - Social work services without accommodation

Notice Value(s)

Tender Value
Not specified
Lots Value
Not specified
Awards Value
£73,397,000 £10M-£100M
Contracts Value
Not specified

Notice Dates

Publication Date
3 Aug 20263 weeks ago
Submission Deadline
Not specified
Future Notice Date
Not specified
Award Date
22 Apr 20264 months ago
Contract Period
1 Dec 2026 - 30 Nov 2028 2-3 years
Recurrence
Not specified

Notice Status

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

Buyer & Supplier

Contracting Authority (Buyer)

Main Buyer
Cheshire East Council
Contact Name
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →
Contact Email
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →
Contact Phone
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →

Buyer Location

Locality
CREWE
Postcode
CW1 2JZ
Postcode Area
Crewe
Country
England
Major Region (ITL 1)
TLD North West (England)
Basic Region (ITL 2)
TLD6 Cheshire
Small Region (ITL 3)
TLD62 Cheshire East
Delivery Location
Not specified
Local Authority
Cheshire East
Electoral Ward
Crewe Central
Westminster Constituency
Crewe and Nantwich

Supplier Information

Number of Suppliers
30
Supplier Names

ABLEWELL LIMITED

ACESO SERVICES LTD

ACS (NORTH) LTD

AFFINITY HOMECARE GROUP LTD

ARCHANGEL ENTERPRISES LIMITED

ATTENTIVE CARERS LTD

CARE AT HOME GROUP LTD

CARE CONNECT CHESHIRE LTD

CARE NEEDS LIMITED

CARE PLUS HOMECARE SERVICES LTD

CHERISHED CARE SERVICES LIMITED

CHESHIRE HOMECARE LTD

CHESHIRE RURAL CARE LTD

Choice Support

DELTA CARE LTD

EUNHA HEALTHCARE LTD

EVOLVING CARE LIMITED

HAPPY VALLEY HOME CARE LIMITED

HOMECARE4U LIMITED

INSAFEHANDS LIMITED

JSH CARE SERVICES LIMITED

LILYROSE CARE GROUP LIMITED

MARS CHESHIRE LIMITED

PLATINUM CARE CHESHIRE LTD

PROVIDE CARE SOLUTIONS LIMITED

SAFE HANDS CARE & SUPPORT SERVICES LIMITED

SOS HOMECARE LTD.

SPIRITUAL INSPIRATION LTD

SYLK CARE LTD.

VALLEYWOOD CARE LIMITED

Further Information

Notice Documents

Notice URLs

Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS)

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