---
title: "Strengthening the Supported Internships Programme"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-03180f"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-03180f"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-03180f.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-03180f.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Award"
buyer: "DEPARTMENT FOR EDUCATION"
published: "2025-05-09"
---

# Strengthening the Supported Internships Programme

Buyer: DEPARTMENT FOR EDUCATION  
Current stage: Award  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-03180f

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## Summary

The Department for Education (DfE) in London is engaging in a public procurement process titled "Strengthening the Supported Internships Programme," aimed at enhancing services within the field of administrative educational services. Covering the UK region, this procurement focuses on providing supported internships for 16-24 year olds with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). The procurement process began with initial tender planning on 16 February 2022 and has progressed through tender submission from 6 April 2022 to award on 8 September 2022. The procurement has undergone a recent update on 9 May 2025, extending the programme with revised contract values, emphasising its importance and commitment to increasing capacity to 4500 internships by 2025.

This tender offers substantial opportunities for businesses specialising in education and training services, particularly for those focusing on administrative educational services. It involves two significant contracts: "Strengthening the Supported Internships Programme" and "Delivery of Job Coach training," fostering partnerships between local authorities, educational providers, and employers to deliver quality work placements. Ideal candidates for this procurement include SMEs with expertise in SEND, job coaching, and systematic instruction, providing a competitive platform for growth by creating sustainable employment pathways for young individuals with SEND. The open procedure allows diverse entities, including consortia, to participate and benefit from service delivery aimed at impactful community engagement and innovation.

## Notice

Supported Internships (SIs) are a work-based study programme for 16-24 year olds with SEND who have an Education Health and Care plan, who want to move into employment and who need extra support to do so. SIs are designed to equip young people with the skills they need to secure and sustain employment through learning in the workplace. The DfE wants to build the capacity of the SI programme and are aiming to double the number of SIs from c.2,250 internship enrolments per annum to c.4,500 per annum by 2025. We are commissioning two contracts to deliver services to meet these aims. Lot 1 'Strengthening the Supported Internships Programme' Lot 2 'Delivery of Job Coach training'

### Lot Information

Lot 1

* Support to Local Authorities to establish and develop SEND employment forums, including payment and administration of section 14 grants * Delivery of accredited job coach training programmes and training in systematic instruction * Engaging and supporting employers to offer high quality work placements * Establishing a sustainable audit process, to measure the quality of SI provision against a Quality Assurance framework Additional information: This notice does not constitute a call for competition to procure any services for the Department. The procurement of any services will be carried out in accordance with the provisions of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015. The purpose of this PIN is to stimulate early market interest and invite interested parties to take part in preliminary market consultations.

Strengthening the Supported Internships Programme

Activity will include: Support to Local Authorities to establish and develop SEND employment forums, including administering and monitoring of section 14 grants Engaging and supporting employers to offer high quality work placements Establishing a sustainable process to improve the quality of Supported Internship provision, using a Quality Assurance framework Communication activity Programme co-ordination

Delivery of Job Coach training

Delivery of accredited Job Coach training to support the programme.

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/020106-2025 |
| Notice type | Planning Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Services |
| Procurement method | Open |
| Procurement method details | Open procedure |
| Tender suitability | Not specified |
| Awardee scale | SME |
| All stages | Planning, Tender, Award |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 9 May 2025 |
| Submission deadline | 13 May 2022 |
| Future notice date | 31 Mar 2022 |
| Award date | 31 Aug 2022 |
| Contract period | Not specified |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | £6,400,000 |
| Lots value | Not specified |
| Awards value | Not specified |
| Contracts value | £5,766,992 |

## Status

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender status | Complete |
| Lots status | Cancelled, Planned |
| Awards status | Active |
| Contracts status | Active |

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | DEPARTMENT FOR EDUCATION |
| Locality | LONDON |
| Post town | South West London |
| Postcode | SW1P 3BT |
| Country | England |
| ITL 1 | TLI London |
| ITL 2 | TLI3 Inner London - West |
| ITL 3 | TLI35 Westminster and City of London |
| Local authority | Westminster |
| Electoral ward | St James's |
| Westminster constituency | Cities of London and Westminster |
| Delivery location | Not specified |

## Supplier

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Number of suppliers | 2 |
| Supplier names | INCLUSIVE TRADING COMMUNITY INTEREST; NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT TEAM FOR INCLUSION |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 75 - Administration, defence and social security services
- 80 - Education and training services

### Codes

- 75121000 - Administrative educational services
- 80000000 - Education and training services

## Release History

- 9 May 2025 at 13:35 - TenderUpdate - Tender Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/020106-2025
- 8 Sep 2022 at 13:57 - Award - Award Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/025256-2022
- 6 Apr 2022 at 12:56 - Tender - Tender Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/009257-2022
- 16 Feb 2022 at 22:45 - Planning - Planning Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/004467-2022

## Notice URLs

- https://education.app.jaggaer.com
- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/025256-2022
- https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-education

## Provenance

This Markdown file is an alternate public rendering of the D3 Tenders contract record. The canonical page is https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-03180f. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-03180f.json.