---
title: "NENC ICB-096 Occupational Health Services and Employee Assistance Programme"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-05812a"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-05812a"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-05812a.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-05812a.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Award"
buyer: "NHS NORTH EAST AND NORTH CUMBRIA INTEGRATED CARE BOARD"
published: "2025-08-05"
---

# NENC ICB-096 Occupational Health Services and Employee Assistance Programme

Buyer: NHS NORTH EAST AND NORTH CUMBRIA INTEGRATED CARE BOARD  
Current stage: Award  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-05812a

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## Summary

The NHS North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board has awarded a contract titled "NENC ICB-096 Occupational Health Services and Employee Assistance Programme" as part of a direct award procurement process. Due to extreme and unavoidable urgency, the contract was awarded without prior competition, effective from 1st August 2025 to 31st July 2026. This award is in response to recent NHS organisational changes, specifically the consolidation of the NHS Commissioning Support Unit, which affected previous service arrangements. The buyer is based in Sunderland, within the region of UKC23, and operates as a central government public authority. The main category of this procurement is services, specifically counselling services, with the award formally marked as complete on 5th August 2025.

This tender offers substantial opportunities for businesses specialising in occupational health and staff support services. The urgency-driven nature of the award underscores the need for suppliers capable of prompt service delivery under transitional circumstances. Large-scale businesses with the infrastructure to adapt swiftly and fulfil contractual obligations within a limited timeframe would find themselves well-positioned to compete for similar opportunities in the future. Additionally, firms adept at navigating TUPE regulations and ensuring seamless service continuity in reorganisational contexts would find this domain particularly advantageous. The awarded supplier, People Asset Management Ltd, exemplifies the readiness and capability needed in such competitive environments.

## Notice

This is a Direct Award being made under Schedule 5 Section 13 - Urgency of the Procurement Act 2023 and in accordance with the Procurement Regulations 2024 where Where- (a)the goods, services or works to be supplied under the public contract are strictly necessary for reasons of extreme and unavoidable urgency, and (b)as a result the public contract cannot be awarded on the basis of a competitive tendering procedure. The action therefore of the Relevant Authority has been Award of a contract without prior publication of a call for competition for a contract to last for maximum 12 months. NHS North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board (the Contracting Authority) have awarded a contract without prior publication of a call for competition for a contract to last for maximum 12 months under Schedule 5 Section 13 - Urgency of the Procurement Act 2023 and in accordance with the Procurement Regulations 2024 under NHS Standard Contract 2025-26. The service is to deliver Occupational Health Services and an Employee Assistance Programme(EAP) to the employees of NHS North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board. The recent NHS re-organisational announcements and particularly the consolidation of NHS Commissioning Support Unit (CSU) functions and the status of North of England Commissioning Support (NECS) within it has meant that the CSU has ceased to provide the above service under its Service Level Agreement with the ICB as of 01 August 2025. The ICB has also recently received a number of staff from the CSU as TUPE transferees and was planning a long term EAP solution to be put in place however with the uncertainty following the DHSC announcements and imminent consultation of staff required is unavoidably forced to put an interim 12 month solution in place whilst operating plans are finalised. The ICB has a TUPE obligation to ensure that staff provisions under the OH and EAP schemes for transferees are provided on a like for like basis and for this reason has taken the decision to award an interim 12mth contract. The identified provider was able to deliver at short notice, was providing the services for the transferees and all other ICB staff via the CSU Service Level Agreement already and will be providing the service on a like for like basis for the maximum 12months period in order to maintain employee service provisions both in line with TUPE obligations specifically for those transferrees and maintaining status quo for all other ICB staff.

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/045961-2025 |
| Notice type | UK7 - Contract Details Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Services |
| Procurement method | Direct |
| Procurement method details | Below threshold - without competition |
| Tender suitability | Not specified |
| Awardee scale | Large |
| All stages | Award |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 5 Aug 2025 |
| Submission deadline | Not specified |
| Future notice date | Not specified |
| Award date | 30 Jul 2025 |
| Contract period | 31 Jul 2025 - 31 Jul 2026 |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | Not specified |
| Lots value | Not specified |
| Awards value | Not specified |
| Contracts value | £50,000 |

## Status

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender status | Complete |
| Lots status | Complete |
| Awards status | Active |
| Contracts status | Active |

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | NHS NORTH EAST AND NORTH CUMBRIA INTEGRATED CARE BOARD |
| Locality | SUNDERLAND |
| Post town | Sunderland |
| Postcode | SR5 3XB |
| Country | England |
| ITL 1 | TLC North East (England) |
| ITL 2 | TLC4 Northumberland, Durham and Tyne & Wear |
| ITL 3 | TLC44 Sunderland |
| Local authority | Sunderland |
| Electoral ward | Castle |
| Westminster constituency | Washington and Gateshead South |
| Delivery location | Not specified |

## Supplier

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Number of suppliers | 1 |
| Supplier names | PEOPLE ASSET MANAGEMENT |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 85 - Health and social work services

### Codes

- 85312320 - Counselling services

## Release History

- 5 Aug 2025 at 08:25 - Award - UK7 - Contract Details Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/045961-2025

## Documents

- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/045961-2025
  5th August 2025 - Contract details notice on Find a Tender

## Notice URLs

- https://northeastnorthcumbria.nhs.uk/
- https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/54/contents
- https://www.pamgroup.co.uk/

## 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-05812a. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-05812a.json.