---
title: "Soft Market Testing - Nottinghamshire County Council Assessment placement framework for children-in-care"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-05e70f"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-05e70f"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-05e70f.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-05e70f.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Planning"
buyer: "NOTTINGHAMSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL"
published: "2025-11-24"
---

# Soft Market Testing - Nottinghamshire County Council Assessment placement framework for children-in-care

Buyer: NOTTINGHAMSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL  
Current stage: Planning  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-05e70f

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## Summary

Nottinghamshire County Council is in the planning stage of a public procurement process titled "Soft Market Testing - Nottinghamshire County Council Assessment Placement Framework for Children-in-Care." This initiative falls under the health and social work services category and is situated in Nottingham, with specific delivery in the regions UKF15 and UKF16. The process is a soft market test designed to collect data from service providers, and it is not yet at the procurement exercise stage. Interested parties should submit their responses by the 12th of December, 2025. This early-stage engagement aims to refine strategies for future emergency and assessment placement frameworks, aligning with the council's commissioning goals.

This tender provides a meaningful opportunity for businesses specialising in health and social work services, particularly those experienced in providing children's placements. The procurement supports the formation of a responsive framework to aid children-in-care, fostering potential collaborations and insights from industry experts. Small to medium enterprises (SMEs) and voluntary, community, and social enterprises (VCSEs) are particularly encouraged to participate, as the engagement allows for a deep understanding of the market landscape and a chance to influence upcoming frameworks that could lead to extended contract opportunities starting in September 2026.

## Notice

Nottinghamshire County Council's Children's Placement and Commissioning team are conducting a soft market test exercise to explore the possibility of developing a framework to support assessment placements for children-in-care. This exercise is designed to gather insights from providers about capacity, appetite, challenges, and innovative approaches to emergency and planned assessment provisions to support the long-term home finding process. It is also an opportunity to shape future commissioning strategies with Nottinghamshire County Council.

### Planning Information

Provider feedback will help us better understand market conditions, refine our commissioning strategy, and ensure that any potential future framework is informed by provider experience. We value your input and expertise in the market, and welcome open and honest conversations throughout the process. We will share a summary of our findings with all participants, which of course will be anonymised. Following this, we may hold a further provider forum if required.
To reiterate, this is not a procurement exercise but rather a data gathering exercise.
The Soft Market Testing exercise is being carried out on www.eastmidstenders.org - We kindly ask all providers to complete the response form attached to the market engagement exercise on the portal, and submit their responses by Friday 12th December 2025. 
Your input is essential in helping us shape a responsive and sustainable emergency and assessment placement framework. Timely submissions will ensure your views are considered as part of our strategic planning and next steps.

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/076344-2025 |
| 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 |
| All stages | Planning |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 24 Nov 2025 |
| Submission deadline | Not specified |
| Future notice date | 12 Dec 2025 |
| Award date | Not specified |
| Contract period | 31 Aug 2026 - 31 Aug 2031 |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | Not specified |
| Lots value | Not specified |
| Awards value | Not specified |
| Contracts value | Not specified |

## Status

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender status | Planning |
| Lots status | Planning |
| Awards status | Not specified |
| Contracts status | Not specified |

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | NOTTINGHAMSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL |
| Locality | NOTTINGHAM |
| Post town | Nottingham |
| Postcode | NG2 7QP |
| Country | England |
| ITL 1 | TLF East Midlands (England) |
| ITL 2 | TLF1 Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire |
| ITL 3 | TLF16 South Nottinghamshire |
| Local authority | Rushcliffe |
| Electoral ward | Trent Bridge |
| Westminster constituency | Rushcliffe |
| Delivery location | TLF15 North Nottinghamshire, TLF16 South Nottinghamshire |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 85 - Health and social work services

### Codes

- 85000000 - Health and social work services

## Release History

- 24 Nov 2025 at 10:35 - Planning - UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/076344-2025

## Documents

- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/076344-2025
  24th November 2025 - Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender

## Notice URLs

- https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/54/contents
- https://www.nottinghamshire.gov.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-05e70f. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-05e70f.json.