--- title: "Preliminary Market Engagement (PME) event related to the provision of Specialist Children's Residential Provision" ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-06e960" canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-06e960" markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-06e960.md" json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-06e960.json" source: "Find A Tender Service" current_stage: "Planning" buyer: "Leicestershire County Council" published: "2026-08-21" --- # Preliminary Market Engagement (PME) event related to the provision of Specialist Children's Residential Provision Buyer: Leicestershire County Council Current stage: Planning OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-06e960 [View canonical contract page](https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-06e960) [Download OCDS JSON](https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-06e960.json) ## Summary Leicestershire County Council is exploring future specialist residential provision for children and young people with complex needs. The service would address rising demand for regulated residential placements, including solo provision, enhanced staffing and other intensive arrangements, with the aim of increasing local capacity, improving outcomes and providing greater placement stability. Potential approaches include innovative, flexible residential models and specialist provision delivered by the external market or through partnership arrangements. Work would take place in Leicestershire. The requirement is a social care and support service, classified under CPV 85000000, covering health and social work services. The Council is seeking practical market insight on service design, delivery models and alternatives that could improve local residential sufficiency. This is early market engagement at the planning stage, not a procurement competition or invitation to tender. The Council is carrying out an options appraisal before deciding whether, how or through whom any future service might be commissioned. It expects to hold a hybrid market engagement event on 14 September 2026, delivered in two sessions covering the same content, with information shared afterwards with registered providers. The emerging requirement is a light-touch services procurement above the relevant threshold, with an estimated value of £20,000,000 excluding VAT, or £24,000,000 including VAT. The planned contract period is 1 August 2028 to 31 July 2033. The Council wants feedback on market capacity, delivery risks, workforce, property, partnerships, implementation and potential future commissioning approaches. The engagement will suit experienced providers of specialist, regulated residential care and support for children and young people with complex needs. It is relevant to organisations able to provide solo placements, enhanced staffing arrangements or other intensive models, and to providers with sufficient workforce, property and operational capacity to develop local provision. The Council is particularly interested in innovative residential models, flexible delivery approaches and market-led alternatives that improve outcomes and placement stability. Providers can contribute evidence on deliverability, implementation risks, partnership models and the practical challenges of increasing specialist capacity. This is preparation for possible future commissioning rather than work that can be bid for now; participation is intended to help shape the Council’s understanding of viable delivery options. ## Notice Preliminary Market Engagement (PME) event related to the provision of Specialist Children's Residential Provision Please note this is not an opportunity to tender but is an information gathering exercise to inform the Council's future requirement. Leicestershire County Council Children's and Family Services have undertaken a review of local residential sufficiency as part of the Children's Social Care Market Position and Sufficiency Statement 2024-2027 and our Corporate Better Leicestershire efficiency project. This work is focused on understanding how we can better meet the needs of children and young people with the most complex needs, whilst ensuring sufficient, high-quality and sustainable provision for the future. Our review has identified increasing demand for specialist, regulated residential placements, with growing reliance on solo provision, enhanced staffing arrangements and other high-cost placements for children and young people with complex needs. We are therefore exploring a range of potential options to increase local specialist residential capacity, improve outcomes and achieve greater placement stability. These options include, but are not limited to, innovative residential models and approaches to developing specialist provision. We are undertaking early market engagement to support its ongoing options appraisal for future specialist residential provision for children and young people with complex needs. This engagement is intended to help the Council understand the range of potential delivery models, market capacity, innovation, risks, opportunities and practical considerations before any decisions are made about future commissioning or delivery arrangements. The Council has an existing strategic partnership with Barnardo's through the Children's Innovation Partnership (CIP). As part of its wider options appraisal, the Council may explore whether some emerging models could be developed through that partnership. However, no decision has been made about the future delivery route. This engagement should not be taken as an indication that any future service will necessarily be commissioned through the market, delivered through CIP, or progressed through any particular arrangement. The purpose of this engagement is to gather open and constructive market insight at an early stage. We are keen therefore to invite and hear from suitably experienced providers about potential models, delivery approaches, risks, opportunities and alternatives that may better meet the needs of children and young people. We would like to invite you to join us and Barnardo's, to participate in an early market engagement event with a purpose of supporting open dialogue with the market and to gather constructive feedback that will help inform the Council's thinking. The event will provide an opportunity to: * Share the Council's current understanding of local sufficiency pressures and future demand. * Outline the outcomes the Council is seeking to achieve for children and young people with complex needs. * Explore potential specialist residential models, including innovative and flexible approaches to local provision. * Assess the potential for delivery of all or part of any proposed model by the external market. * Understand provider views on deliverability, capacity, workforce, property, partnership models, risks and implementation considerations. * Identify whether there are alternative approaches or market-led solutions that could better support the Council's aims. * Inform the Council's ongoing options appraisal and any future commissioning intentions. We would welcome participation from providers with experience of delivering specialist residential care and support for children and young people with complex needs, including providers who can offer practical insight into service design, delivery challenges and innovative approaches to improving local sufficiency. Please note: This engagement is exploratory only. It does not constitute a procurement process, call for competition, invitation to tender, or commitment by the Council to undertake any future procurement activity. Participation in this engagement will not give any provider an advantage or disadvantage in relation to any future opportunity, should one arise. ### Planning Information Engagement will take the form of a market engagement event held via 2 sessions on 14 September. Both sessions will cover the same content and the format will be hybrid to allow for in-person and online attendance. Providers wishing to take part in the event can register their interest via the Council's e-tendering portal EastMidsTenders : https://www.eastmidstenders.org Providers should register/log-in to the East Midlands Tenders portal via the above link and search for the opportunity using the reference DN826249. Full event details, including information on how to register, are available under the opportunity listing. Information shared at the event will be made available to all providers registered for the opportunity on EastMidsTenders following the event. ## Key Details | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Publication source | Find A Tender Service | | Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/079811-2026 | | Notice type | UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice | | Procurement type | Standard | | Procurement category | Services | | Procurement method | Not Specified | | Procurement method details | Not specified | | Tender suitability | Not specified | | Awardee scale | Not specified | | All stages | Planning | ## Dates | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Publication date | 21 Aug 2026 | | Submission deadline | Not specified | | Future notice date | 14 Sep 2026 | | Award date | Not specified | | Contract period | 1 Aug 2028 - 31 Jul 2033 | | Recurrence | Not specified | ## Values | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Tender value | £20,000,000 | | 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 | Leicestershire County Council | | Locality | LEICESTER | | Postcode area | Leicester | | Postcode | LE3 8RA | | Country | England | | ITL 1 | TLF East Midlands (England) | | ITL 2 | TLF2 Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire | | ITL 3 | TLF22 Leicestershire CC and Rutland | | Local authority | Blaby | | Electoral ward | Glenfield Faire | | Westminster constituency | Mid Leicestershire | | Delivery location | TLF22 Leicestershire CC and Rutland | ## CPV Codes ### Divisions - 85 - Health and social work services ### Codes - 85000000 - Health and social work services ## Release History - 21 Aug 2026 at 11:07 - Planning - UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/079811-2026 ## Documents - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/079811-2026 21st August 2026 - Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender ## Notice URLs - http://www.leics.gov.uk - https://www.eastmidstenders.org - https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/54/contents ## 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-06e960. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-06e960.json.