---
title: "Short Breaks Services"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-06f1c6"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-06f1c6"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-06f1c6.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-06f1c6.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Planning"
buyer: "TOGETHER FOR CHILDREN SUNDERLAND LIMITED"
published: "2026-09-04"
---

# Short Breaks Services

Buyer: TOGETHER FOR CHILDREN SUNDERLAND LIMITED  
Current stage: Planning  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-06f1c6

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## Summary

Together for Children Sunderland Limited intends to commission community short-break services for disabled children and young people aged 5 to 17 years and 11 months. The services fall within social work and related services and are intended to provide community-based short breaks for this age group. Delivery is planned across Sunderland. The procurement is being considered under the light-touch regime. It is organised as one service lot and is identified as suitable for small and medium-sized enterprises and voluntary, community and social enterprises. Relevant providers are likely to include organisations experienced in delivering safe, inclusive community activities, respite services or wider support for disabled children and young people, together with the staffing, safeguarding arrangements and operational capacity needed for this client group.

This procurement is at the planning stage: the buyer has announced an intention to procure and has not invited tenders. Preliminary market engagement is planned through a questionnaire, allowing suppliers to indicate interest and provide feedback on the future tender. The buyer expects responses to the engagement by 18 September 2026. The intended contract period is 4 January 2027 to 3 January 2031, with the possibility of renewal extending the maximum period to 3 January 2033. The procurement is expected to use the light-touch regime, with one lot covering the services. No estimated procurement value or budget is stated. Suppliers should treat the dates as the buyer’s current expectations rather than tender deadlines.

This engagement will suit providers already delivering community short breaks, respite, social care or related support for disabled children and young people. It is explicitly considered suitable for SMEs and voluntary, community and social enterprises, so participation should not be limited to large national care operators. Organisations preparing for the future tender should be ready to explain their experience with children aged 5 to 17 years and 11 months, their approach to safe and inclusive activities, and how they would meet the needs of disabled children and young people in Sunderland. The engagement is an opportunity to influence the emerging service requirement and demonstrate relevant market capability before the procurement reaches tender stage.

## Notice

Together for Children (TfC) are undertaking Preliminary Market Engagement for the following: Community Short Breaks Services for Disabled Children and Young people aged 5 - 17 year and 11 months. Please refer to the attached Market Engagement questionnaire advertised on OPEN for further details.

### Planning Information

There is a preliminary market engagement questionnaire available on Together for Children's online tendering platform, the Open system ref: OPEN20261961.
You will need to create an account on Open in order to access and bid for public sector opportunities issued by Together for Children.
Visit www.open-uk.org to register an account
(Registration is free and easy. Simply head over to www.open-uk.org and complete the online registration form).
Top tips to help you get started:
Keep an eye out for the temporary password to confirm your account - this is only valid for 3 days so if you have not logged in during this period, you will need to contact open.support@nepo.org to request a new temporary password
Adding your Companies House number will populate fields and make it easier to register.
Once registered, select Codes & Categories relevant to your area of business.
Add notifications@open-uk.org to your safe sender list to ensure you don't miss out on notifications of relevant opportunities
The Open Hub is packed with resources and information to help you get the most out of Open. We have answered your questions in our FAQ section and developed a range of how-to guides so you can familiarise yourself with the system at your own pace. Visit www.open-hub.org to find out more.
Suppliers must also ahead of the publication of the tender, register on the Central Digital Platform (CDP) and ensure their information is up-to-date on the system.
The CDP is available at https://www.gov.uk/find-tender.
This market engagement will allow Together for Children to understand the appetite in the market and to allow the market to provide feedback and express their interest in this future tender opportunity.

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/083700-2026 |
| Notice type | UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Services |
| Procurement method | Not Specified |
| Procurement method details | Not specified |
| Tender suitability | SME, VCSE |
| Awardee scale | Not specified |
| All stages | Planning |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 4 Sep 2026 |
| Submission deadline | Not specified |
| Future notice date | Not specified |
| Award date | Not specified |
| Contract period | 4 Jan 2027 - 3 Jan 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 | TOGETHER FOR CHILDREN SUNDERLAND LIMITED |
| Locality | SUNDERLAND |
| Postcode area | Sunderland |
| Postcode | SR1 3AA |
| 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 | Millfield |
| Westminster constituency | Sunderland Central |
| Delivery location | TLC23 Sunderland |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 85 - Health and social work services

### Codes

- 85300000 - Social work and related services

## Release History

- 4 Sep 2026 at 08:46 - Planning - UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/083700-2026

## Documents

- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/083700-2026
  4th September 2026 - Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender

## Notice URLs

- https://www.gov.uk/find-tender
- 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-06f1c6. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-06f1c6.json.