---
title: "Provision of Educational Psychology Advice to address backlog"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-078d67"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-078d67"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-078d67.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-078d67.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Award"
buyer: "Wakefield Council"
published: "2026-10-22"
---

# Provision of Educational Psychology Advice to address backlog

Buyer: Wakefield Council  
Current stage: Award  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-078d67

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## Summary

The Council of the City of Wakefield commissioned specialist educational psychology assessment services to help clear a backlog of statutory Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) assessments. The work supports timely assessment, statutory compliance, service performance and the identification of children and young people’s needs. It is an education and psychological assessment service, delivered in Wakefield. The requirement is for professional capacity to carry out EHCP assessments, rather than general school teaching or clinical services unrelated to those assessments.

The procurement is complete and was awarded directly to Olive Psychology Ltd. The Council used a direct award under the Procurement Act 2023, citing extreme and unavoidable urgency: a shortage of qualified educational psychologists, rising EHCP demand and competition for available capacity meant a competitive process could not meet the immediate need. The award value is £400,000 gross. The contract period runs from 22 October 2026 to 31 March 2027. The award is recorded as pending; the planned signature date was 22 October 2026. One lot was used, marked suitable for SMEs. The published procurement information does not state a separate evaluation or award scoring basis.

For suppliers that did not receive this award, it demonstrates Wakefield Council’s need for additional qualified educational psychology capacity to complete statutory EHCP assessments and address backlogs. A credible provider for a future requirement would need appropriately qualified educational psychologists and the ability to deliver assessment work at pace, while maintaining quality and supporting statutory timescales. The Council used an urgency-based direct award because of pressure on the market and the need for immediate capacity, so suppliers able to mobilise quickly and show they can deliver reliably at meaningful scale would be well placed. The requirement was structured as one lot and was considered suitable for SMEs, indicating that smaller specialist providers may be able to compete where they can meet the service need.

## Notice

This contract provides specialist educational psychology assessment services to support the delivery of statutory Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) assessments. The contract will support the timely completion of assessments, helping to ensure compliance with statutory timescales, maintain service performance, and reduce the risk of delays in identifying the needs of children and young people

### Procurement Information

The Council intends to award a contract directly to Olive Psychology under Section 41 of the Procurement Act 2023 and Schedule 5, Paragraph 13 (Extreme and Unavoidable Urgency). This direct award is necessary to secure immediate Educational Psychology capacity to support the Council's statutory duty to complete Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) assessments within prescribed timescales. The requirement has arisen due to exceptional market pressures, including a shortage of qualified Educational Psychologists, increasing demand for EHCP assessments, and significant competition for available capacity. These circumstances have created an urgent operational need that cannot be addressed through a competitive procurement process within the required timescales. Failure to secure additional capacity immediately would place the Council at significant risk of breaching statutory EHCP timescales, further reducing performance levels and delaying the identification and support of children and young people with additional needs. It would also increase the risk of regulatory scrutiny, Ombudsman complaints, compensation payments, and reputational damage.

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/099745-2026 |
| Notice type | UK5 - Transparency Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Services |
| Procurement method | Direct |
| Procurement method details | Direct award |
| Tender suitability | SME |
| Awardee scale | SME |
| All stages | Award |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 22 Oct 2026 |
| Submission deadline | Not specified |
| Future notice date | Not specified |
| Award date | Not specified |
| Contract period | 22 Oct 2026 - 31 Mar 2027 |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | Not specified |
| Lots value | Not specified |
| Awards value | £400,000 |
| Contracts value | Not specified |

## Status

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender status | Complete |
| Lots status | Complete |
| Awards status | Pending |
| Contracts status | Not specified |

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | Wakefield Council |
| Locality | WAKEFIELD |
| Postcode area | Wakefield |
| Postcode | WF1 2HQ |
| Country | England |
| ITL 1 | TLE Yorkshire and The Humber |
| ITL 2 | TLE4 West Yorkshire |
| ITL 3 | TLE45 Wakefield |
| Local authority | Wakefield |
| Electoral ward | Wakefield North |
| Westminster constituency | Wakefield and Rothwell |
| Delivery location | Not specified |

## Supplier

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Number of suppliers | 1 |
| Supplier names | OLIVE PSYCHOLOGY LTD |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 80 - Education and training services
- 85 - Health and social work services

### Codes

- 80100000 - Primary education services
- 80200000 - Secondary education services
- 85121270 - Psychiatrist or psychologist services

## Release History

- 22 Oct 2026 at 08:45 - Award - UK5 - Transparency Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/099745-2026

## Documents

- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/099745-2026
  22nd October 2026 - Transparency notice on Find a Tender

## Notice URLs

- http://olivepsychology.com
- https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/54/contents
- https://www.wakefield.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-078d67. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-078d67.json.