Scope
Reference
ITS097
Description
Suffolk County Council (SCC) is considering the procurement of an Alternative Provision Tier One (Outreach) Service.
This involves delivering targeted early support within mainstream schools, supporting children across all Key Stages 1 - 4, to address emerging needs promptly. The goal is to provide assistance before challenges escalate for children, reducing the likelihood of exclusion and promoting inclusion within the mainstream educational environment.
Timely outreach support and robust intervention with Children and Young People (CYP) to ensure they can succeed and remain in mainstream education will raise education attainment and skill levels.
This is important as these CYP are often our most vulnerable in our communities and failure to secure a good quality educational offer can often lead to a reliance upon other services such as social care or mental health providers.
The CYP who will be referred, and who will access the Tier 1 Outreach support, will have complex needs that will require the provider to tailor their approach to the individual needs of the young person. This will involve working in partnership with other agencies, schools and stakeholders as well as parents/carers and the young people themselves to ensure best outcomes.
The primary objective of Tier 1 AP is to provide specific support around barriers to learning and enable pupils to remain in their referring school.
The Special Educational Needs/Alternative Provision Service Development Team has a core focus on commissioning high quality educational provision for vulnerable and disadvantaged learners as well as ensuring that this cohort of pupils can make progress based on age, ability and prior achievement through easy access to a robust 'Local Offer' as set out in the SEND reforms (Special Education Needs and Disability Code of Practice: 0 to 25 years).
Historically there has been a significant increase in the number of young people permanently excluded across all Key Stages. Suffolk County Council has a continued commitment to provide the right intervention at the right time. As such, this Tier 1 AP Outreach programme can have a key impact to avoid exclusion.
Total value (estimated)
- £1,333,333 excluding VAT
- £1,600,000 including VAT
Above the relevant threshold
Contract dates (estimated)
- 1 September 2026 to 31 August 2028
- Possible extension to 31 August 2030
- 4 years
Main procurement category
Services
CPV classifications
- 80000000 - Education and training services
- 85000000 - Health and social work services
Contract locations
- UKH14 - Suffolk
Engagement
Engagement deadline
31 December 2025
Engagement process description
Across SCC, we have been carefully considering our AP Strategy and how we further support children in Suffolk in line with the 3 Tiers of AP as defined by the DfE here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/send-and-alternative-provision-improvement-plan
With this in mind, we are hosting a market engagement event on MS Teams from 10am - 11am on Tuesday 9th December 2025. If you would like to attend and support the next steps in Alternative Provision for Suffolk's CYP, please email providerservices@suffolk.gov.uk to confirm your interest.
Please note, it is envisaged that prospective bidders will need to be an Ofsted registered educational setting in order to be eligible for this contract. This, and any other Conditions of Participation, will be clearly set out in the tender documents and in the tender notice should we go ahead with the procurement.
Interested parties are also invited to complete the following questionnaire (ideally by 12 noon on Friday 5th December):
We are aiming for a Tier 1 Outreach offer to be able to support children across mainstream schools from 1 September 2026, with a contract running for a minimum of two years.
Participation
Particular suitability
- Small and medium-sized enterprises (SME)
- Voluntary, community and social enterprises (VCSE)
Submission
Publication date of tender notice (estimated)
20 February 2026
Procedure
Special regime
Light touch
Contracting authority
Suffolk County Council
- Public Procurement Organisation Number: PHVH-1657-HHMV
Endeavour House, 8 Russell Road
Ipswich
IP1 2BX
United Kingdom
Region: UKH14 - Suffolk
Organisation type: Public authority - sub-central government