Care contract tenders in the Midlands

The Midlands is the most fragmented commissioning landscape in England — more than twenty authorities, eleven integrated care boards, and several areas still operating a two-tier structure that is due to be replaced. For providers, that fragmentation means opportunity is plentiful but genuinely hard to see.

This page maps who buys care across the region. To have the relevant opportunities sent to you, the Midlands edition of our bid bulletin arrives twice a week.

Who commissions care in the Midlands

In the West Midlands: Birmingham City Council, Coventry City Council, Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council, Dudley Council, Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council, Walsall Council, City of Wolverhampton Council, Staffordshire County Council, Stoke-on-Trent City Council, Shropshire Council, Telford and Wrekin Council, Herefordshire Council, Worcestershire County Council and Warwickshire County Council.

In the East Midlands: Derbyshire County Council, Derby City Council, Nottinghamshire County Council, Nottingham City Council, Leicestershire County Council, Leicester City Council, Rutland County Council, Lincolnshire County Council, North Northamptonshire Council and West Northamptonshire Council.

Birmingham City Council is the largest local authority in Europe and commissions at a scale no other UK council matches — worth understanding on its own terms if you operate in the West Midlands.

Local government reorganisation is coming

Several Midlands areas — including Staffordshire, Worcestershire, Warwickshire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire and Lincolnshire — still operate a two-tier county and district structure that government intends to replace with unitary authorities. Most new councils are expected to take on full legal powers in April 2028.

For providers this matters commercially. Reorganisation typically triggers contract consolidation, framework re-lets and revised rate structures. Contracts awarded in the run-up are often shorter or carry variation clauses, and providers holding work in affected areas should expect their commissioning relationships to change.

What comes to market here

The metropolitan boroughs of the West Midlands tend to run locality-based home care frameworks alongside separate supported living arrangements. The county councils generally procure at county scale with district-level lots.

Healthcare staffing is active across the region, driven by a dense concentration of NHS trusts, and there is consistent demand for complex care and continuing healthcare packages commissioned jointly between councils and ICBs.

What Midlands commissioners tend to score

Cultural competence is scored more explicitly here than in most regions, reflecting the diversity of Birmingham, Leicester, Coventry and Wolverhampton. Commissioners want specifics on language capability, dietary and religious requirements and community engagement, not general statements about inclusion.

In the county areas, rural coverage and travel time are recurring themes, particularly in Shropshire, Herefordshire and Lincolnshire.

Hear about Midlands opportunities first

Twenty-four authorities and eleven ICBs is more than any provider can reasonably monitor. Our trackers do it and send you the three opportunities worth your time, twice a week.