Carbon Reduction Plan (PPN 06/21) for care tenders
A Carbon Reduction Plan (CRP) is a published, director-signed document confirming your commitment to reach Net Zero by 2050, and it only becomes a hard requirement on tenders that fall in scope of Procurement Policy Note PPN 06/21. According to GOV.UK, PPN 06/21 applies to in-scope public contracts with an anticipated value of £5 million per annum or above, excluding VAT, so most SME home-care and supported-living contracts are below the threshold and do not need one. Where it does apply, a missing or non-compliant CRP is usually a pass or fail selection criterion that excludes you from the procurement before your quality answers are even read. We check whether the exact PPN cited in your invitation to tender actually applies to your bid before you spend a day building a plan you may not need.
What a Carbon Reduction Plan is and where the rule comes from
A Carbon Reduction Plan is a short, standardised document setting out your organisation's greenhouse gas emissions and your commitment to reach Net Zero by 2050. It is not a CQC or NHS England rule, which is the first thing care providers tend to get wrong. It comes from Procurement Policy Note PPN 06/21, 'Taking account of Carbon Reduction Plans in the procurement of major government contracts', issued by the Cabinet Office and Crown Commercial Service. The point of PPN 06/21 is to make carbon a condition of selling to government on large contracts, in the same way insurance, accounts and CQC registration already are. According to GOV.UK, a compliant Carbon Reduction Plan must confirm the supplier's commitment to achieving Net Zero by 2050, must be signed off by a director, and must be published on the bidder's own UK website rather than just attached to the bid. It is treated as a selection criterion, so it is assessed pass or fail before your quality answers, not scored alongside them. Read the exact PPN number quoted in your own invitation to tender, because successor notes now exist and the wording differs.
The £5 million per annum threshold, and why most care contracts sit below it
PPN 06/21 only bites on in-scope contracts with an anticipated value of £5 million per annum or above, excluding VAT, according to GOV.UK guidance on the policy. That is a per-year figure, not a flat lifetime total, which is the single most common and costly misreading. A four-year contract worth £4m in total is well under the line; a single year at £5m or more crosses it. Always confirm whether a quoted value is annual or whole-life before you act on it. For most providers this is reassuring. A typical council home-care, supported-living or domiciliary lot sits comfortably below £5m per annum, so a full CRP is not a mandatory pass or fail item on those bids. The contracts that do cross the threshold tend to be large NHS lots, regional frameworks split into high-value bands, and major continuing healthcare packages. Before you build anything, check the published contract value in the ITT or the Find a Tender notice, work out the annual figure, and only then decide whether a CRP is genuinely required. We do this check as part of the free eligibility review so you are not chasing a requirement that does not apply to your tender.
What a compliant Carbon Reduction Plan must contain
A compliant plan follows the official government CRP template and is not a free-form sustainability essay. It must report your Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions plus a defined subset of mandatory Scope 3 categories. According to Crown Commercial Service guidance on how to create a carbon reduction plan, those Scope 3 categories are business travel, employee commuting, upstream and downstream transport and distribution, waste generated in operations, and water. For a care provider, the real-world data behind these numbers is your staff mileage and fuel, your office and any registered premises energy use, your fleet, and your waste and water. The plan also needs a clearly stated baseline year, current reporting figures against that baseline, your Net Zero by 2050 commitment, any interim targets you have set, and the specific carbon reduction measures and projects you are taking. It must carry a named director's sign-off and be published live on your UK website with a working link you can paste into the bid. A plan that is unsigned, unpublished or missing any of the mandatory Scope 3 categories is judged non-compliant at selection, even if the narrative reads well, because evaluators score it against the template checklist rather than on quality of prose.
Is it pass or fail? What happens if you do not provide one
On an in-scope contract, yes, it is pass or fail. Failure to provide a compliant Carbon Reduction Plan results in exclusion from the procurement, according to the GOV.UK PPN 06/21 selection criteria guidance. It is checked like CQC registration or professional indemnity insurance: either the signed, published, template-compliant plan is there and meets the rules, or your bid does not proceed to evaluation. A strong quality submission cannot rescue a missing CRP on a contract where the policy applies, so this is one item you sort out early rather than the night before the deadline. Below the £5m per annum threshold the picture is different and more nuanced. The CRP is not mandatory, but many ICBs and councils now ask for a basic environmental or sustainability policy, or a short carbon statement, as a scored quality question rather than a pass or fail gate. On those tenders a voluntary CRP or a clear sustainability policy is a genuine competitive advantage that picks up marks others leave on the table. Treat it as an opportunity to score, not a tick-box to dodge.
Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions explained for care providers
In plain terms, Scope 1 is emissions you produce directly, Scope 2 is emissions from the energy you buy, and Scope 3 is everything else across your wider activity. For a care business the split is concrete. Scope 1 covers fuel you burn directly, such as a company fleet or gas heating in your offices and any registered premises. Scope 2 covers the electricity you purchase for those buildings. Scope 3 is usually the largest and most awkward to measure because it sits outside your direct control. For the CRP you only report the mandatory subset: business travel, employee commuting, upstream and downstream transport and distribution, waste and water. For a domiciliary or supported-living provider, carer mileage and commuting often dominate this figure, which is why accurate timesheet and mileage records matter so much. You do not need to capture every Scope 3 category in existence, only the defined ones the template requires, so resist the urge to over-report and instead get the mandatory ones right. Getting the boundaries clean is what separates a plan that is accepted from one that is rejected as non-compliant on a technicality.
Newer PPNs, the Procurement Act 2023, and what to check in your ITT
PPN 06/21 is not the end of the story, so do not assume the version you read about last year is the one in front of you. The net-zero and carbon agenda has continued under the Procurement Act 2023 regime, which took effect on 24 February 2025, and through successor and social-value policy notes. Newer tenders may cite a later PPN that builds on or replaces 06/21, and some buyers run carbon requirements alongside social value under a separate note such as PPN 03/24. The practical step is simple. Open your invitation to tender, find the exact PPN number it cites, and read that note's threshold and requirements directly rather than relying on a guide. Confirm whether the contract value is genuinely £5m per annum or above, whether a full CRP is demanded or only a sustainability policy, and whether carbon is a selection gate or a scored quality question. Keep your CRP and environmental policy separate from your social value response, because buyers assess them under different criteria and conflating the two costs marks on both. If the ITT is ambiguous, raise a clarification question rather than guessing.
Carbon Reduction Plan requirement checklist for care tenders
What to confirm before you decide whether your bid genuinely needs a Carbon Reduction Plan under PPN 06/21.
| Item | What it usually means | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| In-scope threshold | Anticipated contract value of £5 million per annum or above, excluding VAT | Below this, a full CRP is not a mandatory pass or fail item |
| Net Zero commitment | Plan must commit to achieving Net Zero by 2050 | A compliance requirement, not an aspiration to omit |
| Scope 1 and 2 emissions | Direct emissions plus purchased energy, reported in the plan | Mandatory content under the official template |
| Mandatory Scope 3 | Business travel, commuting, transport and distribution, waste, water | Missing any of these makes the plan non-compliant |
| Director sign-off | Named director must approve the published plan | Unsigned plans are rejected at selection |
| Published on website | CRP must be live on your own UK website | Attaching it to the bid alone is not enough |
| PPN cited in ITT | Read the exact PPN number your tender references | Successor PPNs may change the threshold or rules |
Not sure if you qualify for a tender? We check it for free, before you pay anything, and we only take bids we believe you can win. Text TENDER to get started.
Common questions
What is a Carbon Reduction Plan for a tender?
It is a standardised, director-signed document, following the official government template, that reports your greenhouse gas emissions and commits your organisation to Net Zero by 2050. It must be published on your own UK website. The requirement comes from Procurement Policy Note PPN 06/21, issued by the Cabinet Office and Crown Commercial Service, and applies to large in-scope public contracts.
What is the threshold for PPN 06/21?
PPN 06/21 applies to in-scope public contracts with an anticipated value of £5 million per annum or above, excluding VAT, according to GOV.UK. The key words are per annum: it is an annual value, not a whole-life total. A contract worth less than £5m in any single year is below the threshold, so a full Carbon Reduction Plan is not a mandatory pass or fail requirement on it.
Does my care company need a Carbon Reduction Plan to bid?
Usually no, because most SME home-care and supported-living contracts sit below the £5m per annum threshold where PPN 06/21 bites. You are most likely to meet it on large NHS lots or regional frameworks. Even below the threshold, many ICBs and councils ask for a basic environmental or sustainability policy as a scored quality question, so a voluntary plan can still win you marks. Always check the value and the exact PPN cited in your own ITT.
What must a Carbon Reduction Plan include?
It must confirm your commitment to Net Zero by 2050, report your Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions, and report a defined subset of mandatory Scope 3 categories: business travel, employee commuting, upstream and downstream transport and distribution, waste and water, according to Crown Commercial Service guidance. It also needs a baseline year, current figures, your reduction measures, a named director's sign-off, and publication on your website.
What is the difference between Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions?
Scope 1 is emissions you produce directly, such as fuel for a company fleet or gas heating. Scope 2 is emissions from the energy you buy, mainly purchased electricity. Scope 3 is everything else across your wider activity, and the CRP only requires a defined subset of it. For a care provider, carer mileage and commuting usually make up the largest part of the reportable Scope 3 figure.
Is a Carbon Reduction Plan a pass or fail requirement?
On an in-scope contract, yes. Failure to provide a compliant, signed and published Carbon Reduction Plan results in exclusion from the procurement, according to GOV.UK PPN 06/21 selection criteria guidance. Below the threshold it is typically a scored quality question instead, where a voluntary plan earns marks rather than acting as a gate. Your first tender with us is £795. We only take bids we believe you can win, and if a loss is clearly down to our writing error we rewrite the next one free. Our win rate is 96 percent.
Keep reading
Social value in care tenders
SQ and PQQ in care tenders
Procurement Act 2023 for care providers
How to win a care tender
Why care bids lose
Browse all care tender guides, or see care tender writing by service.
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