How to win a carers support services tender
A carers support services tender is a council, and sometimes a council and an NHS body jointly, buying a service that helps unpaid carers: carer assessments, advice, peer groups, respite brokerage and young carer pathways. It delivers the local authority's legal duties under the Care Act 2014, specifically s.10 (to assess any carer who appears to need support) and s.20 (to meet eligible carer needs), and those sections are usually named in the tender. This is not a CQC-regulated activity, so there is no rating gate, which means charities and CICs win on carer reach and social value, not on care-delivery capacity. We check you qualify for free before you write a word.
What a carers support service actually delivers
A carers support service helps the people who care unpaid for a relative or friend, not the cared-for person directly. The core deliverables are carer identification and registration, carer assessments under the Care Act, information and advice, peer support and wellbeing groups, emergency and contingency planning, and brokering short breaks or respite. Many contracts also fund young carer and young adult carer pathways, hospital discharge carer support, benefits and welfare advice, training for carers, and a digital carers hub. The scale of need behind these contracts is large. According to the ONS Census 2021, 5.0 million usual residents aged 5 and over provided unpaid care in England and Wales, and Carers UK puts the UK total at around 5.8 million. Carers UK also reports that 1.7 million people provide 50 or more hours of unpaid care a week, the group councils most need to reach because they are at the highest risk of breakdown and crisis admission. Commissioners design the specification around finding and supporting those hidden, high-hours carers, so your method statements must answer that brief directly rather than describe a generic advice line. Read the service specification for the precise list of mandated outputs, because the deliverables drive every scored answer.
The legal driver: Care Act 2014 ss.10 and 20
The legal engine behind almost every carers support tender is the Care Act 2014, and you should cite it precisely. Section 10 places a duty on the local authority to carry out a carer's assessment for any carer who appears to need support, regardless of the level of that need or their finances. Section 20 then creates a duty to meet a carer's needs where they are assessed as eligible. Tender documents name these sections as the reason the service exists, so getting them right signals competence to the evaluator. This matters for your bid because commissioners want hard evidence that you can deliver Care Act carer assessments at volume and to a consistent standard, not just run friendly drop-ins. Show your assessment workflow, your average time from referral to assessment, how you record eligible needs, how you produce a support plan, and how you feed outcomes back to the council's adult social care system and case management software. The duty under s.10 to assess any carer who appears to need support, regardless of needs level or finances, is the line evaluators expect you to evidence in practice. Tie every deliverable back to the statutory duty it discharges, and you read as a partner who understands the buyer's legal exposure rather than a charity selling activities.
You do not need CQC registration
Carer support is not a CQC-regulated activity, so there is no CQC rating gate on these tenders. Assessments, advice, peer support, contingency planning and respite brokerage fall under information, advice and prevention, none of which is a regulated activity under the Health and Social Care Act 2008. That removes the single biggest barrier that blocks providers on home care and residential frameworks, where a missing or poor CQC rating ends the bid at the door. This is the doorway penalty defence in reverse: a strong charity or CIC that has never held a CQC registration can win here on equal terms with any incumbent. Selection still screens you on the usual basics, including insurances, financial standing, safeguarding policy, grounds for exclusion and relevant experience, and you will need robust data protection and safeguarding arrangements because you hold sensitive carer and family records. But you will not be marked down for lacking a Good rating, and you should not write your bid as if a care rating applies, which is a common error that wastes word count. If a respite element involves regulated personal care for the cared-for person, that specific activity may need a registered partner, so read the lot scope carefully and name your partner if so.
How the bid is structured and scored
Expect the familiar two-stage shape: a selection questionnaire that is largely pass or fail on eligibility, insurance, financial standing and exclusion grounds, then a scored quality stage of written method statements where places are won or lost. Since the Procurement Act 2023 took effect on 24 February 2025, awards are made on the most advantageous tender, so quality and social value are weighed against price rather than lowest cost alone. The quality questions on carers contracts are distinctive. Bidders are scored heavily on carer identification reach, engagement with hard-to-reach and seldom-heard communities, young carer and young adult carer pathways, and demonstrable Care Act assessment delivery, rather than on care-delivery capacity. Treat each of these as a scored model: state the method, the local insight, the partnership, the resource and the measurable outcome. A vague promise to raise awareness scores nothing; a costed plan to identify a set number of new carers through GP practices, schools, pharmacies and community-language channels does. Mirror the published scoring rubric, answer every sub-question, and use the wordcount on evidence and numbers rather than mission statements. Where the specification lists outcomes, quote them back and show how each method moves the figure.
Who commissions and who usually wins
Councils commission these services, and a growing number do so jointly with an NHS body. Flintshire County Council re-commissioned carers-of-CHC support jointly with Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board from 1 April 2025 for five years, which tells you to expect health partners on the evaluation panel and NHS continuing healthcare carers in scope. Joint commissioning means your bid must speak to both adult social care and health outcomes, including hospital discharge, avoidable admissions and unpaid carers of people on CHC packages. The usual winners are Carers Trust and Carers UK affiliate charities. Solihull awarded its all-age Carer Support Service to Carers Trust Solihull, starting December 2025 on a five-year term with up to four years' extension, after competitive tender. That pattern, an established carers charity winning a long all-age contract, is the field you are bidding into, so a strong social value and reach offer is your lever against an incumbent. Independent CICs and smaller charities can win, but only with a genuinely stronger reach and social value offer, ideally backed by local partnerships with GPs, schools, hospital trusts and minority-community groups that an incumbent affiliate cannot easily match. Name the partners and attach the letters; an evaluator rewards proven local reach far more than a national brand.
Contract length, value and where to find them
Carers support contracts are long, which makes them worth winning and worth resourcing properly. Coventry City Council's Carers Support Services contract runs to 31 March 2028 with an option to extend to 31 March 2031, a typical five years plus extensions structure that you should mobilise for from day one. A five to nine year horizon means your social value, staffing and partnership commitments need to be credible across the whole term, not just year one, so price your bid to be sustainable rather than to win on a loss-leader. You will find these contracts on Find a Tender, often branded as a Carers Hub, Unpaid Carers Service or Carers Wellbeing Partnership rather than under an obvious keyword. Real examples include Find a Tender notices 016462-2025, 027742-2025, 002442-2026 and 070805-2025. In Scotland use Public Contracts Scotland, in Wales Sell2Wales, and in Northern Ireland eTendersNI, since these do not all appear on Find a Tender. Set up saved searches on those branded terms plus carer, unpaid carer and young carer, and check Contracts Finder for lower-value pilots and prior-information notices, because the naming inconsistency is the main reason providers miss these contracts until it is too late to bid well.
Carers support services tender: what scores and what gates
What selection screens at pass or fail, and what the scored quality stage actually rewards on a carers contract.
| Element | What it usually means | Stage |
|---|---|---|
| Care Act assessment delivery | Evidence you deliver carer assessments under s.10 and meet eligible needs under s.20 at volume | Scored quality |
| Carer identification reach | A costed plan to find hidden carers via GPs, schools, hospitals and community networks | Scored quality |
| Young carer pathways | Named provision for young carers and young adult carers, often with schools | Scored quality |
| Hard-to-reach communities | Engagement with seldom-heard and minority-language carers, with local insight | Scored quality |
| Social value | Local jobs, volunteering, partnerships and community benefit under the Procurement Act 2023 | Scored quality |
| CQC registration | Not required: carer support is prevention and advice, not a regulated activity | No gate |
| Insurance and financial standing | Public liability, professional indemnity, employer's liability and turnover threshold | Pass or fail |
| Safeguarding and data protection | Safeguarding policy plus secure handling of sensitive carer records | Pass or fail |
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. See our domiciliary care tender writing or text TENDER to get started.
Common questions
What is a carers support service?
A carers support service helps unpaid carers, the people who look after a relative or friend without pay, rather than the cared-for person. It typically provides carer assessments, information and advice, peer support and wellbeing groups, emergency and contingency planning, and help arranging short breaks. Councils commission it to meet their Care Act 2014 duties, and contracts are often branded as a Carers Hub or Unpaid Carers Service.
Which law makes councils support unpaid carers?
The Care Act 2014. Section 10 places a duty on the local authority to assess any carer who appears to need support, regardless of the level of need or their finances, and section 20 creates a duty to meet a carer's eligible needs. These two sections are usually named in the tender documents as the legal reason the service exists, so your bid should cite them precisely and tie deliverables back to them.
Do you need to be CQC registered to deliver carers support?
No. Carer support, including assessments, advice, peer groups and respite brokerage, is information, advice and prevention, not a CQC-regulated activity, so there is no CQC rating gate on these tenders. That is good news for charities and CICs without a care registration. You still need strong safeguarding, data protection, insurances and financial standing at selection, and if any respite element involves regulated personal care you may need a registered partner for that part.
What is a Carers Hub contract?
A Carers Hub contract is a council carers support service marketed under that brand. The naming varies, with Unpaid Carers Service and Carers Wellbeing Partnership also common on Find a Tender, for example notices 016462-2025, 027742-2025, 002442-2026 and 070805-2025. The service is the same underneath: a single point for carers to be identified, assessed under the Care Act, supported and signposted. Search the branded terms, not just carer, to find them.
Who usually wins council carers support contracts?
Carers Trust and Carers UK affiliate charities are the usual winners. Solihull awarded its all-age Carer Support Service to Carers Trust Solihull on a five-year term with up to four years' extension after competitive tender. Independent CICs and smaller charities can win, but they need a genuinely stronger carer-reach and social value offer, backed by local partnerships with GPs, schools and community groups that an established affiliate cannot easily match.
How much does it cost to bid with Selective Care Match?
Your first tender 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. Standard tenders after the first are £3,000, with £50 per extra lot. Start with a free eligibility check so you do not spend a penny on a carers contract you are not well placed to win.
Got a tender to check?
Text TENDER to +44 7822 030677and we'll tell you free whether you'd qualify, before you spend a penny.