How to win a supported employment (Connect to Work) tender
Winning a supported employment tender means evidencing fidelity to the Individual Placement and Support (IPS) model and the Supported Employment Quality Framework (SEQF), plus real job-outcome data, not a generic training offer. Most of these contracts now run as Connect to Work, the DWP-funded national programme that councils and combined authorities procure through Find a Tender. Crucially, this is not a CQC-regulated service, so a care rating is not the gate. Eligibility rests on your employment-support track record, SEQF accreditation and placement outcomes. We check you qualify for free before you write a word.
What Connect to Work is and who procures it
Connect to Work is the DWP-funded national supported-employment programme, delivered locally by councils, combined authorities and strategic authorities who procure providers through Find a Tender. It supports disabled people, those with health conditions and people with complex barriers to employment to find and keep paid work. Recent notices include Greater Lincolnshire (036480-2025) and others published through 2025, so the live competitions are real and findable on the central portal. The scale is local but substantial. According to a Find a Tender notice, Greater Lincolnshire's open framework is valued at approximately GBP 7.5m per year over three years, targeting around 2,200 participants annually. Buckinghamshire Council's Connect to Work is expected to support 700 individuals at roughly GBP 2.9m per year. That per-area pattern repeats across the country, which means a single national programme is being bought through dozens of separate local procurements. If you deliver employment support, each authority's window is a distinct chance to win a place, and the providers who track Find a Tender systematically tend to be the ones ready when a notice drops.
Why this is not a CQC tender (the doorway penalty defence)
Supported employment is not a CQC-regulated activity, so commissioners do not ask for a care rating and you should never present one as your headline qualification. The doorway into these contracts is your employment-support track record, SEQF accreditation and hard place and job-outcome data, not a Good or Outstanding rating. Treating it like a care bid is a common and costly mistake. This matters for care-adjacent providers. Many learning disability, mental health and physical disability support organisations already work with exactly the cohort Connect to Work serves, yet assume they cannot bid because the programme sits outside CQC. They can. What the evaluation rewards instead is evidence of how you move individuals into sustained paid employment: referral-to-start conversion, job starts, 13-week and 26-week retention, and earnings progression. Build the bid around outcomes and model fidelity, and lean on your existing relationships with this client group as proof of reach and trust. The absence of a CQC gate is an opening, not a barrier, for providers who know the cohort.
IPS and SEQF fidelity: what evaluators actually score
Score well by proving fidelity to two named models: Individual Placement and Support (IPS) and the Supported Employment Quality Framework (SEQF). According to Find a Tender documents and the British Association for Supported Employment (BASE), Connect to Work is built on the IPS and SEQF approach, and bidders are expected to evidence that fidelity, not just describe generic training. IPS fidelity means competitive employment as the goal from day one, rapid job search, employer engagement, integration with health and clinical teams, time-unlimited in-work support and attention to individual preference. SEQF, custodianed by BASE, sets out a five-stage process: engagement, vocational profiling, employer engagement, job matching and on or off-job support. Tender questions probe each stage directly. Strong answers name the model, map your delivery against the relevant fidelity scale or SEQF stage, and back claims with caseload ratios, supervision arrangements and outcome figures. Cite BASE accreditation or your SEQF self-assessment where you hold one, because councils name BASE as the benchmark in their documents.
Open frameworks under the Procurement Act 2023
Many Connect to Work procurements use open frameworks under the Procurement Act 2023, which came into force on 24 February 2025, so new providers can join at later windows rather than being locked out of a single closed competition. If you miss the first round, an open framework can reopen, and the evaluation method is set out in the tender notice from the start. This changes your strategy. Read the notice for the reopening schedule and the conditions for joining a later window, then prepare your IPS and SEQF evidence now so you are ready when the next window opens. Under the Act, awards are made on the most advantageous tender, weighing quality, social value and price together, so a low rate alone will not carry a weak method statement. Treat an open framework as a standing opportunity: get your bid library and outcome data in order, and you can submit at the next available window without starting from scratch. The Act's transparency rules also mean the scoring weightings are published up front, so you can build directly to them.
Social value, lots and local proof
Win on social value by showing local employer relationships, lived-experience involvement and measurable community benefit, because Connect to Work commissioners weight these heavily alongside delivery. Generic corporate social responsibility statements score poorly; named local employers who have offered placements, and disabled people involved in designing your service, score well. Many of these tenders are split by geography or cohort, with lots covering specific local authority areas or participant groups such as learning disability, mental health or physical and sensory disability. Bid only for the lots you can genuinely staff and reach, and evidence your footprint with referral routes, partnerships with Jobcentre Plus and health teams, and prior outcomes in that area. Where you hold contracts with the same client group, use them as concrete proof. For care-adjacent providers, an existing learning disability or mental health service is exactly the credibility a commissioner wants to see attached to a Connect to Work bid, so make that link explicit rather than leaving the evaluator to infer it.
How we approach a Connect to Work bid
We start with a free eligibility check, because the fastest way to lose is to bid a programme your evidence cannot support. We confirm you can prove IPS and SEQF fidelity and produce the outcome data the questions demand, then we only take the bid if we believe you can win it. From there we map every quality question to the SEQF stage or IPS fidelity criterion it tests, draft method statements grounded in your real caseload model and outcome figures, and build a social value response from your local employer and lived-experience evidence rather than boilerplate. We watch the Procurement Act timelines, flag open-framework reopening windows so you do not miss a later entry, and keep the price response aligned to the most-advantageous-tender method. The aim is a submission that reads like it was written by someone who has delivered supported employment, because the evaluators have, and they can tell the difference between real fidelity and a repackaged training brochure.
Connect to Work supported employment bid readiness checklist
What commissioners typically expect to see in a supported employment tender, and why it matters to your score.
| Requirement | What it usually means | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| IPS fidelity evidence | Delivery mapped to the Individual Placement and Support model: rapid job search, employer engagement, in-work support | Core scored quality criterion; generic training is marked down |
| SEQF alignment | Service mapped to the five-stage Supported Employment Quality Framework; BASE accreditation or self-assessment | Councils cite BASE and SEQF as the named quality benchmark |
| Job-outcome data | Job starts, 13 and 26-week retention, earnings progression, referral-to-start conversion | Replaces a CQC rating as the proof of capability |
| Local reach and partnerships | Named employers, Jobcentre Plus and health-team links, referral routes in the area | Evidences you can fill the lot and hit participant targets |
| Social value | Local employment, lived-experience involvement, measurable community benefit | Weighted under most-advantageous-tender award rules |
| No CQC gate | Employment-support track record, not a care rating, is the doorway | Care-adjacent providers can and should bid |
| Open-framework window | Reopening schedule and joining conditions in the Find a Tender notice | Lets new providers enter at a later window if the first is missed |
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 learning disability tender writing or text TENDER to get started.
Common questions
What is the Connect to Work programme?
Connect to Work is the DWP-funded national supported-employment programme that helps disabled people, those with health conditions and people with complex barriers find and keep paid work. It is delivered locally, with councils, combined authorities and strategic authorities procuring providers through Find a Tender. Delivery is built on the Individual Placement and Support (IPS) model and the Supported Employment Quality Framework (SEQF).
Do you need to be CQC registered to deliver supported employment?
No. Supported employment, including Connect to Work, is not a CQC-regulated activity, so commissioners do not require a care rating. Eligibility hinges on your employment-support track record, SEQF accreditation and job-outcome data instead. This means many care-adjacent providers, such as learning disability and mental health support organisations, can bid even though the programme sits outside CQC.
What is the Supported Employment Quality Framework (SEQF)?
SEQF is the recognised quality standard for supported employment in the UK, custodianed by the British Association for Supported Employment (BASE). It sets out a five-stage process: engagement, vocational profiling, employer engagement, job matching, and on or off-job support. Councils name BASE and SEQF as the benchmark in Connect to Work tenders, so strong bids map their delivery directly to each SEQF stage.
What is IPS in supported employment?
IPS stands for Individual Placement and Support, an evidence-based model where competitive paid employment is the goal from the start. It features rapid job search, employer engagement, integration with health and clinical teams, attention to individual preference and time-unlimited in-work support. According to Find a Tender documents and BASE, Connect to Work is delivered on the IPS and SEQF model, so bidders must evidence fidelity to it rather than offering generic training.
Who commissions supported employment for disabled people?
Councils, combined authorities and strategic authorities commission supported employment locally, procuring providers for the DWP-funded Connect to Work programme through Find a Tender. Recent notices include Greater Lincolnshire (036480-2025) and Buckinghamshire Council. Because a national programme is bought through many separate local procurements, each authority's competition is a distinct opportunity to win a place.
How big are Connect to Work contracts?
They vary by area but are substantial. According to Find a Tender, Greater Lincolnshire's open framework is valued at approximately GBP 7.5m per year over three years, targeting around 2,200 participants annually, while Buckinghamshire Council's Connect to Work is expected to support 700 individuals at roughly GBP 2.9m per year. 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.
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.