Domestic Abuse Service Tender Writing
Domestic abuse service tenders are commissioned by Tier 1 local authorities under Part 4 of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, which places a statutory duty on county councils, unitaries and London boroughs to assess need and fund support for victims and their children within safe accommodation. Winning bids prove trauma-informed practice, strong MARAC and multi-agency working, child safeguarding, and survivor co-production, and they mirror the gaps the council has already named in its published needs assessment. We write the refuge, dispersed accommodation, sanctuary scheme and 'by and for' answers that score, across both competitive tenders and grant programmes, and we only take bids we believe you can win.
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What makes domestic abuse service tenders different
These contracts are driven by a statutory duty, not discretionary spend, which changes how you bid. Part 4 of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, in force since 1 October 2021, requires every Tier 1 local authority, meaning county councils, unitary authorities and London boroughs, to assess local need and commission support for victims and their children within safe accommodation. That assessment, published in a local domestic abuse strategy, is the single most useful document you can read before writing, because the commissioner is buying against gaps it has already named in print. A bid that mirrors the authority's own needs assessment language and quantifies the gap it fills reads as informed rather than generic. Funding flows through the ring-fenced Domestic Abuse Safe Accommodation grant, administered by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, with an allocation set per authority each year, so a bid that understands the funding envelope prices and scopes itself credibly.
'Safe accommodation' is a defined statutory term, and the lot you are bidding for usually maps to one of its forms: refuge, dispersed safe accommodation, sanctuary schemes that target-harden a home so a survivor can stay safely, second-stage move-on, or specialist provision for groups with relevant protected characteristics. Many of these services are housing and support rather than personal care, so they are not CQC-regulated unless the lot includes a personal care element. Claiming a CQC requirement that does not apply signals you have misread the service. Most provision runs under the Light Touch Regime of the Procurement Act 2023, which gives commissioners flexibility over process and award criteria, and contracts are often long: one published Find a Tender notice ran a domestic abuse services contract from 2026 to 2033, a seven-year term that rewards a credible long-horizon delivery and mobilisation model.
Capacity is the sector's defining pressure, and commissioners know it intimately. According to Women's Aid in its 2024 Annual Audit, on 1 May 2024 there were 4,551 refuge bedspaces in England, still 1,160 short of the Council of Europe minimum, a 20.3 percent shortfall. The same audit found that when a survivor was referred into a refuge there was a 27.5 percent chance the service had no capacity, and that lack of capacity drove 45.7 percent of declined referrals. Bids that acknowledge this reality and show how you protect access through realistic referral and void management, rather than promising unlimited capacity, land better with evaluators who live with those numbers every week.
What commissioners actually score
Trauma-informed practice and survivor co-production
Trauma-informed delivery and lived-experience involvement are the heaviest-weighted quality criteria in almost every domestic abuse tender. Evaluators want to see how the principle reaches the front line, not a textbook definition. Strong answers describe how staff are trained and supported, how risk and disclosure are handled without re-traumatising, how survivors shape the service through co-production groups, and crucially how you act on that feedback. Name the model you use, give a concrete example of a service change driven by survivor voice, and show how children in the household are supported as victims in their own right under the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, not as add-ons to their mother's case. Tie this back to the cohorts the council's needs assessment prioritises, so co-production reads as targeted rather than tokenistic.
MARAC and multi-agency safeguarding
Commissioners score your ability to work the multi-agency machinery, because a survivor's safety depends on it. Show how you refer into and engage with the local Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference, how you use DASH risk assessment to identify high-risk cases, and how you join up with police, children's social care, health, housing and IDVAs. Set out your information-sharing approach, your thresholds for escalation, and your safeguarding response for both adults and children, naming the local safeguarding partnership. Explain how you sustain these relationships across a long contract term rather than just at mobilisation. Evaluators reward specificity here because vague 'we work in partnership' claims are the most common filler in weak bids and the easiest thing for a panel to mark down.
Access, equity and 'by and for' reach
Scoring increasingly tests whether your service reaches survivors who are routinely turned away. Women's Aid found that when a survivor was referred into a refuge there was a 27.5 percent chance the service had no capacity, and that lack of capacity drove 45.7 percent of declined referrals, so commissioners want to see how your referral, void and access management keeps the door open. Show your no-wrong-door approach and how you serve Black and minoritised, Deaf and disabled, and LGBT+ survivors. If a 'by and for' lot is in scope, evidence genuine community leadership and cultural competence rather than a bolt-on, because that is precisely what commissioners are checking and what they will not accept a generic provider claiming.
Sizing, outcomes and value for money
Commissioners score whether your offer is the right size for the money and the demand, so anchor your numbers in the published need rather than guesswork. Women's Aid estimates refuge services in England supported 11,305 women and 12,866 children in 2023-24, while community-based services supported an estimated 112,866 women, useful context for showing your capacity model is proportionate. Set out measurable outcomes such as safety, move-on, tenancy sustainment and children's wellbeing, with the data you will report against and how often. Connect this to the social value the authority weights, including local employment and use of survivors with lived experience, so the panel can see value beyond headline rate. A bid that proves outcomes and value, not just activity, separates itself from competitors quoting only occupancy.
How we write a winning domestic abuse service tender writing bid
We bid against the council's own needs assessment
We start every domestic abuse bid with the authority's published safe accommodation strategy and needs assessment, the documents the statutory duty forces it to produce. We pull out the named gaps, the cohort priorities and the local data, then write your method statements so they answer the commissioner's actual problem in its own terms rather than a generic brief. Where the audit data strengthens your case we weave it in: Women's Aid estimates refuge services in England supported 11,305 women and 12,866 children in 2023-24, while community-based services supported an estimated 112,866 women, useful context for sizing your offer credibly against demand. Mirroring the authority's language is not cosmetic; it is how you show the panel you have read what they wrote and you are buying into their stated priorities.
We make trauma-informed practice provable, not asserted
We turn your day-to-day delivery into scoring evidence rather than claims. That means concrete staffing and training detail, a worked example of survivor co-production changing the service, your DASH and MARAC workflow, and a clear account of how you support children as victims in their own right under the Act. We write to the published scoring rubric, matching answer length to the marks available so the case study and social value answers get the room they deserve and the simpler questions stay tight, which reads as deliberate rather than padded. Where a lot is housing and support only, we keep the regulatory framing accurate and avoid claiming a CQC requirement that does not apply, because a misread like that costs you credibility with an experienced panel.
We handle both tender and grant routes
Not all of this provision is won through open competition, so we tell you early which route you are actually in. Some services, especially 'by and for' provision, are awarded through grant programmes funded by the Domestic Abuse Safe Accommodation grant via MHCLG rather than competitive tender. We help you position for both: a sharp, scoring-aware tender response where there is a competitive process under the Light Touch Regime, and a tight, outcomes-led grant application where the route is a programme. We tell you honestly what each one rewards so you do not write a competitive tender answer for a grant panel or vice versa, and we flag the eligibility rules early, since some 'by and for' grants are reserved for voluntary-sector specialists.
Why domestic abuse service tender writing bids lose
Most domestic abuse service tender writing bids are lost on a handful of avoidable mistakes. These are the ones we see most.
- Writing a generic 'we are trauma-informed' answer without naming your model, training or a real example of survivor co-production changing the service.
- Treating children in the household as an add-on rather than victims in their own right, which the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 explicitly recognises and evaluators check for.
- Promising unlimited capacity instead of evidencing realistic referral, void and access management in a sector with a 20.3 percent national bedspace shortfall.
- Claiming or implying a CQC registration requirement on a housing-and-support lot that has no personal care element, which signals you have misread the service.
- Ignoring MARAC and the local multi-agency safeguarding partnership, or describing partnership working in vague terms with no thresholds or information-sharing detail.
- Bidding a competitive tender response into a 'by and for' grant programme, or missing that the route is a grant at all.
- Failing to mirror the council's published needs assessment, so the bid answers a generic brief rather than the gaps the commissioner has named.
- Quoting only occupancy and rates without measurable safety, move-on and children's outcomes, which leaves value for money unproven.
Forms of safe accommodation and what each lot tests
Domestic abuse tenders usually map to one or more statutory forms of safe accommodation. Knowing which form a lot covers tells you what the method statements must prove.
| Form of provision | What it is | What the bid must evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Refuge | Communal, secure, address-confidential accommodation with on-site support | Trauma-informed support, security, child support, MARAC, void and referral management |
| Dispersed safe accommodation | Self-contained units in confidential locations with floating support | Lone-working safety, mobile support model, multi-agency reach, risk management |
| Sanctuary scheme | Target-hardening so a survivor can stay safely in their own home | Risk assessment, security works, links to police and housing, ongoing support |
| Second-stage / move-on | Lower-intensity accommodation supporting independence after refuge | Resettlement, tenancy sustainment, step-down pathways, continued safety planning |
| 'By and for' specialist | Service led by and for the community it serves | Genuine community leadership, cultural competence, reach to under-served survivors |
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Domestic Abuse Service Tender Writing tenders: common questions
How do I bid for a domestic abuse refuge contract?
Start with the commissioning authority's published safe accommodation needs assessment and strategy, then read the tender or grant documents in full to confirm the route and the scoring rubric. Most refuge contracts run under the Light Touch Regime of the Procurement Act 2023 and are scored heavily on trauma-informed practice, MARAC and multi-agency working, child safeguarding and survivor co-production. Write each method statement against the published criteria and the local gaps, with concrete examples rather than principles. If the lot is housing and support only, do not claim a CQC requirement that does not apply.
What is the duty on councils to provide safe accommodation for domestic abuse?
Part 4 of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, in force from 1 October 2021, places a statutory duty on Tier 1 local authorities, meaning county councils, unitary authorities and London boroughs, to assess the need for support for victims and their children within safe accommodation and to commission that support. Each authority must publish a strategy setting out how it will meet that need. This is why the published needs assessment is the most valuable document you can read before bidding, because the commissioner is buying against gaps it has already named.
What funding pays for domestic abuse safe accommodation services?
Funding flows through the ring-fenced Domestic Abuse Safe Accommodation grant, administered by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, with an allocation set for each local authority every year. Authorities use it to commission refuge, dispersed accommodation, sanctuary schemes, move-on and specialist provision. Allocations are substantial in larger areas: the Greater London Authority allocated around 26.8 million pounds for domestic abuse safe accommodation in London in 2025-26 under the statutory duty. Knowing the funding source helps you size your offer and your rates realistically.
What is a 'by and for' domestic abuse service, and do you have to be a charity to win one?
A 'by and for' service is one led by and for the community it serves, such as Black and minoritised, Deaf and disabled, or LGBT+ survivors. Commissioners increasingly run dedicated 'by and for' lots because these communities are routinely under-served, and this provision is sometimes awarded through grant programmes rather than open tender. You do not have to be a charity to bid for domestic abuse contracts generally; charities, social enterprises, CICs and private providers all win. What matters is meeting the selection questionnaire, holding the right insurances and policies, and evidencing genuine community leadership where the lot demands it. Always check the eligibility criteria for the specific route first, as some 'by and for' grants are aimed at voluntary-sector specialists.
How long are domestic abuse safe accommodation contracts?
They are often long, reflecting the commissioner's desire for stable, secure provision. Terms of five to seven years are common, and one published Find a Tender notice ran a domestic abuse services contract from 2026 to 2033, a seven-year term. A long contract rewards a credible long-horizon delivery and mobilisation model, so your bid should show how you sustain quality, manage staffing and adapt to changing demand across the full term, not just at go-live.
What does Selective Care Match charge, and what is your win rate?
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 additional lot. We start with a free eligibility check so you only pay when there is a genuine, winnable opportunity in front of you.
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