Hertfordshire County Council has launched its procurement for Support at Home Lead Provider Services, with an estimated value of £119.03 million excluding VAT. The service is split into 11 geographic lots, with one Lead Provider intended for each area.
Bidders can win a maximum of four Support at Home lots. The live tender is weighted 80% quality and 20% price, and submissions are due by 12:00pm on 8 October 2026.
If your organisation is targeting one or more Hertfordshire lots, speak to Thornton & Lowe about lot selection, capacity evidence and your quality response before the deadline.
How the Lead Provider model works
Support at Home is for people who meet Care Act eligibility criteria following a Connected Lives assessment. The Council describes the service as enabling support intended to help people maintain independence.
Under the two-tier commissioning model, the Lead Provider is referred Support at Home packages within its district. Where the Lead Provider cannot support a package, the remaining requirement can be delivered through Hertfordshire’s Support at Home Spot Provider Framework.
The 11 geographic lots
There is one Lead Provider position for each area and a supplier can be awarded no more than four Support at Home lots.
- Central 1: Welwyn Hatfield
- Central 2: Stevenage
- East Brox 1: Broxbourne
- East Brox 2: East Herts
- South West 1: Three Rivers
- South West 2: Watford
- South West 3: Hertsmere
- West 1: Dacorum West
- West 2: Dacorum East
- West 3: St Albans South
- West 4: St Albans North, Harpenden and Villages
Lot selection should be based on deliverable capacity
The geographic structure makes workforce and travel assumptions central to bid strategy. Providers should assess recruitment pools, existing staff locations, travel time, management coverage and the volume they can absorb without weakening continuity or service quality.
Hertfordshire is also procuring reablement services in parallel. The notice confirms that a bidder could potentially win up to four Support at Home lots and four Reablement lots, so organisations competing for both need to test combined mobilisation and workforce capacity.
Quality carries most of the score
The published evaluation is 80% quality and 20% price. That gives providers limited scope to compensate for a weak delivery model through a low price.
Strong responses should explain exactly how the organisation will mobilise each chosen area, recruit and retain staff, manage referrals and capacity, maintain continuity, control missed visits and monitor outcomes.
What evidence should bidders prepare
Useful evidence includes:
- Comparable domiciliary care contracts and delivery volumes
- Mobilisation across defined geographic areas
- Workforce recruitment, retention and training
- Travel, rota and capacity management
- Continuity of care and response to urgent packages
- Safeguarding, medication and incident management
- Service-user outcomes and enabling practice
- Digital scheduling, care records and performance reporting
- Quality assurance, complaints learning and continuous improvement
- Business continuity and management cover
Key dates
The enquiry deadline is 25 September 2026 at 12:00pm. Tenders are due by 12:00pm on 8 October, with the award decision currently estimated for 4 January 2027. Contracts are planned to start on 1 April 2027 for an initial three years with up to two further years available.
The official Find a Tender notice confirms the live lot structure and headline evaluation. The detailed Conditions of Participation and scoring methodology are contained in the procurement documents.
Make every lot decision commercially realistic
A provider does not need to bid for four lots simply because four can be awarded. Each additional area increases recruitment, management and mobilisation requirements. Select the locations where your workforce model and evidence are strongest.
Our guide to health and social care tenders provides broader advice on quality, compliance and bidding for council-commissioned care services.
Build the bid around local capacity and continuity
Hertfordshire’s Lead Provider model creates a meaningful opportunity for homecare businesses that can demonstrate reliable capacity in defined areas. The best bid should make workforce, continuity, quality control and outcomes tangible for each lot selected.
Thornton & Lowe supports domiciliary care providers with tender strategy, writing and review. Contact our team if you want help with the Hertfordshire Support at Home Lead Provider Services procurement.
