Plymouth City Council is engaging the homecare market ahead of a planned framework tender for homecare services. The current Find a Tender publication is a preliminary market engagement notice, so providers are being invited to help shape the procurement rather than submit a tender at this stage.
The Council is considering six proposed lots, ranging from core community homecare to dementia and mental health support, rapid response and complex care. The notice gives an estimated value of £201,686,778 including VAT and a potential contract period of up to nine years. If you are considering whether the future framework fits your service, talk to Thornton & Lowe.
Six proposed homecare lots
- Core Community Homecare
- Dementia and Mental Health
- Rapid Response and Hospital Discharge
- Complex Care and Treatment of Disease, Disorder or Injury
- Carers Emergency Response Service
- South-East and Rural Sector Core Community Homecare
The spread of these lots means providers should not assume that a generic domiciliary care offer will fit every part of the future framework. Rapid response, complex care and rural delivery can require different staffing, clinical governance, response times and capacity models.
Use the engagement to test fit
Plymouth has scheduled face-to-face and virtual engagement sessions covering strategy, service specification and commercial issues. This is the point for providers to understand the Council's direction, raise practical delivery questions and identify whether the proposed model creates any capacity or mobilisation challenges.
Our article on healthcare bid writing covers recurring evidence themes in care procurements. For Plymouth, providers can begin organising evidence around regulated care quality, workforce recruitment and retention, continuity, safeguarding, hospital discharge, complex needs, rural coverage and technology-enabled care where relevant.
Contract period and value
The planned start date is 1 April 2027. The notice describes an initial three-year contract followed by two possible three-year extensions, creating a potential 3+3+3 structure through to 31 March 2036.
The Find a Tender notice lists £201,686,778 including VAT as the estimated value. Its narrative also uses wording around an estimated annual contract value and contract length that is not entirely clear, so suppliers should rely on the final tender documents for the definitive commercial assumptions rather than extrapolating a nine-year total from that figure.
Engagement dates
- Strategy Launch and Vision session: 14 August 2026, Plymouth
- Service Specification and Commercials Deep Dive: 21 August 2026, Plymouth
- Virtual mass briefing: 26 August 2026
- Engagement deadline: 27 August 2026
- Planned service start: 1 April 2027
See the Plymouth Homecare Framework market engagement notice for event booking and current procurement details.
Prepare for the homecare tender
Thornton & Lowe can help homecare providers turn the engagement findings into a bid plan, build evidence and prepare for the formal tender once it is issued. Speak to our care bid team about Plymouth.
