Development of new regional contracts

There are four regional purchasing systems (contracts) operated by NWADCS on behalf of the 24 North West authorities, these date back to 2009 for the first regional residential contract. These arrangements now include over 500 providers and at any one time over 3000 children are living in homes sourced via a regional contract. 

We are now working towards a new contract that will cover all service types including Fostering, Residential, Family Assessment Centres, Supported Accommodation, SEND Schools and Colleges and Alternative Provision. 

The planned contract end dates were January 2028 for Residential, March 2028 for Fostering, February 2031 for SENDAP and October 2031 for Supported Accommodation. As a result of changes in the operating context, including the implementation of the Procurement Act 2023 we are reviewing all four arrangements at the same time.

We do not currently have a confirmed timeline for the new procurement activity and will share this with providers as soon as it is available. At this stage providers who are already on the current North West contracts do not need to take any action to join the new contract.

Through this work we are aiming for:

• Reduced duplication in procurement activity across the region 
• Improved transparency and oversight 
• Better understanding of sufficiency.
• Improved approach to pricing and uplifts. 
• Local and sub regional collaboration.

July 2026: Next steps

We are pleased that following strategic approval from the 24 North West authorities to progress new contracts work will now begin on developing the new arrangements. This will include working closely with the Greater Manchester Regional Care Co-operative and the emerging Cheshire Merseyside Regional Care Co-operative to provide a cohesive approach. There won’t be any immediate changes for providers on the current contracts and North West authorities will continue to use these as they do now.

This will include:

• Planning for regional resourcing of the contract management and associated workstreams. 
• Working with providers and authorities to develop the contracts. 
• Implementing governance arrangements. 

Provider engagement in the process to date has been supportive in identifying key areas of focus and giving indications around direction of these development stages. We welcome input from providers from across services and proactive contact if you come across ideas or practice we can learn from. 

September 2026: Market engagement

To support the development of new contract documentation we will be running market engagement workshops in November. These will include specific sessions for providers of Fostering, Residential, Supported accommodation, SEND Schools and Colleges and Alternative Provision services.

The September briefing also contains information on:

• Links to Regional Care Co-operatives in Greater Manchester and Cheshire and Merseyside
• Impact of SEND Reforms
• Answers to questions raised by providers following the previous briefing. 

Click here for details of market engagement workshops. 

Click here to register for market engagement workshops. 

March 2025: Initial consultation 

Two consultation sessions completed:

• 41 people attended representing 20 authorities; Blackburn with Darwen, Bolton, Halton and Trafford not represented at the session but provided input later.
• 82 provider representatives attended with a mix across types of settings including residential, fostering, supported accommodation, SEND schools and colleges and Alternative Provision.

Local authority session summary: 

• There is significant support for continuing to work as a regional collaboration.
• Authorities are largely happy with the overarching principles of the purchasing systems and dissatisfaction mainly links to contractual details that cause operational issues.
• Key considerations are uplifts; pricing and being able to work with local providers.
• Authorities voted unanimously in favour of new regional purchasing arrangements. 

Provider session summary: 

• 77% of providers voted to retain some form of regional commissioning arrangements.
• Providers feedback largely reflected operational challenges around working with local authorities and inconsistency in approaches.
• It was widely agreed that the current arrangements didn’t adequately reflect changes in context, primarily in relation to higher levels of presenting needs.

Following these sessions a paper went to NWADCS who approved:

• Progression of developing proposals for new regional purchasing arrangements.
• Securing external procurement advice to support the work. 

March 2026: Options consultation

Two consultations sessions held with 170 attendees across both and 30 feedback forms submitted. 

Update 

• Research into commissioning practice from within the region and other areas.
• Distilled learning into a range of options that have been reviewed by commissioners.
• Work with an external legal advisor to better understand opportunities and challenges in working under new legislation.
• Internal discussions around securing a lead authority to deliver the procurement. 

Whilst provider input is important in directing discussion in coming design stages we are not in a position to finalise any decisions at this stage.