BidSkim
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Service market

Independent advocacy contracts

UK public sector · 59 contracts awarded in the 12 months to 6 October 2026

Covering 600+ buyer portals · 5 years of records · Updated 6 October 2026 · How we count

Contracts awarded
59
Last 12 months
Median contract
£639k
Recorded value
Recorded value
£49.7m
52 of 55 main-service contracts have a published value
Buyers
48
Suppliers
37

BidSkim assigns contracts to services from the notice text. How services are assigned

What stands out

  • The five suppliers that won the most independent advocacy contracts took 29% of them (17 of 59).
  • The median contract, £639k, is 2.3 times the median across social care contracts (£281k).
  • London had the most contracts: 13, or 22% of the total.

Who buys independent advocacy

By contracts awarded, the 12 months to 6 October 2026.

  1. 1South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust4 contracts
  2. 2Staffordshire County Council4 contracts
  3. 3East Riding of Yorkshire Council2 contracts
  4. 4Renfrewshire Council2 contracts
  5. 5Buckinghamshire Council2 contracts
  6. 6NHS Highland2 contracts
  7. 7NHS North West London ICB2 contracts
  8. 8North Yorkshire Council1 contract
  9. 9West Northamptonshire Council1 contract
  10. 10Scottish Government1 contract

Top independent advocacy contractors by contracts won

The 12 months to 6 October 2026.

  1. 1Pohwer5 contracts
  2. 2VoiceAbility Advocacy4 contracts
  3. 3The Advocacy People3 contracts
  4. 4ASIST.3 contracts
  5. 5Cloverleaf Advocacy 2000 Ltd2 contracts
  6. 6Libra Partnership LTD2 contracts
  7. 7n-compass2 contracts
  8. 8Cloverleaf Advocacy2 contracts
  9. 9VoiceAbility2 contracts
  10. 10Rethink Mental Illness2 contracts

Latest and largest awards

Each links to the official notice.

Latest

Largest

Contracts awarded by quarter

8Q4 2025*23Q1 202616Q2 202612Q3 20260Q4 2026*
* part quarter

Where the contracts were awarded

England 50 · Scotland 7 · Wales 2

London13West Midlands7Scotland7North West6North East4Yorkshire and The Humber4East Midlands4South East4South West2Wales2East of England1UK-wide or not stated5

What is included

Independent advocacy for adults under the Mental Capacity Act, Mental Health Act and Care Act (and Scottish equivalents), NHS complaints advocacy, and non-statutory community, peer, self and parental advocacy, usually bought as one integrated or all-age advocacy hub or as separate lots from the same advocacy providers.

  • Integrated advocacy hubs
  • All-age advocacy services
  • IMCA and relevant person's paid representatives
  • IMHA and specialist mental health advocacy
  • Care Act advocacy
  • Scottish independent advocacy for adults
  • Advocacy for Social Security Scotland clients
  • Independent health complaints advocacy services (IHCAS/ICAS) bought separately or as their own lot
  • Community advocacy
  • Peer and self-advocacy
  • Independent parental advocacy

What is not included

  • Children's advocacy bought separately (soc.advoc.childrens-advocacy)
  • Investigating social care complaints (soc.advoc.complaints-investigations)
  • Public voice and Healthwatch (soc.advoc.healthwatch)
  • Appropriate adults (soc.advoc.appropriate-adults)
  • Welfare benefits advice (soc.prev.information-and-advice)
  • Legal representation (another industry: legal)

Often bought by the same buyers