Residential childcare contracts

• The five suppliers that won the most residential childcare contracts took 17% of them (12 of 69).
• The median contract, £5.1m, is 18.3 times the median across social care contracts (£281k).
• East Midlands had the most contracts: 22, or 32% of the total.

1. 1Lincolnshire County Council17 contracts—
2. 2Darlington Borough Council7 contracts£12.3m
3. 3Bedford Borough Council6 contracts£2.6m
4. 4Hertfordshire County Council5 contracts£56.2m
5. 5Scottish Government4 contracts£92.8m
6. 6Ministry of Justice2 contracts£79.3m
7. 7London Borough of Hackney2 contracts£33.0m
8. 8Fife Council2 contracts£6.0m
9. 9The City of Edinburgh Council2 contracts£604k
10. 10Leicestershire County Council2 contracts£353k

1. 1Action for Children4 contracts£99.8m
2. 2Kelwel Care2 contracts£33.9m
3. 3CF Contact and Support Services Limited2 contracts£13.3m
4. 4Enhanced Care Group2 contracts£2.7m
5. 5St Cuthbert's Care2 contracts£2.5m
6. 6Meadows Care Limited2 contracts—
7. 7Catch22 Charity Limited1 contract£156m
8. 8Nottinghamshire County Council1 contract£40.7m
9. 9Leeds City Council - PACS1 contract£38.6m
10. 10Frontline Health Professionals1 contract£23.0m

Latest

• Childrens Care Home (official notice, opens in a new tab)

  £2.0m

  London Borough of Croydon to KPMS · Awarded 28 September 2026

• CALL-OFF: Children's Services Re-Opening of the Open Select List 2025 for all Independent Placement (official notice, opens in a new tab)

  Value not published

  Lincolnshire County Council to Keyline Care Limited · Awarded 11 September 2026

• Dual placement (2-bed) residential children's home for Suffolk children in care aged 12 yrs-17yrs including those aged 17 yrs. (official notice, opens in a new tab)

  £3.5m

  Suffolk County Council to CF Contact and Support Services Limited · Awarded 9 September 2026

• Residential Placement for ID 392478 (official notice, opens in a new tab)

  £1.7m

  Darlington Borough Council to Hopscotch Care Limited · Awarded 28 August 2026

• Residential Placement for ID 410022 (official notice, opens in a new tab)

  £1.6m

  Darlington Borough Council to Gravitas · Awarded 26 August 2026

• HCC- Oct/25 - The Provision of Residential Placements for Children and Young People aged 7 years and Above with Complex Needs across four sites – Brickendon, Cassiobury, Clothall and Melbourn (official notice, opens in a new tab)

  £9.2m

  Hertfordshire County Council to 1st Class Support and Housing Ltd and Frontline Social Care Ltd · Awarded 10 August 2026

• 0613454 Children's Residential Placement (official notice, opens in a new tab)

  £302k

  The City of Edinburgh Council to supplier not published · Awarded 30 July 2026

• CALL-OFF: Children's Services Re-Opening of the Open Select List 2025 for all Independent Placement Provision of support in a Residential Children's Home (official notice, opens in a new tab)

  Value not published

  Lincolnshire County Council to Roots Care Group Ltd · Awarded 28 July 2026

• Independent Residential Placement PER124402/NEWHomes0463 (official notice, opens in a new tab)

  £2.6m

  Newcastle City Council to COMPASS CHILDREN'S HOMES NORTH EAST LIMITED and Compass Children's Homes · Awarded 6 July 2026

• Secure Care Services (St Mary's Kenmure) (official notice, opens in a new tab)

  £6.3m

  Scottish Government to supplier not published · Awarded 24 June 2026

Largest

• Secure Care Services (official notice, opens in a new tab)

  £250m

  Scotland Excel to supplier not published · Awarded 30 March 2026

• CP2706-25 Growing Futures - Strategic Partner (official notice, opens in a new tab)

  £156m

  Devon County Council to Catch22 Charity Limited · Awarded 10 June 2026

• Clayfields SCH Accommodation Contract (official notice, opens in a new tab)

  £40.7m

  Ministry of Justice to Nottinghamshire County Council · Awarded 16 October 2025

• Adel Beck SCH Accommodation Contract (official notice, opens in a new tab)

  £38.6m

  Ministry of Justice to Leeds City Council - PACS · Awarded 7 October 2025

• Secure Care Services (The Good Shephard) (official notice, opens in a new tab)

  £36.6m

  Scottish Government to supplier not published · Awarded 29 May 2026

Places for looked-after children in registered children's homes, bought as individual spot or urgent placements, through residential frameworks, as block or strategic-partner homes, or by commissioning an operator for council-owned homes.

• Individual, urgent and emergency residential placements
• Residential placement frameworks
• Block-contracted and strategic-partner children's homes
• Operating council-owned children's homes
• Therapeutic, complex needs, solo/singleton and learning disability or autism homes
• Residential care with on-site education

• 16 and 17 year olds in supported accommodation (soc.child.supported-accommodation-16-plus)
• Parent and child residential family centres (soc.child.parent-and-child-assessment-placements)
• Placement notices that do not say the placement type (soc.child.placements-unspecified)
• Overnight short break units for disabled children (soc.carer.overnight-short-breaks-disabled-children)
• Regulation 44 independent visits to homes (soc.advoc.complaints-investigations)
• Special school places and school-led care-and-education packages (another industry: education-training)
• Building or refurbishing homes (another industry: construction-trades)

• Semi independent living

• Carers support
• Traffic engineering