Become an Adult and Community Services provider

We commission a variety of care and support on behalf of our customers.

Tender opportunities

Suffolk Sourcing advertises all our tender opportunities. You must register with them to receive alerts and respond to any opportunities.

We also purchase care directly with accredited providers, dependent on customer needs and choices.

Accreditation

Accreditation is:

• an assessment of the service on behalf of customers that ask us to arrange care and support on their behalf
• the start of a contracting relationship between the council and the service provider.

For providers seeking accreditation, we assess if the service is:

• safe and the quality is good
• suitable to meet customers' needs
• sustainable financially.

Any providers who do not meet these criteria will not be accredited.

You can read the full guide to accreditation with Suffolk County Council Adult and Community Services.

Home Care and Support Provider accreditation

In response to prevailing market conditions, Suffolk County Council has taken the decision to not re-open the Locality Framework & are not currently accrediting SPOT Home Care Providers. This decision is in response to a significant reduction in the number of people waiting to receive care and support. In addition, the County Council recognises the need to maintain a responsive, robust and stable marketplace by supporting existing Locality Home Care Providers.

The Council will regularly monitor and review the market to ensure it is able to respond to market changes. The County Council does not currently have a timeframe for the Framework to be re-opened, however, the County Council may reopen the Framework as and when required, and this may be at County Lot or Locality Lot level depending on the nature of the market demands.

For all information regarding the Locality Framework, please visit Suffolk Sourcing.

Development of Accommodation-based Support Offers

Suffolk County Council is preparing to publish an Adult Social Care Accommodation Strategy during 2025. Within this document we intend to set out our expectations for need and demand for accommodation linked to care and support for the next ten years. This will provide projections around change in demand during that time with commentary on how new property developments can best respond to these. In the run-up to publication, Adult Social Care is limiting active support of new development proposals to those linked to priority needs. These priority needs are:

• Advertised social care development opportunities utilising Council-owned land
• Development of bungalow properties intended to link to complex support needs
• Extra Care Housing developments intended for mixed private and Council-funded placements
• Residential and Nursing Homes intended to meet higher support needs (including dementia).