Future Employment Support

Procurement reference

C9880

Procurement description

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is intending to procure new employment support provision for out of work Universal Credit claimants.  It will provide personalised and tailored support that is responsive to the needs of individuals and the local area. This will include skills, training and work experience; matching participants with employers through job trials, jobs fairs and job brokering; support with self-employment; intensive and repeated support with applications and interviewing; support in managing health conditions in the workplace; support with travel and childcare; and specialist support (e.g. ESOL, addiction).

Support will be available across England and Wales and will be integrated within local labour markets. DWP is co-designing the provision with Mayoral Strategic Authorities to ensure it is tailored to the needs of local labour markets. This notice refers to the procurement of the service in England only.

This notice seeks to invite interested suppliers to attend an upcoming virtual Market Engagement event on the 2nd June. To register interest in the event, please follow the steps set out in the Engagement Description section of this notice.

Please note, that all key decisions including final programme title, budgets, contract length and dates are yet to be approved through internal governance and therefore may change.

The total contract value given is excluding VAT and is estimated at this stage.

Main category

Services

Delivery regions

• UKC - North East (England)
• UKD - North West (England)
• UKE - Yorkshire and the Humber
• UKF - East Midlands (England)
• UKG - West Midlands (England)
• UKH - East of England
• UKI - London
• UKJ - South East (England)
• UKK - South West (England)

Total value (estimated)

1200000000.00 GBP Excluding VAT

1200000000.00 GBP Including VAT

Contract dates (estimated)

01 February 2028, 00:00AM to 31 January 2031, 23:59PM

Extension end date (if all the extensions are used): 31 January 2033

Department for Work & Pensions

Is this procurement under a special regime?

Light touch

Is the total value above threshold?

Above threshold

CPV classifications

• 80000000 - Education and training services
• 75000000 - Administration, defence and social security services
• 75100000 - Administration services
• 75110000 - General public services
• 75131000 - Government services
• 75300000 - Compulsory social security services
• 75310000 - Benefit services
• 75311000 - Sickness benefits
• 75314000 - Unemployment compensation benefits
• 79611000 - Job search services
• 80400000 - Adult and other education services
• 80420000 - E-learning services
• 80500000 - Training services
• 80510000 - Specialist training services
• 80520000 - Training facilities
• 80522000 - Training seminars
• 80530000 - Vocational training services
• 80533100 - Computer training services
• 80533200 - Computer courses
• 80561000 - Health training services
• 85000000 - Health and social work services
• 85100000 - Health services
• 85141000 - Services provided by medical personnel
• 85312400 - Welfare services not delivered through residential institutions
• 85312500 - Rehabilitation services
• 85312510 - Vocational rehabilitation services

Delivery regions

• UKC - North East (England)
• UKD - North West (England)
• UKE - Yorkshire and the Humber
• UKF - East Midlands (England)
• UKG - West Midlands (England)
• UKH - East of England
• UKI - London
• UKJ - South East (England)
• UKK - South West (England)

Sustainability

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SME)

Voluntary, community and social enterprises (VCSE)

Contract start date (estimated)

01 February 2028, 00:00AM

Contract end date (estimated)

31 January 2031, 23:59PM

Extension end date (estimated)

31 January 2033, 23:59PM

Can the contract be extended?

Yes

Engagement process description

The Department for Work and Pensions is procuring a new employment support provision offering personalised and tailored support to out‑of‑work Universal Credit claimants and is seeking to engage with the market to support this.

As part of this process, the DWP will host a virtual market engagement event via Microsoft Teams, scheduled to take place Tuesday 02 June 2026 at 2pm. To register an interest in attending the event and access details of the market engagement, organisations should follow the steps below:

1. Suppliers should ensure that they are registered on the DWP Atamis portal. Suppliers who do not already have an account on the Atamis system can register for a new account here:

New User Registration

https://dwp2.my.site.com/ProSpend__eSourcing_Community_Registration?locale=uk

2. Express Interest on the Portal: Suppliers should navigate to the ‘Find Opportunities’ page and click on the title of the opportunity (‘Future Employment Support’) and click Register Interest.

3. Suppliers should navigate to the Documents section of the procurement, and access the document entitled “Market Engagement - 02 June 2026” and follow the instructions in the document including completion of the enclosed short survey.

4. DWP will issue an invite to the Market Engagement event to any suppliers who complete the above steps. Organisations should ensure that this is done by 29 May 2026.

5. Market Engagement documentation including Question & Answer logs from the session will be hosted on Atamis.

6. Information on future market engagement events will be shared via the Atamis portal.

For Atamis Portal help and support, please visit:

Supplier Portal Help page

https://suppliersupport.atamis.co.uk/hc/en-gb/sections/4612344115359

Please note that the purpose of this Notice is for market engagement only. It does not signify the commencement of any procurement process and does not constitute any commitment by the Department. Participation in this engagement is voluntary and does not form part of any formal procurement process. A separate notice(s) will be published at the relevant time should the Department decide to commence any procurement(s).

Due date

29 May 2026, 23:59PM

Has the engagement period already ended?

No