Official UK procurement notice
Payroll Services for Spencer Academies Trust
Authority: THE SPENCER ACADEMIES TRUST (Education)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionSpencer Academies Trust is seeking to appoint a suitably qualified and experienced provider to deliver a fully managed payroll service for the Trust and its academies. The contract will include the processing of monthly payroll for all employees, statutory deductions and payments, HMRC submissions, year-end processing, pension administration including Teachers' Pension Scheme (TPS) and Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS), reporting, compliance support, and access to employee and manager self-service facilities.
The successful provider will be required to deliver an accurate, secure and compliant payroll service for approximately 3,000 employees across the Trust, ensuring adherence to all relevant employment, payroll, tax and pension legislation. The service will include ongoing support, system maintenance, legislative updates, management reporting and transition services as required.
CPV: Payroll management services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedLot #1PlannedRenewal
Pipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How THE SPENCER ACADEMIES TRUST buys Accounting and auditing services (CPV 7921), and who usually turns up
THE SPENCER ACADEMIES TRUST’s published record next to the market for the same work. Frameworks and DPS are left out: they draw different bid counts. Whole-market view: Accounting and auditing services (CPV 7921) →
How the contest usually goes
Winner shares use published awards; bid and price charts use contested lots.
i
How often small and medium firms win.
Share of awards where the winner’s size is known.
The counts under this question show how many awards have a known supplier size.
Small firms have won here. Neither number says whether you qualify; it describes who has been winning.
i
How often local firms win similar work.
Winners with a registered address in the delivery region, out of awards with a known address.
Local means the winner is registered in the region where that award was delivered. The market figure counts awards delivered in East Midlands.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners were registered in the region where that award was delivered.
i
How long buyers here take to decide after bids close.
Middle value in days from the bid deadline to the award date, on competitions that published both.
Only decided tenders count, so slow ones still waiting are not in.
Half of these awards have an award date within 77 days of the bid deadline.
i
How often work is awarded with no recorded rival.
Direct awards and tenders where every published lot count shows one bid.
The market share is a minimum: some awards have no bid count.
Thin markets produce this too; it is not proof of a tailored specification.
Missing bid counts may hide more single-bid awards. This share is a minimum.
How many bids did past lots attract?
i
How many bids past lots received.
Each colour is a bid-count range. Only competed lots with a published count are included.
Past bids do not predict this tender.
1 bid0%
2–327%
4–645%
7+27%
How did awards compare with estimates?
i
Where winning prices landed against estimates.
Each colour shows awards below, close to or above the published estimate, one lot at a time.
Past prices are a guide, not a bid price.
Below estimate55%
Within ±2%27%
Above estimate18%
Assess each lot i
What past awards tell you about each lot.
See the forecast, this buyer’s earlier suppliers and firms with relevant wins.
No supplier is confirmed as a bidder.
i
What past awards tell you about each lot.
See the forecast, this buyer’s earlier suppliers and firms with relevant wins.
No supplier is confirmed as a bidder.
Open a lot for its forecast, this buyer’s previous supplier and possible competitors, from published award history, not a bid list
Lot #1CPV 7921Published estimate£1.1m
i
How many bids this lot may attract.
The forecast uses similar past competitions. The bar shows either that forecast or past bid counts; the line below says which.
Each lot shows its own forecast based on its own category; forecasts for different lots of the same notice are not comparative. The bar shows 11 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid0%
2–327%
4–645%
7+27%
i
Where the award price may land.
The forecast uses similar awards and the buyer’s estimate. The band covers the middle half of likely prices.
No comparable awards for this lot yet.
A statistical guide from past awards, not a price to bid.
Who has supplied this buyer on similar work? i
Who has done similar work for this buyer.
Past contracts are matched by buyer, title and type of work.
A past supplier may not bid again.
i
Who has done similar work for this buyer.
Past contracts are matched by buyer, title and type of work.
A past supplier may not bid again.
No earlier contract of this buyer matches this lot on the published record.
Who could compete for this lot? i
Who could compete for this lot?
Firms with relevant past wins. On a framework, we show firms on that agreement.
None is confirmed as a bidder.
i
Who could compete for this lot?
Firms with relevant past wins. On a framework, we show firms on that agreement.
None is confirmed as a bidder.
Candidate suppliers for this notice have not been worked out yet, so this is not a verdict that nobody fits.
About this data
- Source. Official UK public procurement notices (Find a Tender), reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0. New notices arrive through the day; the figures are rebuilt nightly.
- Two views, kept apart. The authority’s own track record and the wider market for the same kind of work sit side by side and are never mixed. Where the local picture is too thin, a figure widens to a broader market and says which one it used.
- Forecasts are labelled. The price forecast and its range, possible competitors and the earlier-work matches are our estimates from past awards: not published facts, not win chances and not price advice. Official notices do not say who is bidding.
- Every figure shows what it rests on. Not every notice publishes a bid count, a value or a delivery region, so each figure carries the number of records behind it, and one built on few records is marked as such. The on a figure explains it; the counting rules are in the methodology. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Planned procurement
- Procurement threshold
- Above threshold (FTS publication)
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 12 Oct 2026, 11:38 BST
- Last source update
- 12 Oct 2026, 11:38 BST
- Authority reference
261012/12- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-095999- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-078577Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
12 Oct 2026 → 1 Sept 2027 · 4 dates- Planning notice published15 days ago12 Oct 2026, 11:38 BST
- Market engagement11 days ago16 Oct 2026, 00:59 BST
Spencer Academies Trust is undertaking preliminary market engagement in advance of commencing a Competitive Flexible Procedure for the procurement of Payroll and Associated Services.
The purpose of this engagement is to inform the final specification, procurement strategy, evaluation methodology and contract requirements. Interested suppliers are invited to review the information provided and submit comments, observations and clarification questions to assist the Trust in refining its requirements.
Expressions of interest and clarification questions should be submitted by email via the Trust's tendering address no later than 15 October 2026. - Tenders@spencertrust.org.uk
Following completion of the preliminary market engagement, the Trust intends to publish a Tender Notice on 16 October 2026. The proposed procurement will include:
A participation stage, with up to five suppliers shortlisted.
An invitation to tender stage for shortlisted suppliers.
A further shortlisting exercise to identify up to two suppliers.
Supplier demonstrations and presentations.
Award of a single contract to the supplier submitting the Most Advantageous Tender.
No supplier will receive any advantage through participation in this engagement process, and all relevant information arising from the engagement will be made available to all bidders as part of the procurement process.
- Tender notice expected10 days ago17 Oct 2026, 00:59 BST
- Today27 Oct 2026
- Contract startsin 308 days1 Sept 2027
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published12 Oct 2026, 11:38 BSTUK2
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Pipeline notice- Awards (0)
- No award published
- Contracts (0)
- No contract published
- Bid statistics
- No aggregate bid statistics published
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Official documents & specifications (1)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender