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Guidance

Procuring SEND education placements and services

Guidance to help local authorities and education providers to understand how the Procurement Act 2023 interacts with the Children and Families Act 2014.

Updates to this page

From:
Department for Education
Published:
15 January 2025
Last updated:
21 February 2025
Show all updates

  1. We have removed references to specific provider types whose contracts for education provision may be in or out of scope of the Procurement Act 2023, because it is the nature of the agreement that will determine whether or not the Procurement Act 2023 will apply.

  2. First published.

Applies to England

Documents

Interactions between the Procurement Act 2023 and the Children and Families Act 2014

PDF, 1.1 MB, 11 pages

Details

This guidance is for local authorities.

It applies to local authorities providing placements and services for children and young people:

  • with education, health and care (EHC) plans
  • who need alternative provision

It will help local authorities identify if their contracts for the provision of education services are in or out of scope of the procurement legislation that applies from 24 February 2025.

This guidance will help local authorities, as the contracting authority, to decide:

  • how to commission the provision of education placements and services for children and young people with education, health and care (EHC) plans and those who need alternative provision
  • when the Procurement Act 2023 and associated regulations and guidance, might apply to such commissioning activity

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