Free Guide: Bradford Spending & Supplier Profile
A free spending & supplier guide for City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council · Metropolitan district · Yorkshire and The Humber
Data covering 2020 to 2026
Recorded Spend
£3.1bn
Transactions
558,788
Suppliers
4,316
Key Takeaways
- £3.1 billion in recorded spend across 558,788 transactions from 2020 to 2026
- 4,316 identified suppliers with an unconcentrated market, HHI of 371
- 49 out of 61 published contracts were direct awards, just 12 went to open tender
£3.1 billion and half a million transactions: how big is Bradford's spend?
Bradford is a major metropolitan buyer. Our dataset covers £3.1 billion in recorded spend across 558,788 transactions, drawn from 24 source files published between 2020 and 2026. For a metropolitan district serving 542,000 people across 141.3 square miles, that volume is worth paying attention to. On the contracts side, we've tracked 494 published contracts worth a combined £34.8 million, plus 349 tenders with a stated pipeline value of £882.7 million. That gap between contract values and tender values is striking. It suggests a large proportion of Bradford's upcoming procurement is still in the pipeline or awarded through frameworks not fully captured in contract notices. If you're watching this council, the tender pipeline is where the bigger numbers sit. The spending records come from datahub.bradford.gov.uk and Find a Tender, collected through to November 2024.
Health and social care dominates, but who's actually getting paid?
Bradford Children and Families Trust leads the identified supplier list with £313.6 million in recorded spend, a purpose-built trust handling children's services. Behind it, Integrated Bradford LEP pulled in £186.6 million, mostly construction-related, and Comensura took £150.4 million as an agency staffing provider. Health and social work accounts for 35.6% of matched spend, with 640 identified suppliers in that sector alone. Construction follows at 17.0%, then professional and technical services at 10.2%. Across the spending records we hold, the top five suppliers account for 34.9% and the top ten for 42.9%. With an HHI of 371, that is low. Spend is spread across 4,316 identified suppliers, so this is not a council where a handful of firms take everything. But the top three are clearly entrenched in big, long-running service areas. The pattern points to deep relationships in social care and infrastructure.
80% direct awards: is open competition the exception here?
Of the 61 published contracts in our data, 49 were direct awards. Just 12 went through open tender. That is a direct award rate above 80%, which is high by any measure. The median contract value sits at £95,000, and 41 of those 61 contracts fell below procurement threshold. Twenty sat above it. So the picture is one of mostly smaller contracts, awarded directly, with relatively few large competitive processes. Based on what we can see, the tender pipeline tells a different story. Bradford has 349 published tenders worth £882.7 million, so competitive opportunities do exist at scale. The contract data skews toward smaller, direct placements while the bigger spend seems to flow through tenders and frameworks. If you're looking at published contracts alone, the market looks fairly closed. But the tender data suggests a more open picture for larger pieces of work.
| # | Supplier | Spend |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | BRADFORD CHILDREN AND FAMILIES TRUST LIMITED | £313,558,346 |
| 2 | INTEGRATED BRADFORD LEP LIMITED | £186,643,315 |
| 3 | COMENSURA LIMITED | £150,399,407 |
| 4 | ASSOCIATED WASTE MANAGEMENT LIMITED | £61,794,845 |
| 5 | BALFOUR BEATTY CIVIL ENGINEERING LIMITED | £42,674,359 |
| 6 | BRADFORD LIVE | £39,852,925 |
| 7 | SITE RESPONSE SERVICES LIMITED | £37,889,279 |
| 8 | TURNING POINT | £37,821,963 |
| 9 | A M DEVELOPMENTS LIMITED | £31,470,878 |
| 10 | HORTON HOUSING SUPPORT LIMITED | £25,943,003 |
About Us
CouncilLedger brings together spending records, contract awards, and tender notices from over 400 UK local authorities into one procurement intelligence platform. Our data covers 16 years of transactions, collected directly from council transparency publications and government procurement platforms. Search suppliers, track spending trends, discover tender opportunities, and monitor the contracts that matter to your business.
