Free Guide: Buckinghamshire Spending & Supplier Profile
A free spending & supplier guide for Buckinghamshire Council · Unitary authority · South East
Data covering 2020 to 2026
Recorded Spend
£1.7bn
Transactions
858,543
Suppliers
5,212
Key Takeaways
- £1.72 billion in recorded spend across 858,543 transactions since 2020
- 5,212 identified suppliers with an unconcentrated HHI of 201, spreading spend widely
- Health and social care accounts for 28.4% of matched spend, the largest single sector
How big a buyer is Buckinghamshire?
Big. Our data covers £1.72 billion in recorded spend across 858,543 transactions, drawn from 115 source files published between 2020 and 2026. That puts Buckinghamshire among the larger unitary authorities you'll come across, which makes sense for a council serving 547,000 people spread over 604 square miles of the South East. The contract data tells a different story from the transaction-level spend. We've tracked 89 published contracts worth a combined £170.9 million, plus 114 tenders valued at £898.3 million. That tender pipeline is worth paying attention to, because it suggests a council with a steady flow of upcoming work. The median contract value sits at £6.4 million, so this is a council that packages work into sizeable lots. If you're a smaller supplier, the transaction data may be more relevant to you than the formal contract register.
Health, construction, and a long tail of suppliers
Across the 5,212 suppliers we've identified, health and social work takes the biggest share at 28.4% of matched spend, worth £666.4 million. Construction follows at 19.3% (£452.6 million), then administrative and support services at 13.5%. Ringway Jacobs leads the top suppliers list with £219.8 million in recorded spend, followed by Shubette Group at £111.4 million. Four of the top ten suppliers sit in health and social care, including The Fremantle Trust, Buckinghamshire Healthcare, Millbrook Healthcare, and Ambient Support. But here's what stands out: the market is genuinely unconcentrated. An HHI of 201 is low, and the top five suppliers account for just 25.3% of spend. Even the top ten only reach 36.9%. With 757 suppliers in health alone, this council spreads its money around. That pattern holds across sectors, with 615 suppliers in professional services and 509 in wholesale and retail.
Only seven published contracts, so what's going on?
The formal procurement data is thin. Of the seven published contracts we hold, five went through open tender and two were direct awards. All seven sit above threshold. That's a small sample, so drawing firm conclusions about procurement preferences would be a stretch. The tender pipeline looks far more active, with 114 notices worth £898.3 million across the same period. That gap between seven contracts and 114 tenders could reflect how the council publishes its data rather than how it actually buys. The £6.4 million median contract value, based on those seven records, suggests the published contracts skew towards larger pieces of work. Meanwhile the transaction data, with 858,543 individual payment records, points to a council doing an enormous volume of lower-value purchasing that sits outside the formal contract register. For bid managers, the tender notices are probably the better signal of where work is actually flowing.
| # | Supplier | Spend |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | RINGWAY JACOBS LIMITED | £219,815,435 |
| 2 | SHUBETTE GROUP OF COMPANIES LIMITED | £111,447,934 |
| 3 | AGINCARE HOMES HOLDINGS LIMITED | £88,700,000 |
| 4 | THE FREMANTLE TRUST | £88,654,118 |
| 5 | BALFOUR BEATTY CIVILS LIMITED | £85,043,484 |
| 6 | BUCKINGHAMSHIRE HEALTHCARE LTD | £80,113,410 |
| 7 | MILLBROOK HEALTHCARE LTD | £50,000,000 |
| 8 | AMBIENT SUPPORT LIMITED | £34,838,205 |
| 9 | FCC RECYCLING (UK) LIMITED | £23,616,357 |
| 10 | ACTION FOR CHILDREN SERVICES LIMITED | £22,192,976 |
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.
