Free Guide: Devon Spending & Supplier Profile
A free spending & supplier guide for Devon County Council · County · South West
Data covering 2011 to 2026
Recorded Spend
£8.6bn
Transactions
1,492,355
Suppliers
12,232
Key Takeaways
- £8.6 billion in recorded spend across nearly 1.5 million transactions since 2011
- 12,232 identified suppliers with an unconcentrated HHI of 54, the top 5 taking just 12.5%
- 13 of 14 published contracts used open tender, with a median contract value of £276,778
£8.6 billion over 15 years: what does Devon look like as a buyer?
Devon County Council is a large county authority serving 810,000 people across 2,534 square miles of the South West. Our dataset covers £8.6 billion in recorded spend across nearly 1.5 million transactions, drawn from 202 source files and spanning 2011 to 2026. That is a deep spending history by any measure. We have matched 12,820 suppliers against Companies House records, giving a solid picture of where the money goes. On the contracts side, we have tracked 1,362 published contracts worth a combined £6.1 million, plus 159 live or recent tenders valued at just under £2.1 billion. The gap between those two figures tells you something: the tender pipeline here dwarfs the contract register in value terms, which is worth bearing in mind if you are sizing up upcoming opportunities.
Health and social care dominates, but nobody owns this market
Of the spending records we hold, health and social work accounts for 36.1% of matched spend, pulling in £1.4 billion across 1,424 identified suppliers. Construction comes next at 11.6%, followed closely by education at 11.1% and professional services at 8.9%. If you are targeting care or children's services, this is clearly a major buyer. Skanska leads the identified supplier table at £114 million, followed by Ako Learning and Development at £104 million and Stagecoach Devon at £93 million. But here is the thing: the market is wide open. Devon's HHI score is just 54, which is extremely low. The top five suppliers account for only 12.5% of recorded spend, and even the top ten manage just 17.8%. Spend is spread across more than 12,000 suppliers. No single provider has a lock on this council.
Open tenders and a big pipeline: how does Devon actually buy?
Based on the 14 published contracts in our data, Devon leans heavily toward open procurement. Thirteen of those 14 went through open tender, with just one awarded via a limited process. The median contract value sits at £276,778, and 11 of the 14 contracts were above the procurement threshold. That is a council buying at scale through competitive routes. The real story, though, may be in the tender pipeline. We are tracking 159 tenders worth a combined £2.1 billion, a figure that far exceeds the contract register values. For bid managers watching Devon, that pipeline is where the action is. Three source domains feed our data, including Find a Tender and the council's own Procontract portal. With open competition as the clear default in what we have captured, the route to market here looks transparent and accessible.
| # | Supplier | Spend |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | SKANSKA CONSTRUCTION UK LIMITED | £113,954,148 |
| 2 | AKO LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT LIMITED | £103,569,887 |
| 3 | STAGECOACH DEVON LIMITED | £92,856,705 |
| 4 | ACTION FOR CHILDREN | £87,255,727 |
| 5 | SUEZ RECYCLING AND RECOVERY UK LTD | £87,142,192 |
| 6 | LIBRARIES UNLIMITED SOUTH WEST | £57,482,963 |
| 7 | KIELY BROS. LIMITED | £48,984,971 |
| 8 | CAMBIAN CHILDCARE LIMITED | £34,529,956 |
| 9 | AGENCY ASSISTANCE LIMITED | £34,072,274 |
| 10 | COMENSURA LIMITED | £31,168,573 |
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.
