Free Guide: Herefordshire Spending & Supplier Profile
A free spending & supplier guide for Herefordshire Council · Unitary authority · West Midlands
Data covering 2018 to 2026
Recorded Spend
£1.0bn
Transactions
135,364
Suppliers
2,882
Key Takeaways
- £1 billion in recorded spend across 135,364 transactions from 2018 to 2026
- 2,882 identified suppliers, with the top five accounting for 50% of matched spend
- Construction dominates at 25% of spend, led by Balfour Beatty Living Places
A billion pounds through a rural unitary authority?
Herefordshire is a large, sparsely populated unitary authority in the West Midlands, covering 842 square miles with fewer than 194,000 residents. But our data shows over £1 billion in recorded spend across 135,364 transactions from 2018 to 2026, drawn from 65 source files. That volume puts it firmly on the radar for suppliers working the West Midlands. The council publishes data through both its own website and Find a Tender, and we have matched 2,920 suppliers against Companies House records. On the contracts side, 75 published contracts carry a combined value of £3.3 million, while 118 tenders account for £267.5 million. That gap between contract and tender value is worth noting. Much of the big-ticket procurement flows through tenders rather than smaller published contracts. For a council this size, the spending record is deep enough to show clear patterns in where the money goes.
Balfour Beatty and a surprisingly eclectic top five
Balfour Beatty Living Places sits at the top of the identified supplier list with £160.4 million in recorded spend, which is roughly 16% of the total on its own. After that, the mix gets interesting. Worcestershire County Golf Limited appears second at £71.8 million, classified under arts, entertainment and recreation. Hoople Ltd, the council's own shared-services company, comes in third at £65 million. Matrix SCM handles agency staffing at £32.7 million, and Shaw Healthcare rounds out the top five at £24.5 million. Together, those five account for 50.1% of matched spend. The HHI score sits at 702, which is unconcentrated, so despite that top-heavy look the remaining spend is spread across 2,882 identified suppliers. Construction takes the largest sector share at 25.2%, followed by professional and technical services at 19%. If you're in health and social care, that sector accounts for 8% of spend across 201 suppliers.
Only three contracts on record, so where's the action?
The published contract data here is thin. We have just three contracts on file: one open tender, one direct award, and one with an unrecorded method. The median contract value is £475,000. But the tender pipeline tells a different story, with 118 tenders worth £267.5 million. That is where most of the competitive procurement activity shows up in our data. Two of the three contracts sit above the procurement threshold, which fits with a council that routes larger work through formal tender processes. The small contract count does not mean Herefordshire is a quiet buyer. Over 135,000 payment transactions confirm steady, ongoing purchasing. It likely means the council's contract register has gaps in what has been published, or that much of its procurement sits within framework agreements. For bid managers scoping this council, the tender records and payment data are where the real picture sits.
| # | Supplier | Spend |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | BALFOUR BEATTY LIVING PLACES LIMITED | £160,365,641 |
| 2 | WORCESTERSHIRE COUNTY GOLF LIMITED | £71,814,384 |
| 3 | HOOPLE LTD | £64,981,060 |
| 4 | MATRIX SCM LIMITED | £32,710,346 |
| 5 | SHAW HEALTHCARE (HEREFORDSHIRE) LIMITED | £24,459,555 |
| 6 | FCC ENVIRONMENT SERVICES (UK) LIMITED | £21,865,696 |
| 7 | WHITECROSS@STEPNELL LIMITED | £17,309,159 |
| 8 | GIGACLEAR LIMITED | £10,464,633 |
| 9 | TARMAC TRADING LIMITED | £9,965,084 |
| 10 | B LINE TAXIS LTD | £9,341,162 |
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.
