Free Guide: Ipswich Spending & Supplier Profile
A free spending & supplier guide for Ipswich Borough Council · Non-metropolitan district · East of England
Data covering 2018 to 2026
Recorded Spend
£320.7m
Transactions
44,267
Suppliers
1,734
Key Takeaways
- £320.7 million in recorded spend across 44,267 transactions since 2018
- 50.4% of matched spend goes to just five suppliers, led by Handford Homes
- 56 tenders worth £51.3 million point to an active pipeline for contractors
£320 million through a borough of 136,000 people?
Ipswich Borough Council covers just 15.4 square miles of urban Suffolk, but our data shows £320.7 million in recorded spend across 44,267 transactions from 2018 to 2026. That's a busy purchasing operation for a non-metropolitan district. The spending data comes from 114 source files collected from ipswich.gov.uk and Find a Tender, with our latest collection from November 2025. We've matched 1,844 suppliers against Companies House records, spread across 22 sector categories. On the contracts side, the published contract register shows 28 contracts worth a combined £4 million, while 56 tenders account for £51.3 million in advertised opportunities. The transaction-level spend data tells a fuller story of how money actually flows out the door, and that £320.7 million figure gives you a better sense of Ipswich's real buying weight.
One supplier towers over the rest
Handford Homes dominates the identified supplier list with £80.9 million in recorded spend, classified under professional and technical services. That single supplier accounts for roughly a quarter of all matched spend. After that, the numbers drop sharply: Foster Property Maintenance at £6 million, Haydn Jacks at £5 million, then EDF Energy and British Gas Social Housing rounding out the top five. Together those five take 50.4% of matched spend, and the top ten account for 58.6%. The HHI sits at 1,599, which is moderately concentrated, largely driven by that Handford Homes position. Construction firms fill six of the top ten spots, and the sector breakdown confirms it: construction takes 15.9% of spend across 144 identified suppliers. But the biggest single sector category is professional, scientific and technical activities at 46.6%, with 229 suppliers sharing £96 million. If you're in construction or professional services, this is where the money goes.
What does the tender pipeline actually look like?
The formal contract register holds one above-threshold contract valued at £4 million, awarded through an open procedure. The tender data adds more depth. Across 56 recorded tenders worth £51.3 million, there's a steady flow of advertised opportunities coming through Find a Tender. For a borough council, that's a reasonable volume of formally advertised work. The transaction-level spend paints a different picture though. With 44,267 individual payments to 1,734 identified suppliers, a lot of purchasing clearly happens below formal procurement thresholds or through existing frameworks. The spread of spending across that wide supplier base gives you a better feel for normal order values than any single contract figure would. Overall, the combination of tender records and transaction-level data covers both the formally advertised pipeline and the day-to-day purchasing that makes up the bulk of Ipswich's spending activity.
| # | Supplier | Spend |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | HANDFORD HOMES LIMITED | £80,865,453 |
| 2 | FOSTER PROPERTY MAINTENANCE LIMITED | £5,999,451 |
| 3 | HAYDN JACKS LIMITED | £5,030,707 |
| 4 | EDF ENERGY LIMITED | £4,874,787 |
| 5 | BRITISH GAS SOCIAL HOUSING LIMITED | £4,511,043 |
| 6 | BALFOUR BEATTY CIVIL ENGINEERING (SW) LIMITED | £4,394,842 |
| 7 | GHB ROOFING LIMITED | £3,971,939 |
| 8 | R G CARTER SOUTHERN LIMITED | £2,027,106 |
| 9 | TBF SCAFFOLDING LTD | £1,966,331 |
| 10 | ZURICH INSURANCE COMPANY LTD | £1,850,574 |
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.
