Free Guide: Isles of Scilly Spending & Supplier Profile
A free spending & supplier guide for Council of the Isles of Scilly · Unitary authority · South West
Data covering 2011 to 2026
Recorded Spend
£144.5m
Transactions
29,473
Suppliers
769
Key Takeaways
- £144.5 million in recorded spend across 29,473 transactions since 2011
- 36.7% of matched spend goes to construction, the dominant sector by far
- 769 identified suppliers with an unconcentrated HHI of 350 and low top-5 share
How much does England's smallest council actually spend?
More than you might expect. The Isles of Scilly has a population of just 2,226 spread across 6.2 square miles of Atlantic archipelago, but our data shows £144.5 million in recorded spend across 29,473 transactions from 2011 to 2026. That works out at roughly £64,900 per resident over the period, which reflects the reality of running a self-contained unitary authority on a remote island group. Everything from waste collection to road maintenance costs more when it has to cross 28 miles of open sea. We hold 9 published contracts worth a combined £1.4 million and 21 tenders valued at £16.5 million. The spending records are drawn from 48 source files collected from scilly.gov.uk and Find a Tender, with our latest collection from December 2025. For a council this size, the transaction volume tells you services are being procured constantly, even if individual values tend to be modest.
Construction dominates, but 769 suppliers share the work
Construction takes the biggest slice of matched spend at 36.7%, with £18.7 million going to 61 identified suppliers. That makes sense for an island authority dealing with coastal infrastructure, harbour works and buildings exposed to Atlantic weather. Teignmouth Maritime Services tops the list at £6.8 million, followed by Stepnell at £4.3 million. Both are construction firms, and between them they account for about 8% of all recorded spend. Below construction, professional services (11.5%) and administrative support (11.2%) run close together, with manufacturing and wholesale trade filling out the mid-tier. But here is what stands out: across the 775 suppliers we have matched, concentration is low. An HHI of 350 puts this firmly in unconcentrated territory, and the top five suppliers account for just 31.6% of recorded spend. For a council serving 2,226 people, that is a surprisingly broad supplier base.
All open tender, but is the pipeline big enough to chase?
Of the 3 contracts where we have procurement method data, all three went through open competition. Two sat above the procurement threshold and one below, with a median contract value of £359,640. There are no direct awards in the data we hold, which is unusual for a council of any size. Whether that reflects genuine procurement practice or just the subset of contracts published is hard to say from the data alone. On the tender side, 21 opportunities worth £16.5 million have been advertised. Transport and logistics crop up given the island context, along with the construction and infrastructure work you would expect. If you are targeting this council, the practical challenge is volume. With a population this small, procurement rounds are infrequent compared to larger authorities. But when work does come up, the open approach and low supplier concentration suggest the council is not simply recycling the same contractors. Competition looks genuine based on what we can see.
| # | Supplier | Spend |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | TEIGNMOUTH MARITIME SERVICES LIMITED | £6,753,134 |
| 2 | STEPNELL LIMITED | £4,261,914 |
| 3 | KEYNVOR MORLIFT LIMITED | £2,073,047 |
| 4 | ISLES OF SCILLY STEAMSHIP COMPANY LIMITED | £1,688,096 |
| 5 | HITACHI EUROPE LIMITED | £1,309,223 |
| 6 | DAVEY & GILBERT LIMITED | £1,258,780 |
| 7 | DORSET WILDLIFE TRUST | £1,209,208 |
| 8 | WEST END MOTORS1 LTD | £1,137,817 |
| 9 | AMBIPAR RESPONSE LIMITED | £1,042,953 |
| 10 | LAKESIDE FLOOD SOLUTIONS LTD | £1,039,277 |
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.
