Free Guide: Middlesbrough Spending & Supplier Profile
A free spending & supplier guide for Middlesbrough Borough Council · Unitary authority · North East
Data covering 2011 to 2026
Recorded Spend
£696.1m
Transactions
552,503
Suppliers
6,255
Key Takeaways
- £696 million in recorded spend across over 552,000 transactions since 2011
- 29% of matched spend goes to health and social care suppliers alone
- 6,255 identified suppliers and an HHI of 115, pointing to a fragmented buyer base
How big a buyer is Middlesbrough?
For a unitary authority covering just 20.8 square miles and around 141,000 people, Middlesbrough pushes a lot of money through its books. Our data covers £696 million in recorded spend across 552,503 transactions, drawn from 176 source files spanning 2011 to 2026. That is a long and detailed spending history for a council this size. On the contracts side, the picture is thinner. We've tracked 180 published contracts worth a combined £1.5 million, and 161 tenders valued at £207 million. The gap between those two figures tells you something: the contracts data captures only a fraction of the procurement activity that the tender notices point to. Where Middlesbrough really stands out is transaction volume. Over half a million payment records give you a granular view of who gets paid, how often, and how much. If you're researching supplier relationships here, the purchase-to-pay data is where the depth sits.
Health and social care dominates, but nobody owns this market
Health and social work accounts for 29.2% of matched spend, pulling in £345 million across 442 identified suppliers. That is a big pool of money, but it is spread wide. Construction follows at 12.2%, then professional and technical services at 10.6%. Among the top suppliers, Suez Recycling leads with £65.5 million, followed by Willmott Dixon at £50.6 million and Mouchel at £50.3 million. Three suppliers from the health and social care sector appear in the top ten: Northern Life Care, Cambian Childcare, and Care UK. But even with those names recurring, the market here is fragmented. An HHI of 115 is very low, and the top five suppliers account for just 18.3% of recorded spend. Across the 6,255 suppliers we've matched, no single company or sector has a stranglehold. That spread is worth noting if you're sizing up competition for work in this area.
Almost everything goes to open tender, but the contract data is slim
Of the 17 contracts with procurement method data, 16 were awarded through open competition and just one via a limited procedure. That is an unusually high open-tender rate. Median contract value sits at £53,030, and only 3 of those 17 contracts were above the procurement threshold. So what we can see looks competitive and mostly below-threshold. But 17 contracts is a small sample against a council running half a million transactions, so draw your conclusions carefully. The tender pipeline is larger at 161 notices worth £207 million. That suggests Middlesbrough is active in putting work out to market, even if the published contract data does not yet reflect the full scope. Data is sourced from the council's own open data portal and Find a Tender, collected as recently as December 2025. For a council in the TVCA combined authority area, the spending records here are detailed enough to build a solid picture of buying patterns.
| # | Supplier | Spend |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | SUEZ RECYCLING AND RECOVERY UK LTD | £65,465,873 |
| 2 | WILLMOTT DIXON CONSTRUCTION LIMITED | £50,604,366 |
| 3 | MOUCHEL LIMITED | £50,345,944 |
| 4 | HARROGATE AND DISTRICT BUS COMPANY LIMITED | £25,998,366 |
| 5 | NORTHERN LIFE CARE LIMITED | £24,238,212 |
| 6 | HIGHLANDS PROPERTY INVESTMENTS LIMITED | £22,364,893 |
| 7 | CAMBIAN CHILDCARE LIMITED | £18,869,970 |
| 8 | CARE UK COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS LTD | £18,852,555 |
| 9 | MAGNIT GLOBAL GRI LIMITED | £17,144,086 |
| 10 | NPOWER NORTHERN LIMITED | £16,570,611 |
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.
