Free Guide: North Northamptonshire Spending & Supplier Profile
A free spending & supplier guide for North Northamptonshire Council · Unitary authority · East Midlands
Data covering 2021 to 2026
Recorded Spend
£1.4bn
Transactions
299,889
Suppliers
3,152
Key Takeaways
- £1.37 billion in recorded spend across nearly 300,000 transactions since 2021
- 3,152 identified suppliers but the top 5 account for 44.5% of matched spend
- 192 tenders worth £708 million are in the pipeline, mostly above current contract values
A £1.37 billion buyer, and still relatively new
North Northamptonshire is a unitary authority formed in 2021, serving 350,000 people across 381 square miles of the East Midlands. Our dataset covers £1.37 billion in recorded spend from nearly 300,000 payment transactions, drawn from 40 source files collected between 2021 and 2026. That is a large spending footprint for a council that has only existed for five years. The data comes from two sources: the council's own transparency portal and Find a Tender. Across the contracts we have tracked, the recorded contract value sits at just £1.84 million, which looks small against the transaction spend. That gap suggests most purchasing flows through frameworks, call-offs, or arrangements that do not always surface as standalone contracts. The council is also a member of Fusion21, a purchasing consortium open to all public sector bodies, which may account for some of that framework activity.
One supplier dominates, but the broader market is wide open
Northamptonshire Children's Trust leads the identified supplier list by a wide margin, with £390 million in recorded spend. That is roughly 28% of all matched payments on its own. After that, the numbers drop sharply: Thalia WB ODC at £49 million, Shaw Healthcare at £44 million, then Opus People Solutions and Access UK rounding out the top five. Together those five account for 44.5% of matched spend. But look beyond them, and you will find 3,152 identified suppliers spread across 22 sectors. The HHI score is 1,065, which is unconcentrated. Health and social work is the largest competitive sector with 365 suppliers and £262 million in spend. Education brings in 318 suppliers. If you are looking at where the money actually goes, public administration, health, and admin services take the first three spots. Construction and IT both sit around 5-7% of spend each.
How open is the front door?
Of the 10 contracts we have tracked, only 2 went through open tender. Three were direct awards and five used a limited procedure. The median contract value sits at around £75,800. That is a small sample, so be careful drawing firm conclusions from it. The tender pipeline tells a different story in terms of scale. There are 192 tenders on record worth a combined £708 million, which dwarfs the contract register. Three contracts were above the procurement threshold, seven below it. The split between limited and direct procedures, with open tenders in the minority, is worth noting but hard to read too much into with just 10 records. North Northamptonshire is still a young council building its procurement track record. The volume of tenders versus published contracts suggests there is more activity than the contract register alone would indicate.
| # | Supplier | Spend |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | NORTHAMPTONSHIRE CHILDREN'S TRUST LIMITED | £389,804,751 |
| 2 | THALIA WB ODC LIMITED | £48,578,081 |
| 3 | SHAW HEALTHCARE LIMITED | £43,890,510 |
| 4 | OPUS PEOPLE SOLUTIONS LIMITED | £34,901,232 |
| 5 | ACCESS UK LTD | £29,705,546 |
| 6 | HUGGG LIMITED | £18,815,017 |
| 7 | CONSENSUS SUPPORT SERVICES LIMITED | £13,320,154 |
| 8 | SPECIALIST FLEET SERVICES LIMITED | £13,052,121 |
| 9 | AVENS LTD | £12,992,226 |
| 10 | FCC ENVIRONMENT SERVICES (UK) LIMITED | £10,576,249 |
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.
