Free Guide: Stoke-on-Trent Spending & Supplier Profile
A free spending & supplier guide for Stoke-on-Trent City Council · Unitary authority · West Midlands
Data covering 2017 to 2026
Recorded Spend
£974.7m
Transactions
83,073
Suppliers
2,288
Key Takeaways
- £975 million in recorded spend across 83,073 transactions from 2017 to 2026
- 2,288 identified suppliers with an unconcentrated market, HHI of just 151
- 200 tenders published worth £1.4 billion, with 5 of 8 tracked contracts openly competed
How big a buyer is Stoke-on-Trent?
Stoke-on-Trent is a unitary authority covering 35.9 square miles in the West Midlands, serving a population of around 257,000. Our data shows £975 million in recorded spend across 83,073 transactions, drawn from 24 source files and collected as recently as January 2026. The spending records span 2017 to 2026, giving you a solid window into how this council operates over time. Across those transactions, we've matched 2,362 suppliers to Companies House records, and the council has published 157 contracts worth a combined £8.7 million alongside 200 tenders valued at £1.4 billion. For a mid-sized city council, that transaction volume tells you this is an active buyer with a broad supplier base. The data comes from the council's own transparency portal and Find a Tender, all published under OGL v3.
A wide field of suppliers, not a cosy club
With 2,288 identified suppliers and an HHI of 151, this is an unconcentrated market. The top five suppliers account for just 19.9% of recorded spend, and even the top ten only reach 27.9%. Transform Schools (Stoke) leads at £47.4 million, followed by Hanford Waste Services at £28.6 million. Construction firms hold three of the top six spots, though health and social work is actually the biggest sector overall, taking 27.8% of spend across 400 suppliers. Construction follows at 18.5%, then other service activities at 10.2%. Education, admin support, and professional services each sit between 5% and 6%. If you're looking at sector concentration, the health and social work category is spread across hundreds of suppliers rather than dominated by a handful. The pattern across sectors suggests Stoke-on-Trent spreads its money around, which tends to mean more entry points for new suppliers.
Open tenders outnumber direct awards, but the sample is small
Of the 8 contracts we've tracked with procurement method data, 5 were openly competed and 3 were direct awards. Six of those contracts sit above threshold. The median contract value comes in at around £412,000, so these aren't small pieces of work. On the pipeline side, 200 tenders worth £1.4 billion have been published, which points to a council that runs competitive processes regularly. The mix of open and direct awards looks fairly balanced from what we can see, though 8 contracts is a narrow window to draw firm conclusions from. What the tender volume does tell you is that Stoke-on-Trent is putting opportunities into the market at a steady pace. For anyone tracking upcoming work, the council publishes through both its own portal and Find a Tender, so you have two channels to monitor.
| # | Supplier | Spend |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | TRANSFORM SCHOOLS (STOKE) LIMITED | £47,383,409 |
| 2 | HANFORD WASTE SERVICES LIMITED | £28,557,812 |
| 3 | GALLIFORD TRY CONSTRUCTION LIMITED | £12,349,938 |
| 4 | TAY VALLEY LIGHTING (STOKE ON TRENT) LIMITED | £11,406,462 |
| 5 | AGGREGATE INDUSTRIES LIMITED | £10,672,505 |
| 6 | SAPPHIRE EXTRA CARE LIMITED | £10,525,244 |
| 7 | FIRST POTTERIES LIMITED | £9,833,316 |
| 8 | BRADWELL HALL NURSING HOME LIMITED | £8,063,207 |
| 9 | COMENSURA LIMITED | £8,043,342 |
| 10 | KIER STOKE LIMITED | £7,684,663 |
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.
