Procurement body launches tender for staff health and wellbeing framework
Reprocured multi-lot arrangement will let public sector employers draw together occupational health, employee assistance and wider wellbeing support in one place.
Reprocured multi-lot arrangement will let public sector employers draw together occupational health, employee assistance and wider wellbeing support in one place.
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The Yorkshire Purchasing Organisation (YPO) and the London Borough of Islington are re-procuring a broad framework that brings together occupational health, employee assistance and wider wellbeing services for public sector employers. The multi-lot arrangement offers organisations a way to access a wide mix of support for staff health in the workplace.
Published on 16th April 2026, the Occupational Health and Wellbeing Services framework notice confirms that YPO, working with Islington, is refreshing its offer to the wider public sector. The partners are seeking to reprocure a framework covering:
According to the notice, the framework is designed as a “comprehensive solution across multiple lots to meet diverse needs”. That wording signals an intention to cater for different types and sizes of public sector organisation, and for a range of service models from core occupational health to broader wellbeing support.
By structuring the agreement into lots, YPO and Islington can accommodate different types of provision and allow customers to select the combination of services that best fits their workforce profile.
The new framework lands amid a stream of recent procurements that put employee wellbeing, mental health and early intervention at the centre of workforce planning.
In October 2025, the Police and Crime Commissioner for Leicestershire issued a contract notice for Employee Assistance and Psychology Services, seeking both an Employee Assistance Programme and an enhanced psychology service “to support the mental health of its officers, staff, and their families.”
In November 2025, Liverpool City Council went to market for Occupational Health and EAP Services, explicitly linking the contract to ambitions to “enhance employee wellbeing, prevent health issues, and reduce sickness absence” within its workforce.
On 13th November 2025, the City of Wolverhampton Council signalled a similar approach in a prior information notice for Employee Health Services, covering an Employee Assistance Programme, occupational health and physiotherapy.
Health-sector organisations are moving in the same direction. On 18th December 2025, Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust began market engagement on future Occupational Health Services, emphasising both “enhanced employee health and wellbeing” and the need to meet statutory requirements.
The policing sector is already looking ahead to the next generation of provision. On 31st March 2026, the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime launched early market engagement for Health Services at the Metropolitan Police Service, with a clear link to its new Health and Wellbeing Strategy.
Beyond these individual contracts, governments are starting to centralise access to support. On 23rd December 2025, the Office of Government Procurement published a notice for Employee Assistance Programme Services, seeking a single-supplier framework to provide management support and counselling across public sector bodies.
Taken together, these notices point to a sustained focus on mental health, early access to advice and treatment, and practical measures to cut sickness absence. The YPO and Islington framework sits squarely within that trend, but offers a broader umbrella that can be used by a wide range of public sector employers.
The same themes are visible in recent procurement activity elsewhere in Europe.
In October 2025, the Municipality of Amsterdam began tendering for Occupational Health Services, split into two lots covering outdoor staff and office-based staff.
On 20th January 2026, Swedish purchasing body Adda Inköpscentral AB issued a contract notice for Occupational Health Services that explicitly includes support for addressing employee exposure to violence.
Uppsala Municipality followed on 2nd March 2026 with its own procurement of Occupational Health Services, highlighting health promotion, prevention, rehabilitation assistance, conflict resolution and responses to harassment at various organisational levels.
On 11th March 2026, Lillestrøm Kommune in Norway advertised a Company Health Services Agreement, with a strong emphasis on statutory compliance and safe working conditions.
These examples mirror the direction of travel seen in the YPO and Islington reprocurement: occupational health is increasingly framed not only as a statutory duty, but as an active tool for risk management, staff retention and organisational resilience.
The decision to reprocure a multi-lot framework for occupational health and wellbeing also reflects a broader shift towards collaborative, cross-cutting frameworks in public services.
In November 2025, the Association of North East Councils Limited, working with ESPO and YPO, announced plans for a Payments Services Framework covering prepaid cards, corporate cards, appointeeship and digital payout services. Like the occupational health framework, it is designed as a multi-supplier, multi-solution arrangement, supported by structured market engagement.
On 5th January 2026, NHS Shared Business Services signalled its intention to establish a Legal Services Framework Agreement for NHS and wider public sector organisations, using preliminary market engagement to test the breadth and depth of supplier capability.
In the same month, Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, trading as North of England NHS Commercial Procurement Collaborative, went to market for a Public Health Services Framework covering sexual health, substance misuse, behavioural change, child health, health checks and integrated service delivery partnerships across the UK.
Councils have adopted similar models for complex people-focused services. Derbyshire County Council is leading a collaborative Therapeutic Assessments Framework for education and health care plan delivery, while North Northamptonshire Council is creating an Educational Support Services Framework for children and young people aged 0 to 25.
Against that backdrop, YPO’s reprocured occupational health and wellbeing framework fits a pattern: using aggregated, flexible frameworks to open up markets to a mix of providers, simplify access for public bodies and encourage consistent standards of service.
The detail of the new YPO and Islington framework will determine how far it can respond to expectations around mental health, early intervention and holistic wellbeing at work. The breadth of “associated health and wellbeing services” included alongside core occupational health and EAP provision will be particularly important for both buyers and suppliers.
Suppliers will be watching how the lots are structured, how far the framework allows for innovation in delivery models, and how it sits alongside the many local contracts for specialist mental health and support services now on the market. For public sector organisations, the key questions will be the scope of services available through the framework and how easily it can be aligned with their own workforce strategies.
As more employers turn to frameworks to secure multi-disciplinary health and wellbeing support, the reprocurement led by YPO and the London Borough of Islington will be a useful barometer of how public bodies intend to commission workplace health in the coming years.
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