The work most tools never see
Council Contracts Under £30k: How to Find Them
The contracts most small businesses can actually win are not the six-figure tenders on the national portals. They are the £3,000 repair jobs, £12,000 surveys and £25,000 service contracts that councils, schools and housing providers award every week - often with only two or three bidders, sometimes with none at all.
This below-threshold work is the most accessible entry point into public-sector trading, and it is also the hardest to find. This guide explains where it actually lives, the rules that govern it, and how to put yourself in front of it.
Why sub-£30k contracts are different
Above certain values - £135,018 for central government goods and services, £207,720 for councils and the wider public sector, and £5,193,000 for works (all VAT-inclusive, current from January 2026) - public buyers must run a full, formal procurement under the Procurement Act 2023. Below those thresholds, the rules relax dramatically.
For below-threshold contracts, a buyer typically needs only to demonstrate value for money - in practice by seeking a handful of written quotes. There is no obligation to run a lengthy tender, no formal selection stage, and far less paperwork on both sides. Many councils set internal rules along the lines of "three written quotes for anything between £5,000 and £25,000".
Crucially for small firms, the Procurement Act bakes in SME protections: buyers cannot demand audited accounts from companies that are not legally required to have them, and insurance only needs to be in place when the contract starts, not when you bid. For small contracts these conditions are applied lightly or not at all.
Where this work is actually published
There is a publication duty - but it has gaps that catch suppliers out. Contracts above £12,000 (central government) or £30,000 (everyone else) must be published nationally. That means a £20,000 council contract has NO obligation to appear on Find a Tender or Contracts Finder at all.
So where does it go? Mostly to regional e-procurement portals - the biggest family being ProContract (Due North), which hundreds of councils use to run "Quick Quotes": invitation-based requests for written quotes sent to suppliers registered on the portal. Others use In-Tend, Delta or their own systems. The work is real and constant; it is just scattered across dozens of systems most businesses have never heard of.
- Find a Tender - all regulated procurements since February 2025, plus notifiable below-threshold notices
- Contracts Finder - England's below-threshold notices above £12k/£30k, and legacy procurements
- ProContract / Due North portals - council Quick Quotes and small tenders, often never published nationally
- Public Contracts Scotland and Sell2Wales - including their own Quick Quote facilities
- Individual council "doing business with us" pages - many list current opportunities directly
How to put yourself in front of it
Because much sub-£30k work is invitation-only, the single highest-leverage action is registering on the portals your local buyers actually use - with complete category and region selections, so you appear in buyers' searches when they assemble a Quick Quote list. A buyer cannot invite a supplier they cannot find.
Register on the ProContract portals covering your patch, your regional portal if you have one, and the national portals. Keep your categories honest and specific: a buyer searching "emergency lighting" will not find a supplier registered only under "construction".
Winning at this level
Sub-£30k competitions are usually decided on a short written quote and price. The winning habits: respond quickly (Quick Quotes often close within days), answer exactly what was asked, evidence your insurance and relevant certifications without being asked twice, and be local - for small jobs, buyers strongly prefer suppliers who can attend site quickly.
Treat every small job as an audition. Councils re-use suppliers who perform, and a £15k job delivered well is the strongest possible evidence pack for the £150k tender the same buyer runs next year.
Frequently asked questions
Do councils have to advertise contracts under £30,000?
Generally no. Outside central government, the national publication duty starts at £30,000. Below that, buyers can simply seek quotes directly - which is why portal registration matters more than search at this level.
Can a new business with one year of accounts win council work?
Yes. The Procurement Act 2023 prevents buyers demanding audited accounts from firms not legally required to have them, and below-threshold processes are deliberately lighter-touch. Small contracts are the classic entry route for young firms.
What is the difference between a Quick Quote and a tender?
A Quick Quote is an informal, invitation-based request for written quotes for low-value work - typically a short form and a price, decided in days. A tender is a formal, advertised competition with published criteria, used for higher values.
BidSquirrel watches the portals most tools skip
We track the ProContract council portals alongside every national source, and score each opportunity - including the small ones - against your business. The sub-£30k work is exactly the coverage we built first.