Case Study

LIVINGSTONE HEALTH CARE LTD London Borough of Waltham Forest

Tender Overview

Waltham Forest is one of London’s most diverse boroughs. It has a large and growing population of children and young people, a significant proportion of families dealing with multiple pressures at once, and a local authority that takes early intervention seriously. When the council commissions family support services, it is not looking for a provider that can describe good practice in general terms. It is looking for an organisation that understands Waltham Forest specifically and can deliver within its communities effectively.

The Framework for Family Support Hours was designed to give the borough a pool of approved providers for direct family support work. These are services that sit at the preventative end of children’s social care, working with families before situations escalate, helping parents and carers build skills and manage the kinds of difficulties that, left unaddressed, can lead to statutory intervention. It is important work and the council commissions it carefully.

Livingstone Health Care Ltd applied to join the framework. AssuredBID prepared the submission. In May 2026, the London Borough of Waltham Forest confirmed that the contract had been awarded to Livingstone Health Care Ltd. The contract runs from 1 June 2026 to 31 May 2028, with an option to extend for a further two years to May 2030.

The Brief

Client	Livingstone Health Care Ltd
Commissioner	London Borough of Waltham Forest
Contract	Framework for Family Support Hours
Procurement Regime	Procurement Act 2023
Contract Start	1 June 2026
Contract End	31 May 2028 (option to extend to 31 May 2030)
Total Score	75.1%
Result	Contract Awarded

Key Challenges

Writing a strong family support tender for a London borough is not the same as writing one for a county council or an NHS body. London boroughs commission with a specific awareness of their own communities, and evaluators reading submissions for Waltham Forest will notice quickly if a response has not been written with that borough in mind.

Waltham Forest has a particularly diverse population. A significant number of residents speak English as a second language. There are communities with specific cultural considerations around accessing support services. There are families where multiple agencies are involved at the same time and where a family support provider has to work alongside, not in spite of, those other relationships. A submission that did not reflect those realities would not have scored well regardless of how it was written technically.

The evaluation structure added its own challenge. Quality carried a 30% weighting and price carried the remainder. That balance means the quality responses have to be efficient and well-targeted rather than exhaustive. There is no room to pad sections or repeat content across questions. Every word in the quality submission had to earn its place. Our London family support tender writing service is specifically designed around this kind of tightly weighted evaluation.

The social value section was part of the evaluation framework but received no response in the submission. That is a gap that affected the overall score and is the clearest area for development going forward.

Our Approach

What We Did

Before writing a single question, we spent time with Livingstone Health Care understanding how they actually work with families. What does a typical referral look like? How do they build trust with families who are reluctant to engage? How do they manage situations where a family’s circumstances change during the course of support? What relationships do they already have with other services and agencies in east London?

Those conversations shaped the submission from the ground up. The responses were written around Livingstone Health Care’s real practice, not a theoretical picture of what good family support looks like.

The staffing response set out the team that would deliver family support hours in Waltham Forest, covering their qualifications, experience, and how they are managed and developed. The evaluators awarded the maximum score and noted the quality of the response, while observing that more detail on workforce retention would have added further strength. That is useful feedback for the next submission. The service delivery response described how the service would operate within the borough in practice, from the point of referral through to planned closure, including how Livingstone Health Care would work alongside schools, health services, and other agencies involved with families. The evaluators specifically highlighted the multi-agency collaboration element as a strength of this section and awarded the maximum score. Our multi-agency collaboration evidence guidance was central to how we built this part of the submission.

The safeguarding and quality assurance response scored 3 rather than 4. The evaluators noted that the response met the required standard in most areas but lacked depth around quality assurance audits, peer review, and reflective practice. They also flagged that some of the safeguarding escalation content repeated material from earlier sections rather than adding new information. Both of those points are specific and correctable. They provide a clear target for what the next submission in this area needs to address.

The monitoring and reporting response covered how Livingstone Health Care would track outcomes for families in Waltham Forest, how performance data would be reported to the commissioner, and how the service would adapt based on what the data shows. The evaluators awarded the maximum score and noted that greater detail on how data would be presented visually would have strengthened it further.

The equalities and climate response addressed how the service would reach and engage the full range of communities in Waltham Forest, including those that face particular barriers to accessing family support. Given the borough’s demographic profile, this was an important section and it received the maximum score. The evaluators suggested that more evidence of existing environmental achievements and clearer equality KPIs would add further depth.

Results

The London Borough of Waltham Forest confirmed the award to Livingstone Health Care Ltd in May 2026. Following the standstill period under the Procurement Act 2023, the contract was executed ahead of the 1 June 2026 commencement date.

Question	Area	Score	Weighted Score
Q1	Staffing	4/4	6%
Q2	Service Delivery Model	4/4	10%
Q3	Safeguarding and Quality Assurance	3/4	6%
Q4	Monitoring and Reporting	4/4	4%
Q5	Equalities and Climate	4/4	4%
Social Value	No response provided	—	0%
Quality Subtotal			30%
Price Score			45.1%
Total Score			75.1%

Conclusion

Livingstone Health Care Ltd goes into June 2026 as a contracted family support provider in Waltham Forest, with a two-year contract in hand and the option to extend that relationship through to 2030. For a provider building its presence in east London’s children and families commissioning market, that is a real foundation.

The submission performed well across four of the five quality questions and delivered a competitive price score. The evaluator feedback is honest and specific, and it points clearly to where the next submission can go further. The safeguarding and quality assurance section needs more depth around audit and reflective practice. The social value section needs a response. Those are defined tasks, not open questions, and addressing them fully in future tenders in this area will produce stronger overall scores.

If you deliver family support, early help, or children and families services in London or anywhere else in England and want a submission built around the specific borough and commissioner you are bidding to, visit www.assuredbid.co.uk or browse our case studies to see the work we have done for providers across children’s services and family support. Our contact page is the quickest way to start a conversation with one of our bid writers.

Find the right contracts, get tender alerts instantly, and submit your bids — all in one place. Access now