What UK buyers published in the week to 20 September 2026
14 September 2026 to 20 September 2026 · 2,236 notices counted
Every week we read the notices published on Find a Tender and turn them into a plain English picture of the market. This edition covers 14 September 2026 to 20 September 2026, 2,236 releases in total. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: Find a Tender.
What the week looked like
2,236 notices were published on Find a Tender in the seven days to 20 September 2026: 1,408 award notices, 353 tender notices, 211 planning notices, 243 updates and 21 cancellations.
That is down 10.5% on the equivalent window covering 7 September 2026 to 13 September 2026, when 2,498 notices were published.
Below threshold work held a big share
839 of the 1,881 notices that stated a procedure were below threshold, 44.6%. The largest single route was without competition at 34.3% of below threshold notices.
Below threshold work matters because it is where a smaller supplier can win without a bid team. It moves quickly, and it is easy to miss if you only check the portal when you remember to.
Who is winning the work
59.6% of supplier places on award notices with a stated business size went to SMEs, from 2,490 sized records out of 2,503 supplier parties named on awards.
By subject area, health and social work services led on 17.8% of the 799 notices carrying a CPV code, and London was the busiest delivery region on 18.9% of the 723 notices carrying one.
What to do with this
Pick the two or three CPV divisions that match what you sell, set alerts on them, and read the award notices in those divisions every week. That is a fifteen minute habit that tells you who your real competitors are and when their contracts end.
If you are a buyer, check your own notices for the fields suppliers actually need: a value, a category and a clear procedure. Coverage of those fields across the market in this period was 26.7%, 46.2% and 84.1%.
The takeaways
- 2,236 notices published in the seven days to 20 September 2026, of which 1,408 were awards.
- 44.6% of notices with a stated procedure were below threshold.
- SMEs took 59.6% of supplier places where a business size was recorded.
- Health and social work services was the busiest subject area at 17.8% of classified notices.
- Only 26.7% of notices carried a value, so treat any market total with care.
Every figure here is counted from notices published on Find a Tender between 14 September 2026 to 20 September 2026. It describes published procurement activity, not total UK public spending, and each percentage in the full report states the records it was calculated from. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Read the licence
See the full week of data
The full report carries the charts, the coverage panel and the counts behind every figure, free and printable.