Southwark hands £7m SEND bus contract to HATS without tender for a second time

Southwark Council has awarded its home to school SEN bus contract to Healthcare and Transport Services Ltd without a competitive tender, at a maximum estimated £7m over two years.

The decision record approves "the direct award of the Home to School Bus contract to the incumbent provider, Healthcare and Transport Services Ltd (HATS), at an estimated annual cost of £3.5m for a period of two years".

The Strategic Director of Children and Adult Services took the decision on 14 July. The contract started on 3 August.

The council did the same thing in 2023. Cabinet approved a procurement strategy of single supplier negotiation with the same firm on 10 July 2023.

The strategic director then awarded HATS the SEND buses contract on 25 July 2023, for two years from 1 September with an option to extend by up to 12 months. That award was marked urgent and was not subject to call-in.

That 2023 contract was worth £6.6m over its two-year base period, or £3.3m a year. The new one is estimated at £3.5m a year, about 6% higher.

The 2023 award carried a lifetime value of £10.1m with its extension. The new contract has a maximum estimated lifetime value of £7m.

The Smoke reported this week that Lambeth is due to approve a £5.675m, 25-month extension of its own SEND bus contract with London Hire, also without a competitive tender.

Southwark appointed HATS to a SEND taxi framework in June 2022, with 48 transport rounds worth £1.995m in the first year, alongside two other firms.

In March 2024 the council agreed that "the content and next steps set out in this Strategic Options Assessment for service provision for Home to School Transport for Southwark Council be noted".

In September 2025 it approved a separate SEND vehicles framework at an estimated £3.2m a year, or £25.6m over eight years, provisionally starting on 12 March 2026.

The two published records disagree on the stage this decision reached. The decision is titled GW1, while the issue record gives its purpose as approving GW2 for the contract.

The issue record lists all wards as affected and classes the decision as key on the threshold "Expenditure > £500,000". Councillor Rebecca Corn, the Executive Member for Education and Care, is listed as lead member.

Neither record says how many children the buses carry. Southwark's education and local economy scrutiny commission took reports in July and October 2025 that carry no home to school transport numbers.

The decision took effect on 23 July and its call-in period has passed, so councillors can no longer refer it to a scrutiny committee. The contract runs two years from 3 August 2026.

The bus contract is the only home to school transport decision on the council's register between 1 January and 31 July, and no further SEN bus decision appears between 1 and 15 August.