Commercial Annual Report 2025-26

Head of Commercial Review

"The 2025/26 financial year has been marked by strong performance and organisational resilience. Throughout a period of significant change, the Commercial Service continued to deliver against business priorities while maintaining high standards of support.

"During the year, several experienced and senior colleagues left the Service to progress their careers. At the same time, the team successfully adopted new working practices and processes to align with the Procurement Act 2023. Despite these challenges, service continuity was maintained and key delivery outcomes were achieved.

"The team's professionalism, adaptability, and commitment were instrumental in managing staff turnover and implementing new ways of working. Their collective efforts ensured stability and continued delivery within a complex and evolving environment.

"Overall, the achievements of the past 12 months demonstrate the strength, resilience, and dedication of the Commercial Service, and its ability to respond positively to change while continuing to meet organisational needs."

Andy Househam, Head of Commercial & Contract Management.

Looking back

The 2025/26 financial year presented significant challenges for the Service, most notably the loss of half of a small team during a critical period of transition to new working practices under the Procurement Act 2023.

Ongoing recruitment difficulties resulted in a prolonged period of understaffing. While support from the wider Finance Team helped to ease capacity pressures, resource constraints impacted delivery of some planned initiatives, including the Contract Management Framework.

Despite these challenges, the Service delivered a strong financial performance, exceeding its cashable savings target of £500,000. This reflects a continued focus on collaboration, efficiency, and effective commercial practices across the organisation.

Looking forward

The Service will continue to maximise the opportunities presented by the Procurement Act 2023, focusing on transparency and commercial value across its activities. Supporting the Government’s police reform agenda, the Commercial Team will pursue regional and national collaboration opportunities through the Home Office’s Police Efficiency Collaboration Programme to improve outcomes and deliver greater value.

Key priorities for the year ahead include implementing a Contract Management Framework to strengthen contract oversight, improve supplier performance, and maximise value for money. The Service will also begin transitioning to a category management approach to drive efficiency, deliver strategic value, and enhance stakeholder engagement.

Progress against the Force’s Environmental Strategy will continue, including a major programme to support the transition to an electrified fleet through the development of the necessary infrastructure and planning to enable a sustainable and effective rollout.

Performance Highlights

• £3.15m savings achieved (£1.91m more than previous financial year)

• £1.65m realised cashable savings (£1,118,000 more than previous financial year)

• £93k revenue generated

• 158 staff trained

• 136 procurements delivered

• 84 new provisions delivered

• 7 collaborative projects

• 12% awarded to local suppliers

• 5 staff recruited

• 37 exceptions

Case Studies

Insurance - Property, Casualty, Motor, Crime, Travel and Engineering

Partners: Northern Police Consortium

Overview: Members of the Northern Police Consortium undertook a competitive further competition through the YPO Insurance Placement DPS II framework to secure insurance cover across six insurance classes for an initial three-year term (with options to extend to five years) from April 2025.

Key benefits:

• Achieved a cashable saving of £780,694 against the approved budget.

• Delivered an additional cost avoidance of £530,403 compared with previous supplier pricing.

• Secured specialist insurance expertise across property, casualty, motor, crime, travel and engineering risks.

• Established long-term contractual arrangements that provide operational resilience and financial certainty for the force.

Professional Services

Department: Estates & Facilities

Overview: Nottinghamshire Police re-procured its Estate Professional Services contract to ensure continued access to specialist expertise across areas including business rates, rent reviews, lease renewals, disposals, audits and estate rationalisation. A competitive procurement through the Crown Commercial Services Estates Management Services 2 Framework (RM6343), inviting 25 suppliers to bid. 

Key benefits:

• Significant financial savings: An average 56% reduction in pricing compared with the incumbent supplier's proposal.

• Strong value for money: Projected savings of approximately £73,000 over the initial three-year contract term and £125,000 across the potential five-year duration.

• Ennhanced competition: The procurement moved from a direct award model to a competitive further competition under the CCS framework, providing robust market testing and improved transparency.

• Support for estate optimisation: The contract provides specialist professional advice to help manage, rationalise and maximise the effectiveness of the force's estate portfolio, supporting long-term operational efficiency.

Vehicle Replacement Programme

Department: Fleet

Overview: Nottinghamshire Police required a streamlined and compliant approach to deliver its 2025/26 fleet replacement programme and replace vehicles written off during the year. The programme covered the replacement of 136 operational vehicles, supported by a budget of £4.45m. To improve efficiency and secure vehicle build and conversion slots within tight supplier timescales, contracts are awarded through the CCS RM6244 framework (Lots 4 and 5) using compliant direct award and further competition routes where required.

Key benefits:

• Efficiencies – Restores a streamlined ordering approach, and enabling quicker vehicle acquisition, whilst securing £835,583 of cost avoidance.

• Operational resilience – Ensures ageing and unsuitable vehicles are replaced, maintaining fleet availability and frontline operational effectiveness.

• Compliance and governance – All purchases are made through approved CCS framework routes, with clear record keeping and governance controls.

Independent Sexual Violence Advisor (ISVA) and Children's Independent Sexual Violence Advisor (CHISVA)

Department: The Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner

Overview: To maintain essential support for victims and survivors of sexual violence, a series of contract extensions were implemented for the Independent Sexual Violence Advisor (ISVA) and Children's Independent Sexual Violence Advisor (CHISVA). Additionally, the ISVA contract was varied to provide additional funding for a delivery partner supporting Survivor Support Services.

This provided continuity of specialist, trauma-informed support while allowing time to review service effectiveness and consider future commissioning arrangements.

Key benefits:

• Ensured uninterrupted access to specialist advocacy and support services for victims and survivors of sexual violence.

• Provided time to undertake a comprehensive review of current services and inform future commissioning decisions.

• Delivered stability and certainty for service users, staff, and partner organisations through contract extensions.

• Increased service capacity through additional funding for a delivery partner supporting Survivor Support Services.

• Maintained positive outcomes for survivors by enabling consistent, trauma-informed support throughout their recovery journey.

Environmental Sustainability

Embedding sustainability in everything we do

Sustainability is now embedded across the organisation through fully operational governance arrangements, mandatory staff training, regular communications, a network of Green Champions, and ongoing engagement with business areas to ensure sustainability is considered in decision-making.

Delivering results

• Reduced carbon emissions by 573 tonnes.

• Saved 2.6 million litres of water through efficiency measures and staff awareness initiatives.

• Cut waste by over one tonne per week by prioritising removal, reduction, reuse and recycling.

• Reduced electricity consumption by 310,955 kWh compared with the previous year.

• Electrified more than 100 vehicles through the salary sacrifice scheme in nine months.

• Aligned emissions reporting with national greenhouse gas standards.

Scaling Impact

• Established a joint Sustainability Unit with Derbyshire Police to drive collaboration and reduce duplication.

• Explored innovative waste management solutions for specialist waste streams.

• Became the first force to offer thermal cameras to staff to improve energy efficiency at home and in hybrid workspaces.

• Introduced incentives for reusable items in the headquarters canteen.

• Launched consultancy work and working groups to support the transition to an electric vehicle fleet.