Published date: 20 March 2024

Awarded contract - This means that the contract has been awarded to a supplier.


Closing: 20 November 2023, 4pm

Contract summary

Industry

  • Social research services - 79315000

Location of contract

SW1A 2HQ

Value of contract

£0 to £60,000

Procurement reference

SMC-2324-53

Published date

20 March 2024

Closing date

20 November 2023

Closing time

4pm

Contract start date

11 December 2023

Contract end date

14 March 2025

Contract type

Service contract

Procedure type

Open procedure (below threshold)

Any interested supplier may submit a tender in response to an opportunity notice.

This procedure can be used for procurements below the relevant contract value threshold.

Contract is suitable for SMEs?

Yes

Contract is suitable for VCSEs?

Yes

Description

The Social Mobility Commission (SMC) monitors progress towards improving social mobility in the UK and promotes social mobility in England. It is an independent statutory body created by an Act of Parliament and is sponsored by the Cabinet Office.

In March 2022, the government published the Inclusive Britain policy paper. It set out the government's actions in response to the recommendations made by the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities (CRED). The paper highlighted a number of recommendations which overlap with areas of interest for the Social Mobility Commission (SMC), particularly the focus on enhancing social mobility through educational choices.

The SMC has committed to take forward Action 53 of the Inclusive Britain report. It states: "To help disadvantaged students to choose the right courses for them and to boost their employment prospects, the Social Mobility Commission will seek to improve the information available to students about the labour market value of qualifications and, where possible, the impact of those qualifications on social mobility."

To achieve this, the SMC has been working on multiple projects which can help deliver on Action 53. One of these was to publish a report that summarises the evidence base on the labour market outcomes resulting from studying qualifications in both higher (HE) and further education (FE).

The next step is to develop and publish a set of benchmarks for access to universities. The SMC recently published a blog post outlining a proposed idea for these new sets of university benchmarks. The main driver for this project is the need for a set of university benchmarks which can better capture social mobility. We can potentially achieve this by using a single measure of deprivation that provides a fuller picture of the distribution of access. Using this measure we can look at the rates of students from each background who get into each university. This can then be compared to the overall proportion of students who meet the university entry requirements. By combining these two measures, we could potentially identify if there are subgroups of the student population that have greater chances of access to certain universities compared to other subgroups.

Bidders must submit their Bids before 4pm on 20 November 2023. All Bids must be submitted to contact@socialmobilitycommission.gov.uk. Failure to return Bids by the time and due date or in the required format may disqualify Bidders from consideration.

More information

Previous notice about this procurement

Invitation to Tender (ITT) for University Benchmarks for Better Social Mobility

  • Opportunity
  • Published 3 November 2023, last edited 14 November 2023

Attachments

Award information

Awarded date

11 December 2023

Contract start date

11 December 2023

Contract end date

14 March 2025

Total value of contract

£60,000

This contract was awarded to 1 supplier.

UCL Consultants Limited

Address

90 Tottenham Court Road
London
W1T 4TJ
United Kingdom

Reference

Companies House number: 03332258

Value of contract

£60,000

Supplier is SME?

No

Supplier is VCSE?

No

Attachments

About the buyer

Address

Social Mobility Commission
1 Horse Guards Road
LONDON
SW1A 2HQ
England

Email

contact@socialmobilitycommission.gov.uk