Council care contracts are won on the scoresheet, not on how good your service feels day to day. Two providers delivering equally good care can score 40 marks apart because one wrote to the criteria and the other wrote about themselves. This guide explains what commissioners actually mark and how to earn the top band.

How the marks are split

Most care tenders award points across three areas: pass/fail eligibility, quality or method statements, and price. Quality usually carries the largest share of the scored marks, often 50 to 70 per cent, with price making up the rest. The first job on any tender is to read the evaluation section and note the weighting of every question, because that tells you where to spend your effort. A 30 per cent question deserves far more than a 5 per cent one.

Eligibility is scored first, and it is unforgiving

Before a single quality answer is read, commissioners check the gates: CQC registration, rating, insurance levels, financial standing, and mandatory policies. These are pass/fail. Fail one and the strongest method statement in the field cannot save the bid. Confirm every gate is met and evidenced before you write.

What a top-band quality answer contains

Evaluators score against a published mark scheme, and the highest band almost always rewards the same things: a direct answer to every part of the question, named roles who own each action, named systems and records, timeframes and frequencies, the relevant statutory or regulatory standard, and a real example showing the outcome. Generic claims such as person-centred or robust earn nothing on their own. The same claim attached to a named mechanism and a measurable result earns the marks.

Answer the question that is printed

The most common reason good providers score in the middle band is that they answer the question they expected rather than the one written. Mirror the commissioner's wording, address every bullet in order, and cover each sub-part. If the question asks how you will assess, deliver, review and report, an answer that covers only delivery loses three quarters of the marks regardless of quality.

Price has to fund the promise

Commissioners increasingly check that your method statement is affordable under your price. Commitments you cannot fund, or a price below a stated floor, undermine the whole bid. Build the price and the quality answers together so the service you describe is the service the rate pays for.

Evidence beats adjectives

The single biggest lever is replacing description with evidence: named staff, dated policies, system screenshots where permitted, KPI figures, and outcomes for real people. This is what moves an answer from the second band to the top band and is where most marks are gained or lost.

Score top band first time

Winning is a precise exercise in answering the mark scheme. We help care providers win council and NHS contracts by writing to exactly what evaluators score, with a 92% win rate across 200+ submissions, and most of our writers ran care services before they wrote bids. Get a free, honest assessment of your next tender.