Support for Communities Framework 2026-2030

The Framework is an alternative means of providing a range of practical hands-on support (not advice, which is available through HIE’s Specialist Advice Framework) to community organisations and social enterprises that lack the capacity or a particular skill-set to timeously progress an opportunity. This is added value support and must complement the existing social enterprise support ecosystem and, therefore, must not duplicate services already available via other HIE Frameworks e.g. Board Healthcheck and Skills Training or other public sector/public sector supported organisations, e.g. Business Gateway, Just Enterprise, etc. It is expected that these services will be required from November 2026 for an initial period of 3 years, with HIE having the option to extend for a period or periods together not exceeding 1 year following the Initial Term. The 3 year budget currently available to deliver this service is between GBP 400,000 and GBP 450,000 (excluding VAT). The total estimated value of the framework for the full framework duration including the extension is GBP 600,000, which is the value stated in this notice.