How do you procure emergency accommodation? The buyer’s handbook
By Katie Richardson, Operations Director · Reviewed and maintained by Jigsaw Conferences' Emergency Accommodation & Housing Team
This content is independently researched using official UK Government guidance and recognised housing sector sources. It is reviewed regularly by Jigsaw Conferences' operational housing team and reflects current best practice at the time of publication. It is provided for general information only and should not be considered legal advice.
Quick answer
Procure the capability before the emergency: define the household-suitability and response-time outcomes you need, contract through a compliant route (framework call-off, mini-competition, direct award or open procedure), evaluate suppliers on evidence rather than promises, and mirror the statutory deadlines in your KPI schedule. This handbook covers the tender, the KPIs, the SLAs, the evidence, the due diligence and the board paper.
What should an emergency accommodation tender contain?
The specification sections that separate a workable contract from a rate card:
- Scope: emergency (24/7) placements, planned decants, programme accommodation — state which, and expected annual volumes with honest uncertainty ranges.
- Response standard: time from instruction to first suitable option, and to confirmed placement — by hazard/urgency band.
- Suitability requirements: household assessment method covering size, school catchments, accessibility, pets, medical and vulnerability needs.
- Accommodation types: hotels for immediate nights, serviced apartments for the duration — with quality and inspection standards for each.
- Billing: one consolidated invoice per case/programme month, coded to your claim, PO or cost-centre references; weekly cost reporting on live decants.
- Data protection: resident health and vulnerability data handling, retention and breach notification terms.
- Safeguarding: vetting, operator briefing practice and escalation route.
- Exit and continuity: file handover, live-placement continuity and no restart of evidence trails on extension.
Which KPIs matter — and what should the SLA say?
| KPI | Suggested SLA expectation | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Time to first suitable option | Within hours of instruction, 24/7 | Awaab's Law emergency track allows 24 hours total |
| Time to confirmed placement (emergency) | Same day | Households cannot wait for office hours |
| Suitability breakdown rate | Placements needing re-placement — target low single digits % | Breakdowns cost more than rate differences |
| Invoice accuracy | Zero unreferenced lines; consolidated per case | Audit trail for Ombudsman, auditors and loss adjusters |
| Reporting turnaround | Weekly on live decants; monthly programme MI | Feeds your own statutory compliance reporting |
| Extension handling | Same file, no restart, notice period honoured | Repair dates slip; the file must not fragment |
| Complaint response | Acknowledge 1 working day; resolve per your policy | Resident experience is the outcome that matters |
What evidence should suppliers provide?
- Industry best practice
Ask for delivered outcomes with checkable numbers — a timeline of a real multi-household placement, not a capability statement. Anonymised is fine; vague is not.
- Industry best practice
Current certificates: ISO 9001 (quality), ISO 27001 (information security) and Cyber Essentials as a minimum where resident data is processed. Verify certificate numbers and expiry.
- Industry best practice
A sample consolidated invoice and weekly cost report, anonymised — the fastest way to test whether the audit trail is real.
- Jigsaw delivery experience
What Jigsaw evidences against these asks: ISO 9001 (6626692), ISO 27001 (6501733), ISO 14001, Cyber Essentials, SafeSupplier; a published 14-household/24-hour decant case study; and a rolling NHS programme with one cost-centre-coded monthly invoice.
What should be in the board paper?
The approval paper that gets emergency accommodation contracts through governance:
- The compliance driver: statutory deadlines (24 hours / 10 / 5 / 3 working days) and the alternative accommodation duty — with the cost of non-compliance (court enforcement, Ombudsman findings, reputational exposure).
- Demand forecast: hazard case volumes, expected decant rate, Phase 2 (November 2026) uplift.
- Options appraisal: hold voids vs pre-contracted external supply vs spot-buy — with the fixed-vs-variable cost logic.
- Value for money: whole-decant economics (nights × rate + meals + re-placement + admin), not room rates.
- Risk register: supply failure, suitability breakdown, data breach, safeguarding incident — each with the contractual mitigation.
- Procurement route and timeline, KPI schedule summary, and social value commitments.
How do you evaluate social value, safeguarding, suitability, reporting and scalability?
| Dimension | What to score | Red flag |
|---|---|---|
| Social value | Reportable commitments: local spend near placements, employment, carbon reporting on travel | Generic pledges with no reporting mechanism |
| Safeguarding | Vetting policy, operator briefing practice, named escalation route, incident examples handled | “We take safeguarding seriously” with no process |
| Resident suitability | Documented assessment method; breakdown rate data; how pets/accessibility/catchments are matched | Suitability treated as room availability |
| Reporting | Sample MI pack; weekly decant reports; data that maps to your statutory KPIs | Monthly PDFs that cannot feed your compliance reporting |
| Scalability | Multi-city inventory (hotels AND apartments); surge examples; winter capacity plan | Single-city or single-accommodation-type supply |
Which due diligence questions expose real capability?
The ten from our toolkit — ask them in every competition:
- Walk us through your last 24-hour multi-household placement: timeline, decisions, outcome.
- How do you assess and document suitability for a household with accessibility needs and a pet?
- What is your out-of-hours model — who answers at 3am, and what can they commit to?
- Show a sample consolidated invoice and weekly cost report (anonymised).
- Which certifications do you hold, and are they current?
- How do you handle extensions when repair dates slip — does the file restart?
- What is your escalation route when a placement breaks down?
- How do you brief accommodation operators on vulnerability and safeguarding?
- What data do you report for our compliance KPI evidence?
- Provide two referenceable outcomes with checkable numbers.
The working documents
Emergency Accommodation Procurement Toolkit
Question bank, evaluation criteria, KPI scorecard and audit-trail checklist — the working documents behind this handbook.
Awaab's Law timescales — quick-reference PDF
Every statutory deadline on one page. Free — no email needed.
Free PDF — no email neededProcurement questions answered
Framework, DPS or open procedure — which route is fastest?
A call-off from an existing framework or dynamic purchasing system is usually fastest because the compliance work is pre-done. Direct award may be available below relevant thresholds or where framework terms permit — document the value-for-money rationale. Verify current thresholds against Procurement Act 2023 guidance.
Should price be the dominant evaluation weight?
No. Whole-decant cost is driven by suitability breakdowns, meal costs where there is no kitchen, and admin time reconciling invoices — not the headline rate. Mature evaluations weight quality and evidence at 60% or more, with cost assessed on whole-stay scenarios rather than nightly rates.
How do we compare providers objectively?
Score every bidder against the same evidence-based criteria: response time, suitability process, inventory breadth, billing and audit, security certifications, safeguarding and scalability. Our companion guide — How to choose an emergency accommodation provider — includes the checklist, risk matrix and scoring template.
What does “free to the client” mean commercially?
Some providers, including Jigsaw, are paid commission by accommodation operators rather than fees by the client. Establish the commercial model in the tender, require it in the contract, and ask how it is kept from biasing placement decisions — suitability criteria and reporting are the safeguards.
Evidence · Real delivery
How do you house 60 NHS key workers across three cities at once?
A rolling programme for an NHS trust — one monthly invoice, 98% occupancy satisfaction, around 40% below equivalent hotel rates.
Read the case studyFacing a live decant or building compliance capacity?
Our accommodation team places displaced households 24/7 — hotels for tonight, serviced apartments for the repair period, one auditable invoice. Free to the client.
Related knowledge
Official legislation & guidance
Related services
Published 11 August 2026 · Last updated 11 August 2026 · Legislative statements verified 11 August 2026 against GOV.UK and legislation.gov.uk (sources cited inline).