Market overview: day activities
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Overview
Day activities are managed through an approved provider list. Details on how to apply to join the list are given below.
As of July 2026, there were 47 providers on the list supporting 895 people taking part in 1,272-day activity sessions each week at a cost of £261,296 per week to the Council. The majority of people supported (827) having an assessed learning disability.
Day activities are broken into six categories defined by the level of support need:
- Standard: for people who can be supported in a group environment without 1:1 support where staffing is a 1:4 ratio
- Enhanced: for people who will need some 1:1 support at particular points during the day
- Individual: for people who need 1:1 support throughout the day.
- Employment: for people who need help with getting and keeping a job
- Volunteering: for people who need help with finding and keeping a volunteering opportunity
- Independent Travel Training: for people who need help to gain the confidence and skills to travel independently
Currently, Standard, Enhanced and Individual support are funded according to the number of hours someone attends, which are usually but not exclusively half day (3 hour) and full day (6 hour) sessions. The rates are £10.80 per hour, £18.29 per hour and £27.23 per hour respectively. Employment and Volunteering support are both funded at a weekly rate of £68.31 and Independent Travel Training is funded at an hourly rate of £17.61 per hour.
People with an eligible social care need can, with help of a Social Worker, choose which activities they wish to take part in. Providers need to adopt a culture of continuous learning which allows them to adapt to support the changing strengths and needs of each person supported.
Day Activities providers need to be strength-based, connected to the local community and committed to offering diverse services that can be tailored to meet the unique social, cultural and environmental needs and aspirations of people and their carers.
Current situation
Day activities are managed through an approved provider list. Details on how to apply to join the list are given below.
As of August 2025 there were 44 providers on the list supporting 862 people taking part in 1,234 day activity sessions each week at a cost of £248,702 per week to the Council. The majority of people supported (791) having an assessed learning disability.
Day activities are broken into six categories defined by the level of support need:
- Standard: for people who can be supported in a group environment without 1:1 support where staffing is a 1:4 ratio
- Enhanced: for people who will need some 1:1 support at particular points during the day
- Individual: for people who need 1:1 support throughout the day.
- Employment: for people who need help with getting and keeping a job
- Volunteering: for people who need help with finding and keeping a volunteering opportunity
- Independent Travel Training: for people who need help to gain the confidence and skills to travel independently
Currently, Standard, Enhanced and Individual support are funded according to the number of hours someone attends, which are usually but not exclusively half day (3 hour) and full day (6 hour) sessions. The rates are £10.50 per hour, £17.78 per hour and £26.48 per hour respectively. Employment and Volunteering support are both funded at a weekly rate of £66.40 and Independent Travel Training is funded at an hourly rate of £17.12 per hour.
People with an eligible social care need can with help of a Social Worker choose which activities they wish to take part in. Outcomes for people are tailored to each person and align to the Adult Social Care Framework (ASCOF). Consequently, providers need to adopt a culture of continuous learning which allows them to adapt to support the changing strengths and needs of each person supported.
Day Activities providers need to be strength-based, connected to the local community and committed to offering diverse services that can be tailored to meet the unique social, cultural and environmental needs and aspirations of people and their carers.
Future demand
Whilst we are not expecting a significant increase in demand for day activities we are aware of a need for more providers able to offer activities and support to people with higher level needs, who often have both a learning disability and health care needs. This means buildings need to be well-designed to meet different physical and sensory needs, have plenty of space, have Changing Places and provide a flexible range of activities. Staff need to be suitably trained to meet complex physical, communication behavioural needs.
Currently we have a total of 18 providers offering activities to people assessed as requiring Individual support and 21 providers offering activities to people assessed as requiring Enhanced support.
Commissioning intentions
The current approved provider list was due to expire in January 2031. However, changes in procurement regulations mean that the contract end date is being brought forward to February 2029. Providers can still apply to join the provider list by following this link.
We will be carrying out a full review of the service and market engagement from Spring of 2028 at which time we will be speaking to the market to gather views on the future shape of day activities services. This will inform our intentions on day activities and as to which procurement model we will adopt for day activities going forward.
Contact details
For more information and support, or for providers who would like to informally discuss the service and opportunities available, please contact commissioninginbox@bradford.gov.uk
The Joint Commissioning Service Manager for this area is Angela Taylor.