Public procurement thresholds 2026: the full table explained

Every UK procurement threshold in 2026: the new figures from 1 January, below-threshold notification levels, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Ireland.

Primary market: United Kingdom

Updated on September 10, 2026

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Verified on 10 September 2026.

Procurement thresholds decide, according to the estimated value of a requirement, which rules a public buyer must follow and where it must publish its tender notice. In 2026 two sets of figures moved: the UK thresholds under the Procurement Act 2023, replaced on 1 January by the Procurement Act 2023 (Threshold Amounts) (Amendment) Regulations 2025, and the EU thresholds that apply in Ireland, revised for the two years 2026 and 2027. The UK figures include VAT; the EU figures exclude it.

UK thresholds from 1 January 2026

These amounts sit in Schedule 1 of the Procurement Act 2023 and are reviewed every two years so that they track the World Trade Organisation's Agreement on Government Procurement. Above them the full regime applies: a tender notice on the central digital platform, a minimum tendering period, an assessment summary and a standstill period before signature (verified 2026-09-10).

Contract	2024-2025	From 1 January 2026
Goods and services, central government authorities	£139,688	£135,018
Goods and services, other contracting authorities	£214,904	£207,720
Works, all contracting authorities	£5,372,609	£5,193,000
Light touch contracts (health, social, education and similar services)	£663,540	£663,540
Light touch concessions	£5,372,609	£5,372,609
Concession contracts	£5,372,609	£5,193,000
Utilities, goods and services	£429,809	£415,440
Utilities, works	£5,372,609	£5,193,000
Utilities, light touch	£884,720	£884,720
Defence and security, goods and services	£429,809	£415,440
Defence and security, works and concessions	£5,372,609	£5,193,000

All figures are inclusive of VAT. Nearly every threshold fell by roughly 3 per cent, purely because of the exchange rate between sterling and the special drawing rights in which the GPA expresses its values. The light touch thresholds did not move. Contracts regulated by the Welsh Ministers are set separately by Welsh regulations.

Below the threshold

Part 6 of the Act governs regulated below-threshold contracts, with notice duties for those that are notifiable. Exceptions include schools, utilities and concessions; transferred Northern Ireland authorities are generally outside Part 6. The trigger points are £12,000 including VAT for central government authorities, including NHS trusts and NHS foundation trusts, and £30,000 for other contracting authorities.

Estimated value, including VAT	What the buyer must do	Where to look
Under £12,000 or £30,000	No Part 6 notice duty at this value; the buyer follows its applicable purchasing rules	Buyer websites, supplier registers, direct approach
From those figures to the threshold	If it advertises at all, it must first publish a below-threshold tender notice on the central digital platform, then a contract details notice after award	Find a Tender, buyer e-sourcing portals
Above the threshold	Tender notice, minimum tendering periods, standstill	Find a Tender, buyer e-sourcing portals

Between those two lines sits the below-threshold work that most small firms live on: light documents, short deadlines and, above the notification levels, a notice you can actually monitor.

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Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

Scotland did not adopt the Procurement Act 2023. Its buyers still work under the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015 and the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014. Regulation 5 of the 2015 Regulations was amended on 1 January 2026 by the Public Procurement (Agreement on Government Procurement) (Thresholds) (Miscellaneous Amendments) (Scotland) Regulations 2025, so the full-regime figures are the same VAT-inclusive amounts as in England: £135,018, £207,720, £5,193,000 and £663,540. Separately, section 3 of the 2014 Act makes a procurement regulated from £50,000 for goods and services and £2,000,000 for works, excluding VAT, advertised on Public Contracts Scotland.

Wales applies the Act, but the Welsh Ministers set the threshold amounts for the contracts they regulate and publish them separately; Sell2Wales remains the place Welsh notices appear. Northern Ireland follows the Act, with notices on eTendersNI, where the deadline is often stated only inside the attached documents.

Ireland and the EU thresholds

Ireland still applies the EU directives. The thresholds below run from 1 January 2026 to 31 December 2027 and are exclusive of VAT. Above them, publication in the Official Journal, through TED, is mandatory.

Subject	Buyer	Threshold
Supplies and services	Central government authorities	€140,000
Supplies and services	Local and other contracting authorities	€216,000
Supplies and services	Contracting entities (water, energy, transport, postal)	€432,000
Works	All buyers	€5,404,000
Concessions, works and services	All buyers	€5,404,000
Social and other specific services	Contracting authorities	€750,000
Social and other specific services	Contracting entities	€1,000,000
Defence and security, supplies and services		€432,000
Defence and security, works		€5,404,000

These are about 2 to 2.5 per cent lower than the 2024-2025 figures of €143,000, €221,000, €443,000 and €5,538,000. Below them, Irish buyers advertise on eTenders from €50,000 excluding VAT for goods and services and €200,000 for works, the national thresholds set by the Office of Government Procurement's Circular 05/2023 and listed on gov.ie.

How the estimated value is calculated

The amount compared with the threshold is not the price of a single order. Three rules matter:

the estimate is the total value of the requirement over the whole life of the contract, extensions and options included; for a framework it is the maximum value of everything that can be called off under it;
splitting a requirement to get under a threshold is prohibited; a buyer that carves a single homogeneous need into small contracts to avoid advertising risks having the process set aside;
where a requirement is divided into lots, it is the combined value of all lots that counts, not each lot on its own.

For UK contracts, remember that the estimate is made including VAT, which is unusual internationally and means a requirement priced at £120,000 net is already above the central government threshold.

What changed compared with 2024-2025

Change	Before	In 2026
Goods and services, central government	£139,688	£135,018
Goods and services, other authorities	£214,904	£207,720
Works and concessions	£5,372,609	£5,193,000
Utilities and defence, goods and services	£429,809	£415,440
Light touch	£663,540	Unchanged
Below-threshold notification	£12,000 and £30,000	Unchanged

The new figures apply to procurements started on or after 1 January 2026. A competition launched in December 2025 keeps the old thresholds for its whole life, which is why notices published early in the year can look inconsistent.

What it means for a smaller supplier

Lower thresholds push a little more work into the full regime, which is good news for a bidder: above the threshold you get a published notice, a minimum tendering period, published award criteria, an assessment summary explaining your score and a standstill period before the contract is signed. A requirement estimated at £210,000 by a council, which could have been run as a light below-threshold exercise in 2025, is a full procedure in 2026.

Buyers may seek quotations directly below the notification levels, so introduce your business to the procurement teams you want to work with. Between the notification level and the threshold, notices exist but are scattered across Find a Tender, the devolved portals and dozens of buyer platforms.

Practical reading for a watch profile:

under the notification levels, prospect directly and get onto supplier lists;
from £12,000 or £30,000 to the threshold, watch Find a Tender and the e-sourcing portals of your target buyers;
above the threshold, follow Find a Tender and the relevant devolved portal; use TED and eTenders for Irish opportunities.

The permanent thresholds page carries the same table and is updated at each revision. The next one is due on 1 January 2028. Scoutee uses these thresholds to classify notices by the regime that applies to them.

Sources

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