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Plymouth: spending over £500

Last updated . Figures refresh every night. How each figure is worked out.

Plymouth published 164,190 payments of £500 or more between September 2025 and August 2026, worth £581.8m in all, to 2,374 suppliers. The largest total went to NHS Devon ICB: £21.5m across 72 payments. These are the council's own published records; the gaps in them are listed below.

Key figures

  • £581.8mPaid in payments of £500 or more, latest year
  • 164,190Payments
  • 2,374Suppliers
  • 12 of 12Months with payments published

What the council published

  1. Septpublished
  2. Octpublished
  3. Novpublished
  4. Decpublished
  5. Janpublished
  6. Febpublished
  7. Marpublished
  8. Aprpublished
  9. Maypublished
  10. Junpublished
  11. Julpublished
  12. Augpublished

Gaps and problems in the data, as published:

  • 12.6% of payments (£39,361,306) have the supplier name withheld or redacted by the council, usually because the payee is an individual.

Top 50 suppliers by value

Plymouth: the 50 suppliers paid most, September 2025 to August 2026
SupplierPaidPayments
Names withheld by the council
Details
£39,361,30620,707
Payments
20,707
NHS Devon ICB
Details
£21,530,07872
Payments
72
Morgan Sindall Construction & Infrastructure Ltd
Details
£14,949,61928
Payments
28
South West Highways
Details
£14,871,9462,228
Payments
2,228
Plymouth Citybus Ltd
Details
£14,392,172133
Payments
133
Delt Shared Services Ltd
Details
£13,821,195567
Payments
567
Harbour Centre (Plymouth) Alliance Funding
Details
£11,864,785135
Payments
135
Keys Group PCE
Details
£10,412,6761,070
Payments
1,070
Balfour Beatty Ltd
Details
£10,068,38233
Payments
33
Matrix SCM Limited
Details
£8,926,94466
Payments
66
Devon Contractors Ltd
Details
£8,796,27517
Payments
17
Cambian Childcare Limited
Details
£8,760,9421,011
Payments
1,011
Pyramid Schools (Plymouth) Limited
Details
£8,122,61250
Payments
50
Devon County Council
Details
£7,721,493106
Payments
106
Spaghetti Bridge Ltd
Details
£5,481,79843
Payments
43
MHCLG
Details
£5,409,8061
Payments
1
Premier Care (Plymouth) Ltd
Details
£5,111,7343,169
Payments
3,169
Kent County Council
Details
£4,524,912209
Payments
209
Five Rivers Child Care Limited
Details
£4,057,0642,921
Payments
2,921
Fountain Head House School Ltd
Details
£3,827,24622
Payments
22
Collingswood Care Limited
Details
£3,571,7982,338
Payments
2,338
Plymouth Community Homes
Details
£3,515,13356
Payments
56
JNE Construction Ltd
Details
£3,389,17446
Payments
46
Clear Thinking Care Ltd
Details
£3,221,0681,920
Payments
1,920
Teignmouth Maritime Services Ltd
Details
£3,219,4068
Payments
8
Gemcare South West Ltd
Details
£3,180,1771,362
Payments
1,362
Havencare Homes and Support Limited
Details
£3,160,9012,075
Payments
2,075
University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust
Details
£3,034,73215
Payments
15
Kier Integrated Services Limited
Details
£3,022,54913
Payments
13
Transforming Futures Trust
Details
£3,005,71211
Payments
11
I-Grow Care and Support Ltd
Details
£2,949,4581,830
Payments
1,830
Acorn Care & Education Ltd
Details
£2,876,23449
Payments
49
OYO Plymouth Central Hote
Details
£2,822,85450
Payments
50
Classic Builders South West Ltd
Details
£2,787,66515
Payments
15
Stagecoach Services Limited
Details
£2,622,766127
Payments
127
The National Trust
Details
£2,616,76615
Payments
15
The Durnford Society Ltd
Details
£2,594,7671,327
Payments
1,327
Barnardos
Details
£2,483,28037
Payments
37
Bleep 360 Care Ltd
Details
£2,468,982421
Payments
421
Foster Care Associates Limited
Details
£2,454,9252,061
Payments
2,061
Associated British Ports
Details
£2,449,5881
Payments
1
Allied Care Services Ltd
Details
£2,440,12323
Payments
23
Livewell Southwest CIC
Details
£2,207,71736
Payments
36
Aspris Childrens Services Ltd
Details
£2,201,15517
Payments
17
Achieve Together Limited
Details
£2,090,7341,217
Payments
1,217
Happy Days South West Ltd
Details
£2,073,20356
Payments
56
CHAPS/Faster Payment
Details
£1,995,33744
Payments
44
J&C Healthcare Ltd
Details
£1,990,4571,024
Payments
1,024
Families First (SW) LLP
Details
£1,951,3981,465
Payments
1,465
Phoenix Learning and Care Ltd
Details
£1,912,893192
Payments
192

Spending by category (our classification)

Payments this site classifies into each category from the supplier and the council's description; most payments fall into none. The rules are on the methodology page.

Plymouth: payments by category (our classification)
Show as a table
Plymouth: payments by category (our classification)
NamePaid
1. Payments to other councils and public bodies£38,744,517
2. Large outsourcing and contracting firms£30,048,600
3. Consultancy and agency staff£9,862,664
4. Legal fees£1,117,957
5. IT and software£325,070
Payments to other councils and public bodies: largest suppliers

The supplier is another council, a police, fire or NHS body, a government department or agency, or a pension fund.

  1. NHS Devon ICB: £21,530,078 (72 payments)
  2. Devon County Council: £7,721,493 (106 payments)
  3. Kent County Council: £4,524,912 (209 payments)
  4. University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust: £3,034,732 (15 payments)
  5. Cornwall Council: £499,181 (33 payments)
  6. South Hams District Council: £382,596 (7 payments)
  7. Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust (TSDFT: £203,500 (4 payments)
  8. Warwickshire County Council: £162,708 (16 payments)
  9. Environment Agency: £154,585 (16 payments)
  10. Devon County Council (Active Sports): £98,101 (11 payments)
Large outsourcing and contracting firms: largest suppliers

The supplier is one of a named list of large firms that run council services under contract. A payment to one is often a routine instalment on a long contract.

  1. Morgan Sindall Construction & Infrastructure Ltd: £14,949,619 (28 payments)
  2. Balfour Beatty Ltd: £10,068,382 (33 payments)
  3. Kier Integrated Services Limited: £3,022,549 (13 payments)
  4. Biffa Waste Services Ltd: £1,438,380 (23 payments)
  5. Kier Construction: £342,908 (3 payments)
  6. Glendale Countryside: £95,073 (15 payments)
  7. Liberata UK Limited: £46,320 (3 payments)
  8. Idverde Ltd: £36,240 (2 payments)
  9. Biffa Waste Services Limi: £15,518 (11 payments)
  10. G4S Cash Services (UK) Limited: £14,923 (21 payments)
Legal fees: largest suppliers

The supplier is a law firm or chambers, or the council describes the payment as legal fees, counsel or court fees.

  1. KBG Chambers: £554,352 (379 payments)
  2. Foot Anstey Solicitors: £109,981 (15 payments)
  3. Thompson Solicitors: £65,631 (3 payments)
  4. Freeths LLP: £60,928 (23 payments)
  5. Cornerstone Barristers: £53,450 (10 payments)
  6. Gard & Co. Solicitors: £37,321 (2 payments)
  7. Eversheds Sutherland (International) LLP: £36,355 (3 payments)
  8. Browne Jacobson LLP: £34,692 (14 payments)
  9. Trowers & Hamlins LLP: £21,890 (4 payments)
  10. Bevan Brittan LLP: £21,797 (9 payments)
Consultancy and agency staff: largest suppliers

The supplier is a recruitment agency or consultancy on a named list, or the council describes the payment as consultancy, agency or interim staff, or professional fees.

  1. Matrix SCM Limited: £8,926,944 (66 payments)
  2. Grant Thornton: £706,188 (11 payments)
  3. Proactive Interventions Limited: £76,280 (8 payments)
  4. Penna PLC: £52,390 (9 payments)
  5. Proactive Intervention Care Ltd: £44,950 (5 payments)
  6. KPMG LLP: £19,000 (1 payment)
  7. Tile Hill Interim & Executive Ltd: £17,900 (3 payments)
  8. Forvis Mazars LLP: £10,000 (1 payment)
  9. Venn Group: £9,012 (1 payment)
IT and software: largest suppliers

The supplier is on a named list of IT and telecoms firms, or the council describes the payment as software, licences, IT, hardware, hosting or telephony.

  1. Northgate Vehicle Hire (sw&w) Ltd: £146,738 (177 payments)
  2. Virgin Media Ltd: £140,533 (9 payments)
  3. Civica UK Ltd: £14,072 (3 payments)
  4. Idox Software Ltd: £10,437 (3 payments)
  5. Vodafone Diversionary and Connection Works Team: £7,408 (1 payment)
  6. Bt Plc Business Moto Bpay: £5,139 (4 payments)
  7. British Telecom: £744 (1 payment)

Spending by the council's own service areas

Plymouth: payments by service area, as the council labels them
Show as a table
Plymouth: payments by service area, as the council labels them
NamePaid
1. Children`s & Educational Servi£179,986,748
2. Adult Social Care£165,776,718
3. Capital£110,712,231
4. Public Health£19,950,668
5. Balance Sheet£17,612,122
6. Management and Support Services£15,740,407
7. Highways & Transport Services£14,460,607
8. Support Services£12,931,055
9. Housing services£11,976,900
10. Corporate & Democratic Core£10,673,260
11. Environmental & Regulatory Ser£4,746,491
12. Cultural and Related Services£4,383,592
13. Planning and Development Services£2,839,734
14. Central Services£2,464,973
15. Internal Trading Unit£2,075,774
16. Planning Services£1,930,028
17. Various£1,928,779
18. Cultural & related Services£1,277,639
19. Trading£219,805
20. Non distributed costs£81,219
21. Precepts & Levies£50,615
22. IFRS16 Lease Adjustments£5,640

Consultancy and agency against the pay bill

Payments we classify as consultancy and agency staff came to 6.1% of Plymouth's own staff costs in its 2025-26 revenue return, against a median of 6.5% for the other unitary councils in England read so far. The payments and the staff costs come from different sources and periods, so this is a guide to scale.

What this data does and doesn't show

  • It is the council's own record of payments of £500 or more. It leaves out salaries, most staff costs and many internal costs, so it is not the council's whole spending.
  • Descriptions are the council's own and vary in quality; some are codes, some are blank, and some supplier names are withheld to protect individuals.
  • A large payment to one supplier is often a routine instalment on a long contract that was tendered openly.
  • The categories and the matching to services are this site's classification from keywords, not the council's. The rules are on the methodology page.

Sources

Plymouth, spending over £500, published here. Licence as the council states it: not stated. Checked 2026-09-24; files read 2026-09-29.

Every file read (13)

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