Spend
Buy locally and to benefit our city.
The aim of Spend 4 Plymouth is to keep the pounds in Plymouth wherever possible and maximise the wider benefits of spending to the city’s economy, society and environment.
We recognise that for our local businesses to thrive in a competitive business environment, they need a diverse range of clients. With Plymouth’s peripheral location, it can be difficult to build the networks to enter new markets and new supply chains.
By buying local, we circulate money around the local economy as much as possible. In addition, we can increase benefits to local people by requiring our suppliers to apply the principles of the Plymouth Charter themselves.
This is about optimising the benefits of the money that flows through our local economy.
£6.97bn GDP value of Plymouth's economy
£1.7bn annual budgets of our anchor institutions
60% with local suppliers in the first 6 months of the 20/21 financial year
What you can do
Join Find It In Plymouth, a platform sharing business opportunities in Plymouth. It is a directory designed to bring buyers and suppliers closer together boosting Plymouth’s local supply chain. It allows individuals to:
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Access tenders, invitations to quote and procurement opportunities from some of the city’s biggest organisations.
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Advertise opportunities and find new local suppliers, quickly and easily.
Pay Businesses promptly – in less than 30 days for businesses below 50 employees. Signing the government’s Prompt Payment Code further demonstrates commitment to the pledge
Adopt a social value policy / social return on investment framework and incorporate into your wider procurement and planning processes. See how the Council approaches social value as an example.
Request the delivery of one or more of the Plymouth Charter Commitments in the delivery of goods, services or works.
How we'll support businesses
We work with the large anchor, Plymouth-centred businesses such as the council, health service and education providers - to increase local spend and social value procurement.
Find it in Plymouth is a platform to help businesses in Plymouth find local suppliers for goods, services or works, bringing buyers and suppliers closer together to boost Plymouth’s local supply chain. It was commissioned and launched in 2024 by Devon Chamber of Commerce, Babcock, Plymouth City Council and Plymouth Charter.
We are promoting the adoption of Social Value policies / social return on investment frameworks and the use of Social Value procurement tools such as the Social Value Portal’s National TOMs (Themes, Outcomes and Measures) framework to make it easier to understand and measure the social impact of contracts and projects.
Local Spend and Procurement Toolkits
Measure your progress
There are various measures that you could use to track your ‘Spend 4 Plymouth’ progress, such as:
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The creation and implementation of a buy local policy (or similar)
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The creation and implementation of a social value policy/social return on investment framework (or similar)
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Monitoring and increasing the percentage of your total expenditure that is spent with PL postcode suppliers
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Monitoring and increasing the percentage of your procurements where the impact of environmental, economic and social factors have been considered alongside price and quality prior to issue
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Monitoring and increasing the value of economic, social and environmental benefits generated through procurements
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Monitoring and increasing the percentage of your contracts that include commitments to ethical/sustainable procurement e.g. abolition of modern slavery, reducing CO2 emissions etc