The Community Right to Challenge was introduced under the Localism Act 2011. It provides a right for voluntary and community bodies, charities, town and parish councils and 2 or more employees the right to submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) to run local authority services.

Where an Expression of Interest is accepted, we must carry out a procurement exercise for the service. The procurement exercise will be open to others who wish to tender to run the service.

We welcome interest from groups looking to run our services and would encourage you to speak to us in the first instance to find out more.

Submit an Expression of Interest 

We accept submissions between 1 June and 31 July each year.

An Expression of Interest can be submitted for any council service, however national guidelines exempt services in certain circumstances. Full details are available in the communities right to challenge Statutory Guidance.

Between 1 June and 31 July, our online form may be used to submit a formal EOI under the Localism Act 2011 or to provide information for an informal discussion with us.

Please send your Expression of Interest by email: Duty.Communities@scambs.gov.uk, or by post:

Community Right to Challenge
Sustainable Communities Team (Health and Environmental Services)
South Cambridgeshire District Council
South Cambridgeshire Hall
Cambourne Business Park
Cambourne
Cambridge
CB23 6EA

What to include in your submission

• information about the financial resources of the relevant body submitting the Expression of Interest
• evidence that demonstrates the relevant body will be capable of providing or assisting in providing the relevant service. If the proposal to deliver the relevant service is part of a consortium or to use a sub-contractor, the information must be given for each member of the consortium and each sub-contractor
• what the relevant service is, and the geographical area it covers
• what outcomes the relevant body will achieve, including: 
  • how it will promote or improve the social, economic or environmental well-being of the relevant authority’s area
  • how it will meet the needs of the users of the relevant service.
• if the relevant body consists of employees of the relevant authority, please detail how that relevant body proposes to engage other employees of the relevant authority who are affected by the Expression of Interest.

Next steps

We will acknowledge receipt of your Expression of Interest, and let you know when we will consider it, no later than 30 August.

After we have considered your Expression of Interest, we will advise you of our decision by the end of January.

When an Expression of Interest is accepted we will put in place a procurement process. The timescale for this will vary according to the service that the Expression of Interest relates to. For example, if you are submitting an Expression of Interest for a service that is already subject to a contract we will need to take into account the period that the contract still has to run. This could therefore be between 6 months and 5 years.

Timescales

June to July 2025

• An Expression of interest (EOI) is submitted to us
• We will log the EOI and send it to the Head/s of Service (HOS), informing the eligible body in writing within 30 days of the 'window closing' date by which it will receive decision
• HOS will make an initial assessment 
• If the EOI is valid, notify Lead Member & Unions that an EOI has been received

August to November 2025 

• The affected service will assess the EOI against the agreed criteria
• If the EOI does not meet one or more of the criteria, identify potentials modifications and discuss with eligible body
• Report to Leadership Team (LT) with recommended course of action

December 2025

• Decision will be made by the Lead Member

January 2026

• Options:
  • Accept
  • Accept Challenge with modification
  • Reject challenge - publish decision and reasons

February to March 2026

• If accepted:
  • We conduct standard procurement exercise for the service which meets standard legal requirements
  • Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) notice submitted and tender specification documents prepared

April 2026 onward

• Procurement process conducted

The Expression of Interest may be rejected if:

• we consider that the EOI is not serious or intended to cause issues or legal problems
• the service is integrated with a service provided by the NHS and the continued integration of the service is critical to the well-being of service users
• the service is already the subject of a procurement exercise
• we have entered into negotiations with a third party to provide a service, and at least part of these negotiations has been conducted in writing
• the service has been stopped, or a decision has been taken in writing to do this
• we consider, based on the information in the EOI, that the relevant body or sub-contractors are not suitable to provide or assist the service
• the relevant body provides inadequate or incorrect information in the expression of interest
• we consider that accepting the EOI would contravene the rule of law or a breach of a statutory duty.