Best Software for Local Authority Commissioning Teams in the UK (2026)

Local authority commissioning teams fund and oversee services delivered by charities, social enterprises and community organisations. They manage grant programmes, monitor provider performance, track outcomes and report to elected members -- often using fragmented spreadsheets and legacy systems that were never designed for the job.

TL;DR: Commissioning teams need software that handles the full cycle: publishing funding opportunities, assessing applications, managing provider relationships, tracking outcomes across multiple services, and producing cross-portfolio reports. Purpose-built platforms like Plinth outperform generic procurement tools because they combine grant management, provider CRM, and impact reporting in a single system designed for funders.

Who this is for: Commissioning managers, grants officers, strategic leads and procurement teams in UK local authorities who fund external organisations to deliver services.

Why Commissioning Teams Need Better Tools Now

Local authorities are significant funders of the voluntary sector. According to NCVO's UK Civil Society Almanac 2024, local authorities contributed 44% of all government funding to voluntary organisations in 2021/22 (NCVO, 2024). The Directory of Social Change's Grants for Good 2025 report estimated that UK councils made approximately £599 million in grants to VCSE organisations in 2023-24, spread across an estimated 44,212 individual grants (Directory of Social Change, 2025).

Yet the tools available to commissioning teams have not kept pace with the complexity of their work. Many teams still rely on spreadsheets, email threads and shared drives to manage provider relationships and track outcomes. The MHCLG Future Councils programme found that common challenges blocking digital transformation in local government include unclear leadership structures, decision-making delays, and skills gaps -- with the LGA's State of Digital Local Government report finding that 48% of councils reported skills gaps in management teams to support digitalisation and use of technology (LGA, 2024).

Meanwhile, financial pressures are intensifying. The NAO's 2025 report on local government financial sustainability warned that pressured public services and delays to reform the funding system are contributing to local authorities' finances becoming unsustainable (NAO, 2025). Commissioning teams are being asked to demonstrate more value with less resource -- and that requires software that can automate routine tasks, surface insights, and produce evidence of impact without adding to the reporting burden on providers.

What Commissioning Software Needs to Do

Commissioning is not the same as procurement. While procurement tools handle tendering and contract award, commissioning spans a broader cycle: understanding needs, designing services, selecting providers, managing relationships, monitoring delivery and evaluating outcomes. Software for commissioning teams must support all of these stages.

Core capabilities

• Grant and contract management -- publish opportunities, receive and assess applications, issue agreements, manage payment schedules, and maintain a complete audit trail.
• Provider relationship management -- maintain a single view of each delivery partner, including contact details, past awards, compliance status, and performance history.
• Outcome and impact tracking -- collect monitoring data from providers, aggregate outcomes across services, and report against strategic priorities such as the new Local Government Outcomes Framework, which sets 15 priority outcomes that government expects to work with local authorities to deliver (MHCLG, 2025).
• Due diligence and compliance -- verify charity registration, check Companies House records, flag safeguarding or financial risks, and maintain records for audit.
• Cross-service reporting -- produce dashboards and reports that show commissioning activity and outcomes across directorates, not just within individual programmes.

Platform Comparison

The table below compares five approaches to commissioning software that UK local authorities commonly consider.

Plinth

Plinth's AI Grant Management was designed for organisations that fund others -- making it a natural fit for local authority commissioning. It handles the full grant cycle from application to close-out, with AI that reads applications, drafts assessments, and checks provider credentials automatically.

The Partner CRM gives commissioning teams a single view of each delivery partner across all programmes and directorates. Instead of one team tracking a provider in a spreadsheet while another uses email, the CRM consolidates relationship history, compliance records, and performance data in one place.

Impact Reporting aggregates outcome data submitted by providers and uses AI to tag themes, identify trends, and compile portfolio-level reports. For commissioning teams that need to report to cabinet or scrutiny committees on what their commissioned services are achieving, this removes hours of manual data assembly.

The Surveys feature allows commissioning teams to gather structured feedback from service users, providers, and stakeholders -- feeding directly into outcome evidence without requiring a separate survey tool.

Salesforce

Salesforce is a powerful and flexible CRM, but it is a horizontal platform that requires significant configuration for commissioning use. The Nonprofit Success Pack (NPSP) provides a starting point, but local authorities will need custom objects, workflows, and integrations to replicate a full commissioning cycle. Implementation typically takes months and requires specialist consultancy. Total cost of ownership can be substantial once licences, integrations and ongoing administration are factored in.

Blackbaud GrantsConnect

GrantsConnect offers solid grant application and review workflows and is well established in the US philanthropic market. Its UK presence is growing but the platform's due diligence capabilities are less tailored to UK registers (Charity Commission, Companies House, OFSI). Reporting is capable at the programme level but cross-service aggregation requires additional configuration.

In-Tend

In-Tend is a UK procurement and contract management platform used by many local authorities for tendering. It handles the procurement side of commissioning well -- publishing opportunities, managing submissions, evaluating bids -- but it is not designed for ongoing provider relationship management, outcome tracking, or impact reporting. For authorities that commission primarily through formal contracts rather than grants, In-Tend covers part of the need but leaves gaps in monitoring and reporting.

Custom systems and spreadsheets

Many commissioning teams still operate with a combination of spreadsheets, shared drives, and bespoke Access databases. While familiar, these approaches create risks: version control problems, no audit trail, difficulty aggregating data across programmes, and heavy manual effort for reporting. The Directory of Social Change's research found that the number of grants to VCSE organisations decreased by around 10% in 2023-24 (DSC, 2025), suggesting that as resources tighten, the inefficiency of manual approaches becomes harder to sustain.

How to Evaluate Commissioning Software

Before comparing platforms, commissioning teams should map their actual workflows and pain points. A structured evaluation helps avoid choosing software that looks impressive in a demo but does not fit operational reality.

Step 1: Audit your current process

Document how you currently manage each stage of the commissioning cycle. Where are the bottlenecks? Where does data get lost between teams? What takes the most officer time? The NAO's successful commissioning toolkit recommends that commissioners seek efficiency through clarity of outcomes and by reducing duplication in management of separate programmes (NAO, Successful Commissioning Toolkit).

Step 2: Define must-have versus nice-to-have

Not every team needs every feature. A small grants programme may not need formal procurement workflows. A large multi-service commissioning function may need cross-directorate reporting and role-based access for dozens of officers.

Step 3: Test with real data

Ask vendors to demonstrate their platform using your actual application forms, assessment criteria, and reporting requirements. Generic demos with sample data can obscure usability issues. Plinth offers hands-on trials with real workflows so teams can evaluate fit before committing.

Step 4: Check UK public sector compliance

Verify data residency (UK data centres), UK GDPR compliance, accessibility standards (WCAG 2.1 AA), and integration with existing council systems. Ask for security documentation and references from other local authority customers.

Managing the Transition

Adopting new commissioning software is as much a change management challenge as a technology decision. The MHCLG Future Councils programme found that councils which mapped their existing technology estates, understood contract obligations, and assessed digital capabilities early were able to make more informed and strategic decisions (MHCLG, 2024).

Key steps for a successful transition:

• Start with one programme -- pilot the new platform on a single commissioning programme before rolling out across directorates. This builds confidence and surfaces integration issues early.
• Migrate data carefully -- clean and map existing data before import. Historical grant records, provider details, and outcome data all need to transfer accurately.
• Invest in training -- the 48% of councils reporting digital skills gaps (LGA, 2024) underscores the importance of proper training and ongoing support, not just a one-off induction.
• Engage providers early -- delivery partners who submit monitoring returns through the platform need clear guidance and support. The best commissioning software reduces the reporting burden on providers rather than adding to it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can commissioning software replace our procurement system?

Not entirely. Commissioning software handles the full funding lifecycle -- from needs assessment through to outcome evaluation -- but formal procurement (tendering, evaluation, contract award) may still require a dedicated e-procurement platform like In-Tend for high-value contracts. Many authorities use commissioning software for grant-funded services and a procurement system for formally tendered contracts, with the Partner CRM providing a single view across both.

How does Plinth handle the difference between grants and contracts?

Plinth's AI Grant Management supports both grant agreements and service-level agreements. The workflow adapts to match your commissioning model -- whether you issue grants with light-touch monitoring or contracts with detailed KPIs and milestone payments. Payment schedules, reporting requirements, and compliance checks can all be configured per programme.

What about reporting to elected members and scrutiny committees?

Impact Reporting produces portfolio-level summaries that aggregate outcomes across all commissioned services. These reports can show elected members what the council's investment in external delivery is achieving -- broken down by ward, theme, population group, or strategic priority -- without commissioning officers spending days compiling data from multiple sources.

Is it worth switching if we only manage a small number of grants?

Even small commissioning programmes benefit from proper audit trails, automated due diligence, and structured outcome tracking. The DSC's Grants for Good research found that the median council gave less than £520,000 in grants to VCSE organisations per year, with an average individual grant of £13,000 (DSC, 2025). At this scale, a lightweight platform like Plinth can be adopted quickly without a lengthy implementation project.

How do we demonstrate value for money to auditors?

Commissioning software provides the audit trail that internal and external auditors need: documented assessment criteria, scored evaluations, approval records, payment histories, and outcome evidence. Plinth maintains a complete record of every decision and action, making it straightforward to respond to audit queries.

Citations and Trusted Sources

• NCVO UK Civil Society Almanac 2024 -- government income trends: ncvo.org.uk
• Directory of Social Change, Grants for Good 2025: dsc.org.uk
• LGA State of Digital Local Government report (digital skills gaps): localgov.co.uk
• MHCLG Future Councils Pilot insights: mhclgdigital.blog.gov.uk
• NAO Local Government Financial Sustainability (2025): nao.org.uk
• NAO Successful Commissioning Toolkit: nao.org.uk
• MHCLG Local Government Outcomes Framework (2025): gov.uk

About the Author

Compiled by the Plinth Editorial Team. Updated February 2026.

Recommended Next Reading

• Grant Management for Public Sector Funders -- Proportionate controls and transparent reporting for government grants.
• How to Automate Due Diligence in Grantmaking -- Streamline charity and company checks without manual lookups.
• What Is Impact Reporting? -- How to collect, aggregate and present outcome evidence.
• The Complete Guide to AI Grant Management -- How AI supports the full grant management lifecycle.