Longitudinal Study of Debt Advice, £1,767,867

Contract

Longitudinal Study of Debt Advice

• MONEY AND PENSIONS SERVICE F20: Modification notice

Notice identifier: 2026/S 000-037304

Procurement identifier (OCID): ocds-h6vhtk-03f8f5 (view related notices)

Published 23 April 2026, 5:05pm

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Contents

one. Contracting authority/entity Press escape key to exit two. Object four. Procedure five. Award of contract/concession six. Complementary information seven. Modifications to the contract/concession

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Section one: Contracting authority/entity

one.1) Name and addresses

MONEY AND PENSIONS SERVICE

Money & Pensions Service Borough Hall

Bedford

MK429AB

Email

commercial@maps.org.uk

Country

United Kingdom

Region code

UKH24 - Bedford

Justification for not providing organisation identifier

Not on any register

Internet address(es)

Main address

https://maps.org.uk/en

Section two: Object

two.1) Scope of the procurement

two.1.1) Title

Longitudinal Study of Debt Advice

two.1.2) Main CPV code

Research services

two.1.3) Type of contract

Services

two.2) Description

two.2.3) Place of performance

NUTS codes

• UKH2 - Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire

two.2.4) Description of the procurement at the time of conclusion of the contract:

High-level objectives are the following:

Phase 1

• to successfully run the developing phase, recruit participants online in need of debt advice;

• create the experimental allocation (using a stratified random process);

• evaluate the encouragement design aimed at creating a robust counterfactual group; and

• calibrate the key parameters (such as eligibility, attrition and response rate) for the large scale longitudinal.

Phase 2

• to successfully run a large-scale randomised encouragement design longitudinal study;

• create the experimental allocation (using a stratified random process);

• successfully implement the encouragement design;

• to keep comparable and sizeable treatment and control groups during the duration of the project over four waves; and

• to measure the impact of debt advice on improving the outcomes of people.

Insight:

• to understand the causality of debt advice has with debt and wider financial well-being indicators within the debt journey over the short, medium and long term. This includes analysing complex journeys into and out of debt over time and the causes;

• to identify the immediate effects of receiving debt advice, the sustainability of the solutions and the long-term consequences of clients' decisions; and

• to identify what works and what doesn't work to increase motivation for advice seeking behaviour, which is one of the most challenging objectives in the debt advice sector.

two.2.7) Duration of the contract, framework agreement, dynamic purchasing system or concession

Duration in months

64

Section four. Procedure

four.2) Administrative information

four.2.1) Contract award notice concerning this contract

Notice number: 2024/S 000-012374

Section five. Award of contract/concession

Contract No

C0668

five.2) Award of contract/concession

five.2.1) Date of conclusion of the contract/concession award decision:

5 April 2024

five.2.2) Information about tenders

The contract/concession has been awarded to a group of economic operators: No

five.2.3) Name and address of the contractor/concessionaire

IFF Research

5th Floor, St Magnus House, 3 Lower Thames Street

London

EC3 6HD

Country

United Kingdom

NUTS code

• UK - United Kingdom

Justification for not providing organisation identifier

Not on any register

Internet address

https://www.iffresearch.com/

The contractor/concessionaire is an SME

Yes

five.2.4) Information on value of the contract/lot/concession (at the time of conclusion of the contract;excluding VAT)

Total value of the procurement: £1,250,000

Section six. Complementary information

six.4) Procedures for review

six.4.1) Review body

Royal Courts of Justice

Strand

London

WC2A 2LL

Country

United Kingdom

Internet address

https://theroyalcourtsofjustice.com/

six.4.2) Body responsible for mediation procedures

Money and Pensions Service

138 Cauldwell Street

Bedford

MK42 9AP

Email

commercial@maps.org.uk

Country

United Kingdom

Internet address

https://maps.org.uk/en

Section seven: Modifications to the contract/concession

seven.1) Description of the procurement after the modifications

seven.1.1) Main CPV code

Research services

seven.1.3) Place of performance

NUTS code

• UKH2 - Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire

seven.1.4) Description of the procurement:

No change from Contract Award Notice:

High-level objectives are the following:

Phase 1

• to successfully run the developing phase, recruit participants online in need of debt advice;

• create the experimental allocation (using a stratified random process);

• evaluate the encouragement design aimed at creating a robust counterfactual group; and

• calibrate the key parameters (such as eligibility, attrition and response rate) for the large scale longitudinal.

Phase 2

• to successfully run a large-scale randomised encouragement design longitudinal study;

• create the experimental allocation (using a stratified random process);

• successfully implement the encouragement design;

• to keep comparable and sizeable treatment and control groups during the duration of the project over four waves; and

• to measure the impact of debt advice on improving the outcomes of people.

Insight:

• to understand the causality of debt advice has with debt and wider financial well-being indicators within the debt journey over the short, medium and long term. This includes analysing complex journeys into and out of debt over time and the causes;

• to identify the immediate effects of receiving debt advice, the sustainability of the solutions and the long-term consequences of clients' decisions; and

• to identify what works and what doesn't work to increase motivation for advice seeking behaviour, which is one of the most challenging objectives in the debt advice sector.

seven.1.5) Duration of the contract, framework agreement, dynamic purchasing system or concession

Duration in months

64

seven.1.6) Information on value of the contract/lot/concession (excluding VAT)

Total value of the contract/lot/concession:

£1,250,000

seven.1.7) Name and address of the contractor/concessionaire

IFF Research

London

Country

United Kingdom

NUTS code

• UK - United Kingdom

Companies House

00849983

The contractor/concessionaire is an SME

Yes

seven.2) Information about modifications

seven.2.1) Description of the modifications

Nature and extent of the modifications (with indication of possible earlier changes to the contract):

This modification to the Contract increases the volume of invitation letters be sent to potential research participants.

The reason for this modification being required is that while response rates to sample recruitment to date from the general population are in line with expectations, the eligibility is lower than forecast.

The intended impact of this is to achieve the required sample size and ensuring the study can deliver the high quality evidence needed for the remainder of the contract.

seven.2.2) Reasons for modification

Need for additional works, services or supplies by the original contractor/concessionaire.

Description of the economic or technical reasons and the inconvenience or duplication of cost preventing a change of contractor:

Technical reasons exist to prevent the change of the contractor, as this additional activity cannot be fulfilled by another supplier, due to the interoperability with existing activities by the current supplier, as the activity associated with this modification is not a separate piece of work, rather an increase to existing activities to recruit research participants and achieve the sample size needed.

The modification is permitted by Regulation 72(1)(b) Public Contracts Regulations 2015 ("PCR 2015"). Additional services have become necessary for successful project delivery that were not included in the original contract, and, for technical reasons, it is not possible to change contractor without causing significant inconvenience and substantial duplication of costs. The percentage increase in value from the original contract value - approximately 21% - is within the range permitted under Regulation 72(1)(b) PCR 2015.

seven.2.3) Increase in price

Updated total contract value before the modifications (taking into account possible earlier contract modifications, price adaptions and average inflation)

Value excluding VAT: £1,503,996

Total contract value after the modifications

Value excluding VAT: £1,767,867