Payments clustered below a procurement threshold
Generated analysis. Final responsibility remains with the authorised council reviewer — verify every evidence source before confirming. This signal describes a difference requiring explanation; it is not a finding of wrongdoing.
What was detected
33 payments to Dove Adolescent Services Limited in 2026-02, each between £20,000 and £25,000, total £694,000. Clustering just below a tender threshold is worth confirming against the governing contract.
- Confidence
- 50%
- Evidence completeness
- 35%
- Amount in scope
- £694,000
- Detected
- 2d ago
Alternative explanations
Shown before any conclusion is drawn. In published council spend, these are usually the correct explanation.
- Call-offs under an existing framework are individually below threshold by design and entirely compliant.
- Monthly instalments of a single larger contract appear as separate payments.
- Coincidental clustering: the band is narrow and repair batches are of similar size.
Missing information
What would be needed to resolve this properly, and is not in the public record.
- The framework or contract reference each payment sits under.
- Purchase order numbers linking the payments together.
Comparison method
Comparison group: Payments within this authority and month
Three or more payments to one supplier in one month, each between 80% and 100% of the £25,000 threshold.
Source records
33 payments in 2026-02
council-ledger
sup_8c74c073dd618f50
Decision history
No decision has been recorded. This signal is in state New.
Provenance
- Ruleset
- UK-LOCAL-GOV-V1
- Model
- civ-sent-2026.1
- Dataset
- 20260720T153938Z
- Pipeline
- civicspend-pipeline-0.1.0
- Authority
- Leeds