Selling into the United Kingdom through distributors

How the market buys

The UK left the EU procurement regime at the end of 2020. Since 1 January 2021, high-value UK public contracts have been advertised and their awards published on Find a Tender, the GOV.UK service that replaced TED for the UK. The Procurement Act 2023 then reshaped the rules: from 24 February 2025 the central digital platform named in the Act lives inside Find a Tender, where contracting authorities publish notices and suppliers register once and reuse their core details across bids. Contracts Finder, the older portal for lower-value opportunities, holds the record of procurements that started before that date; since 1 October 2026 new information about those procurements is published on Find a Tender as well. For new procurements, below-threshold notices are published on Find a Tender too, except in Scotland and for Northern Ireland's own authorities, which use their regional portals. Scotland's devolved bodies are outside the Procurement Act altogether and follow the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015.

Buying is organised around frameworks. Central government and the wider public sector call off from agreements run by the Government Commercial Agency (Crown Commercial Service until 1 April 2026) and other purchasing organisations; NHS trusts buy much of their consumables through NHS Supply Chain; councils, universities and housing associations buy through consortia and their own frameworks. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland also run their own portals and arrangements. The practical point for a manufacturer: the companies named as suppliers on those frameworks — dealers, merchants, wholesalers — are the route in, because buyers expect UK invoicing, UK stock and UK service.

Ireland is a separate country and remains in the EU. Irish awards appear on TED, and Irish buyers publish on eTenders, the national tendering website.

Lawful first contact

The UK is one of the easier countries for a first e-mail, with one important distinction. The Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) separate corporate subscribers from individual subscribers: regulation 22, which requires prior consent for marketing e-mail, applies to individual subscribers. The ICO's guidance states that you can send unsolicited electronic mail marketing to corporate subscribers — limited companies, LLPs and public bodies — without consent or a soft opt-in. Two duties remain: you must not disguise or hide your identity, and you must provide a valid contact address so recipients can opt out or unsubscribe.

Sole traders and ordinary partnerships count as individual subscribers, and for them you need consent or must meet every condition of the soft opt-in. Many smaller distributors and agents are sole traders, so check the legal form before you write. If you e-mail a named person at a company, UK data protection law applies to that personal data in addition to PECR.

Write short, say plainly who you are and what you make, explain why this distributor, and give a one-line way to decline. British buyers and distributors respond to directness and to evidence; a reference and a data sheet beat a brochure.

What local distributors expect

UK distributors will ask early about conformity and logistics:

• Product marking. The UK government has extended recognition of the CE marking indefinitely for a range of product regulations, so for those sectors you can use CE or UKCA; other sectors, including medical devices, have their own timetables. A distributor will expect you to know which applies to your product.
• Documentation in English that fits UK tender templates: specifications, test reports, safety data, warranty terms, and increasingly carbon and social-value information that public buyers score.
• Stock in the UK or a delivery promise that survives customs. Since Brexit, goods from the EU clear customs, and distributors will ask who is the importer of record and how duties, VAT and returns are handled.
• Pricing in sterling with a clear margin and framework-pricing rules, and a position on territory and exclusivity.
• Responsiveness. UK distributors expect same-day answers and a named contact who can resolve a site or ward problem.

How to enter, step by step

1. Settle product marking. Check whether your product falls under a regulation for which CE marking is recognised indefinitely, so CE or UKCA will do, or under a sector such as medical devices with its own timetable. A distributor will expect you to know which applies.
2. Build an English tender file. Prepare specifications, test reports, safety data and warranty terms that fit UK tender templates, plus the carbon and social-value information public buyers increasingly score.
3. Find who already wins on Find a Tender. Its "Contracts" search covers awarded contracts, active and expired, for procurements published from February 2025 under the Procurement Act 2023; for procurements under earlier rules, use its Notice Search. Registering an account lets you save search criteria and sign up for e-mail notifications. Cresques does not read this record today, so this step is yours.
4. Map the frameworks. Work out which framework your category is bought through — a Government Commercial Agency agreement, NHS Supply Chain for trusts' consumables, or a consortium for councils and universities — and which dealers, merchants or wholesalers are named on it. GCA's upcoming-agreements page lists agreements still being developed, with their Find a Tender notice and approximate timelines.
5. Check the legal form, then write. Limited companies, LLPs and public bodies can receive a first marketing e-mail without consent; sole traders and ordinary partnerships need consent or every condition of the soft opt-in. Do not hide your identity, give a valid opt-out address, and say plainly what you make and why this distributor.
6. Answer customs and stock before the meeting. Say who is the importer of record, how duties, VAT and returns are handled, and whether stock will sit in the UK or a delivery promise will survive customs.
7. Bring the commercial terms. Price in sterling with a clear margin and framework-pricing rules, take a position on territory and exclusivity, and bring a reference and a data sheet rather than a brochure.
8. Name a responsive contact. UK distributors expect same-day answers and a named person who can resolve a site or ward problem; follow up on that basis after the first meeting.

Where the evidence comes from

For the United Kingdom the evidence sits on Find a Tender, not TED. Since 1 January 2021, UK above-threshold notices, award notices included, have been published on Find a Tender rather than on TED; the few UK notices still found on TED (132 in 2026 by 16 October, 59 of them from one county council) are exceptions, not the record. Since 24 February 2025, notices about new UK procurements, above and below threshold, are published there through the central digital platform, except below-threshold notices in Scotland and below-threshold contracts of Northern Ireland's own authorities. Scotland's devolved bodies are outside the Procurement Act and publish their above-threshold notices on Find a Tender under the Scottish regulations of 2015. Each award names the supplier and is categorised, so the distributors that repeatedly win a category — office furniture for councils, PPE for utilities, consumables for trusts — can be identified from the public record. For procurements started before that date, lower-value contracts appear on Contracts Finder and on Public Contracts Scotland; since 1 October 2026 new information about those older procurements is published on Find a Tender instead of Contracts Finder.

Cresques does not read Find a Tender today. Its evidence comes from award notices on TED, which covers the EU and the EEA, so Cresques does not show award evidence for the United Kingdom; for Ireland, an EU member, the evidence is available now. This page sets out the route and the lawful first contact so you can read the Find a Tender record yourself with the same logic. Cresques does not help you bid for contracts; the notices are evidence of who already sells your category, and the rules above are how you reach them.