New figures released yesterday, Tuesday, 2 January, Network Rail has estimated that its contracts have benefitted over 3,000 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by £1.3bn worth of business. Of the companies on Network Rail’s supplier base, a record 75 per cent of them are from SMEs.

Four years ago, in November 2019, Network Rail set out an action plan for doing business with SMEs to make it easier for small to medium-sized organisations to do business with the company and to increase the number of contracts that were put out to tender.

In the 2022/23 financial year, Network Rail directly contracted a total of 4,130 suppliers, of which 3,107 suppliers, about 75 per cent, were SMEs.

The Government has previously set Network Rail a target that it should spend 33 per cent of its third-party expenditure with SMEs. This was exceeded in the last financial year, when the total spend was 34.9 per cent, with £1.305bn being directly spent with SMEs, and £1.665bn being spent indirectly through Network Rail’s tier-one suppliers.

Clive Berrington, Network Rail’s Group Commercial & Procurement director, said: “Small and medium-sized businesses make a big contribution to the rail network, and we remain committed to offering them opportunities to work on the railway.

“The UK rail network is the lifeblood of the country and vital to moving people and freight around. By supporting SMEs to work on the railway, we increase competition and drive down costs while also increasing efficiency, creativity, and innovation.

“We know there is more we can do to further support SMEs and during 2024, we will review and refresh our SME action plan and share it with industry.”