Mitie Care And Custody Limited v Secretary of State for The Home Department [2026] EWHC 867 (TCC)

Mitie's challenge to a Home Office procurement triggered the automatic suspension preventing the award of the contract. The Home Office applied to lift the suspension, and Mitie applied for an expedited trial.

The judge worked through the balance of convenience and concluded that damages would be an adequate remedy for the Home Office, so there could be no conclusion other than that the suspension should be lifted. The Home Office's application succeeded and Mitie's application for an expedited trial was dismissed.

The decision is another application of the settled approach to the automatic suspension in public procurement: where the authority can be adequately compensated in damages and the balance favours proceeding, the suspension will be lifted and the contract allowed to go ahead pending trial.

The judge held at paragraph 85 that "the Home Office's application to lift the suspension succeeds".