Payments and costs of the current Glow contract: FOI release

Information requested

1. The register shows the current Glow contract runs until 30 September 2027. Could you confirm roughly how the payments are spread over that period — for example, what’s been paid in previous years and what’s expected for 2025–27? I’m just trying to understand whether it’s a steady annual amount or varies year to year.

2. Are there any usage or performance reports published for Glow — things like user numbers, service reliability, or evaluations by third parties? If so, could you point me to where they’re available online?

3. Finally, do you know whether there are any plans to re-procure or renew the service before 2027, or if a timetable for that process has been shared publicly?

Response

You asked how payments are spread over the term of the Glow contract. Please find the yearly for years 1 to 9 of the contact below. To note year 6 is technically only 6 months but was labelled as "Year" within the contract. The future years (Years 10+11) are only estimated values due to inflationary increases being part of the calculation so would not be accurate to provide at this time.

Year 1 £1,385,057
Year 2 £1,440,620
Year 3 £1,439,493
Year 4 £1,440,247
Year 5 £1,442,426
Year 6 £723,132
Year 7 £1,959,174
Year 8 £2,038,165
Year 9 £2,038,165

You asked about any usage or performance reports published for Glow. User stats can be found on the Glow Connect page and service status on the Education Scotland status pages.

In response to part 3 of your question, we are currently working in partnership with Education Scotland and local authorities to explore how Glow can evolve to best meet the future needs of Scotland’s education system. Decisions about future procurement will come out of this exploration. As yet there is no published timetable for this work.

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