Ask any public sector evaluator what the weakest section in most bids is, and they'll tell you without hesitation: social value. It's not that suppliers don't care about social value — most genuinely do. It's that they have no idea what a good answer actually looks like. So they write something vague, politically safe, and functionally useless.
"We are committed to supporting local communities and reducing our environmental impact." That sentence is in thousands of social value responses right now. It scores nothing. Here's why — and how to do it differently.
What evaluators are actually looking for
Since PPN 06/20 came into effect, social value in government contracts must be evaluated on a scored basis, with a minimum weighting of 10% for central government contracts. Many councils and NHS bodies now score it at 15% or even 20%. That's not a tick-box exercise — that's a meaningful slice of your total score.
Evaluators are looking for four things: specificity (what exactly will you do), measurability (how will you track it), local relevance (does it benefit the community this contract serves), and credibility (do you actually have the capacity to deliver this over the contract term). Generic commitments fail on all four counts.
The five PPN 06/20 themes
PPN 06/20 organises social value around five themes. Most bids try to address all five. Don't. Pick two or three that you can genuinely deliver and go deep on them.
- •COVID-19 recovery — helping local workers, businesses, and communities build back (still relevant in longer-term contracts)
- •Tackling economic inequality — creating jobs and skills, especially for disadvantaged groups
- •Fighting climate change — net zero commitments, carbon reduction, supply chain sustainability
- •Equal opportunity — reducing workforce inequality, supporting people with barriers to employment
- •Wellbeing — improving health, wellbeing, and community cohesion
Choose based on what you can authentically deliver — and what the buyer's published priorities are. A council with a regeneration agenda scores economic inequality commitments higher. An NHS trust cares more about workforce wellbeing. Read the buyer's strategy before you decide which themes to anchor on.
The selection principle
Two commitments you'll definitely deliver beat ten you probably won't. Evaluators have seen optimistic social value promises before. They'll score the one that feels real over the one that feels impressive.
The "local" multiplier
Here's something most suppliers don't appreciate: for the majority of public sector buyers, local employment and local spend commitments outperform carbon offset commitments in terms of evaluator score weighting. It's not that climate doesn't matter — it does. But a local authority procuring refuse collection care far more about whether your workforce comes from the local labour market than whether you've planted trees in another county.
"We will recruit at least 60% of contract staff from within a 15-mile radius of the contract delivery area, working with [specific local employment programme] to access candidates" is a local employment commitment. "We are committed to prioritising local employment" is not. One of those scores. One doesn't.
Quantify everything you can
Numbers anchor your commitments in reality. They also make your bid much easier to evaluate, because the evaluator can score a specific commitment against the contract value or duration without having to interpret your intentions.
- •Number of apprenticeship hours or weeks delivered over the contract term
- •Percentage of contract spend directed to local or SME suppliers
- •Number of local employment starts, with any associated training investment
- •Carbon reduction percentage against a stated baseline
- •Number of supported employment placements or volunteering days
Don't overclaim. If you're bidding a two-year cleaning contract worth £180,000, promising 500 apprenticeship hours is plausible. Promising 5,000 is not — and evaluators know it. Unrealistic commitments flag you as someone who wrote the response to score points rather than to deliver.
The one thing that kills social value responses
The single fastest way to score low on social value is to write commitments that could apply to any contract, anywhere, with any buyer. "We will reduce our carbon emissions year on year" doesn't reference this contract. "We will support local skills development" doesn't reference this borough. "We are committed to equality and diversity" doesn't reference this workforce.
Contract-specific social value is the goal. Every commitment you make should connect to the contract you're bidding for, the community it serves, and the outcomes the buyer is trying to achieve. If you could copy and paste your social value section into a completely different bid without changing a word — start again.
Social value isn't a box to tick. It's 10-20% of your score. Treat it that way, and you'll find it's one of the sections where good preparation most reliably outscores the competition.