Social Value in Public Procurement: Complete Guide

What is social value?

Social value in the context of public procurement refers to the broader positive impact that a contract can generate for communities, workers, and the environment — beyond the direct delivery of goods or services. It encompasses economic outcomes (local employment, supply chain spend), social outcomes (skills development, support for disadvantaged groups), and environmental outcomes (carbon reduction, biodiversity improvements).

The underlying principle is straightforward: public money should do more than buy a service. A contract for the maintenance of public buildings, for example, can also create apprenticeship opportunities for young people in the local area, generate work for local SMEs in the supply chain, and reduce the carbon footprint of the buildings in question. Social value procurement is the mechanism through which contracting authorities try to unlock this additional public benefit.

Social value is not a charitable exercise bolted onto the side of a commercial contract. It is evaluated as part of the award decision, carries a defined weighting, and — once committed — becomes a contractual obligation that must be monitored and reported.

The Social Value Act 2012

The Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 was the first piece of legislation in the UK to place a duty on public authorities to consider social value in their procurement activities. It came into force in January 2013 and applies to public service contracts in England (with similar provisions in Wales and Scotland operating through different legislative routes).

The Act requires contracting authorities, before beginning the procurement process for a public services contract, to consider how the procurement might improve the economic, social, and environmental wellbeing of the relevant area, and how the procurement process itself might act to secure that improvement. Importantly, the Act requires consideration — not mandatory delivery — which is why its practical impact varies significantly between buyers.

The Social Value Act covers services contracts only. It does not automatically apply to goods or works contracts, though many contracting authorities extend social value considerations to all their procurement categories as a matter of policy.

While the Act was groundbreaking, its impact in the early years was limited because it created a duty to consider rather than to evaluate and score. The step change came with Procurement Policy Note 06/20, which took social value from a consideration into a scored evaluation criterion.

PPN 06/20 and central government requirements

Procurement Policy Note 06/20, published in September 2020 and effective from January 2021, fundamentally changed how social value operates in central government procurement. It requires all central government departments, their executive agencies, and non-departmental public bodies to include social value in the award criteria for all new procurements — with a minimum weighting of 10% of the overall award score.

PPN 06/20 also introduced the Social Value Model — a structured framework that gives buyers a consistent vocabulary and methodology for specifying and evaluating social value. The Model defines five themes (see below), each with specific policy outcomes and suggested evaluation indicators. Buyers select the themes and outcomes most relevant to their contract, and suppliers respond against those specific prompts.

The practical effect for suppliers bidding on central government contracts is significant. Social value is no longer an optional extra — it carries at least 10% of the award score, and in some procurements the weighting is higher. A supplier that provides a weak social value response is effectively conceding a large portion of the available marks before quality or price are even considered.

Many non-central government buyers — local authorities, NHS trusts, housing associations, and universities — have adopted similar approaches, often mirroring the Social Value Model's themes even where they are not legally required to do so. Familiarity with the Model is therefore valuable across the broader public sector, not just for central government work.

The five Social Value themes

The Social Value Model organises its requirements under five themes. Each theme contains multiple policy outcomes, and each outcome has associated evaluation indicators that buyers use to assess and score supplier commitments.

Buyers select the themes most relevant to their contract. A construction contract might emphasise Tackling Economic Inequality (local jobs) and Fighting Climate Change (embodied carbon). A managed services contract might focus more on Equal Opportunity (disability employment) and Wellbeing (workforce mental health). As a bidder, you should align your response to the buyer's selected themes rather than proposing commitments across all five regardless of relevance.

How to write responses that score well

Social value is one of the most widely misunderstood evaluation criteria in public procurement. The gap between average and excellent responses is larger here than in almost any other criterion, because so many suppliers treat it as a narrative exercise rather than an evidence-based commitment.

Start with the buyer's priorities.Read the procurement documents carefully to identify which social value themes and policy outcomes the buyer has selected. If a local authority has emphasised tackling economic inequality and the local area is in the top quartile for deprivation, align your primary commitments to that theme. Generic responses that do not reference the buyer's specific selected themes and local context consistently score below the midpoint.

Quantify everything you can.Replace 'we will create employment opportunities' with 'we commit to creating four full-time equivalent jobs for long-term unemployed people in [borough] over the 36-month contract term'. Replace 'we are committed to net zero' with 'we will reduce the direct carbon emissions associated with contract delivery by 30% against our baseline by month 18, evidenced through quarterly Scope 1 and 2 reporting'.

Demonstrate additionality. The commitment must be additional — it should not have happened without this contract. If you already run a national apprenticeship programme, you need to show how this contract specifically generates apprenticeship places over and above what you would have created anyway. Additionality is how buyers assess whether social value commitments are genuine or cosmetic.

Name the delivery mechanism. Explain precisely how the commitment will be delivered. Who is responsible internally? Which partner organisations are involved? What is the timeline? What milestones will the buyer be able to monitor? A commitment without a credible delivery mechanism is an aspiration, not a commitment.

Propose a monitoring framework. Buyers are increasingly expected to monitor social value delivery. Make their job easy by proposing specific KPIs, a reporting frequency, and the evidence you will provide. Suppliers who think about monitoring at the bid stage score well because they demonstrate that their commitments are genuine and that they expect to be held accountable.

Common mistakes to avoid

These are the patterns that consistently suppress social value scores — and that are entirely avoidable with the right preparation.

Frequently asked questions