Key takeaways
· Social value carries a minimum 10% of the total tender score under PPN 002, mandatory for in-scope central government procurements from 1 October 2025. Source: Cabinet Office, PPN 002, February 2025.
· From 1 January 2027, PPN 026 raises that floor to 20% for contracts of £5m or more and applies only from £1m upwards. Source: Cabinet Office, PPN 026, August 2026.
· Gross UK public sector procurement spending was £461 billion in 2025/26. Source: House of Commons Library, July 2026.
· 26.5% of central government procurement spending reached SMEs in 2021/22. Source: House of Commons Library, July 2026.
· 76% of surveyed SMEs called social value an administrative burden. Source: techUK SME survey, 2023.
Losing a tender on price is easy to explain to your board. Explaining a loss on a bid you priced sharply and wrote well, because the social value answer scored four out of ten, is harder. The social value model is the framework UK public sector buyers use to score that answer, and it now carries enough of the evaluation to decide between two credible bids.
This guide covers what social value means, how the model is structured, what changes under PPN 002 and PPN 026, and how to write responses that score rather than merely comply.
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Why Does the Social Value Model Decide More Bids Than You Think?
Because social value is scored, weighted and published, not simply noted. Under PPN 002 the Cabinet Office mandates “a minimum weighting for social value of 10% of the total scores available (or equivalent)”, with one narrow exception where market engagement shows that would reduce competition.
Ten per cent sounds modest until you see where the rest of the score lands. Price and core quality are where every serious bidder converges, so margins there are thin. Social value is where scores spread widest, because so many suppliers underinvest in it. A 2023 techUK survey of SMEs found 76% called it an administrative burden.
What Is Social Value in Public Procurement?
Social value is the wider economic, social and environmental benefit a contract delivers to a community, over and above the goods, works or services being bought. PPN 002 guidance is explicit that “any benefit identified as social value in tenders or contracts under this policy is over and above the core deliverable/s”.
Put plainly: if a council buys a school refurbishment, the core deliverable is the refurbished school. Social value is what else the contract creates along the way, such as apprenticeships filled locally, spend routed to nearby suppliers, or waste diverted from landfill.
What Does the Social Value Act Require?
The Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 came into force on 31 January 2013 and applies at the pre-procurement stage of services contracts. Section 1(3) requires an authority to consider “how what is proposed to be procured might improve the economic, social and environmental well-being of the relevant area”.
Note the verb. The Act requires authorities to consider, proportionately, and sets no score itself, which is why procurement policy notes turn that duty into something a bid team can answer.
Why Are Buyers Required to Consider It?
The Procurement Act 2023, in force for covered procurements commenced on or after 24 February 2025, gives the duty sharper teeth. Section 12(1) requires contracting authorities to have regard to delivering value for money and maximising public benefit, and social value sits inside that public benefit objective. Separately, section 13 requires regard to the National Procurement Policy Statement, which asks buyers to maximise spend with SMEs.
How Is Social Value Different From Corporate Social Responsibility?
CSR is voluntary, organisation-wide and self-defined. Social value in procurement is contractual, contract-specific and scored against published criteria. A page about your charity partnerships will not score; a commitment tied to this contract, this area and this delivery period, with a named measure, will.
How Is the Social Value Model Structured?
The social value model is a menu, not a checklist. PPN 002 calls it “a menu of options from which In-scope Organisations select the most appropriate social value outcomes and criteria for their contract”, so buyers pick only what relates to what they are buying.
Themes, Policy Outcomes and Measures
The hierarchy runs from broad to specific. Themes aligned to government priorities sit at the top, approved policy outcomes beneath each theme, and beneath each outcome the scoring machinery: “a menu of model award criteria (MACs), sub-criteria and metrics”.
Under PPN 06/20, published 24 September 2020, the original government social value model used five themes: COVID-19 recovery, tackling economic inequality, fighting climate change, equal opportunity, and wellbeing. That structure still matters, because many buyers outside central government still use it.
What Is the Social Value Model Quick Reference Table?
It is the summary evaluators work from. The social value model quick reference table “contains only the Model Evaluation Question, Model Award Criteria, Model Response Guidance and Reporting Metrics for each policy outcome”.
Read it before you write. It gives the exact question, the criteria your answer is marked against, and the metrics you will later report. Few suppliers open it, despite it sitting freely on GOV.UK alongside the Guide to using the Social Value Model.
How Are Weightings Set and Turned Into Award Criteria?
Buyers set weightings within the floors policy imposes. Under PPN 002 the central government floor is 10% of the total score, and buyers may go higher where proportionate. Local authorities, NHS bodies and housing providers set their own, so the only reliable figure is the one printed in the tender in front of you.
Scoring runs through the social value model award criteria, which are pre-written. The buyer selects an outcome relating to the subject matter of the contract, inserts the model social value question, and adds the matching sub-criteria. Your answer is marked against those and nothing else, so answering against your own narrative costs marks.
See which live opportunities in your region carry social value criteria you can meet. Register free to search and set alerts.
What Is PPN 002, and What Does the New Social Value Model Change?
A PPN, or procurement policy note, is Cabinet Office guidance telling in-scope public bodies how to apply procurement policy. The PPN 002 social value model, published 13 February 2025, replaced PPN 06/20, aligned social value with the Procurement Act 2023, and became mandatory for procurements commenced under the Act on or after 1 October 2025. It covers central government departments, their executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies.
Smaller bidders are protected explicitly: in-scope organisations “should also ensure that there are no barriers to entry for start-ups, small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprises (VCSEs) and mutuals when choosing policy outcomes”.
What Changes Under PPN 026 From January 2027?
PPN 026, published 5 August 2026, is the new social value model and it narrows the field considerably. Applying to covered procurements commenced on or after 1 January 2027, it covers contracts of £1m or above inclusive of VAT and reduces the model to two outcomes: good jobs offering fair pay and good working conditions, and skills activities addressing shortages and development.
Six model award criteria sit beneath them: create and/or retain high quality jobs, fair working conditions, fair pay, training and retraining, in-work progression, and talent pipeline. Weighting floors become tiered, at a minimum 10% from £1m up to £5m and 20% at £5m or above. Contracts of £5m or more must also carry at least one social value KPI, reported every 12 months.
Read together, those changes point one way: from breadth to depth, and from promises to contract-managed performance. BiP Group data for May to June 2026 agrees, with local content and fair work weighing more heavily and cost no longer the only test.
What Do Good Social Value Examples Look Like?
Good social value examples are specific, measured, resourced and tied to the contract’s area and delivery period. Copy the pattern below for any theme.
Employment and Skills Commitments
Weak: “we are committed to creating local employment opportunities.” Strong: “we will recruit two apprentices from within the authority’s area in year one, retain both to completion, and report progression six-monthly.” The second names a number, a place, a timeframe and a reporting rhythm. Under PPN 026 this theme becomes central, so it repays the most preparation.
Supporting Local SMEs and the Supply Chain
Commit to a share of subcontract spend within a defined radius, name the categories you will source locally, and say how you will advertise those packages. Prompt payment down the chain is easily evidenced, so add a payment-terms commitment you can hold to.
Environmental, Community and Wellbeing Commitments
Tie environmental commitments to the contract rather than the company: deliveries, plant and waste here, with a baseline and a target you will report against. Volunteering hours, school sessions and community facility improvements score too, provided they are costed and staffed. An unresourced pledge reads as risk to an evaluator.
How Do You Write Social Value Responses That Score?
Start with the weighting and the criteria, then write to them. Social value in procurement rewards answers built backwards from the marking scheme, so keep the quick reference table and the tender’s criteria open beside your draft.
Do: read the weighting first; answer the stated award criteria and sub-criteria in their order; quantify every commitment with a number, a location and a date; align commitments to the contract’s area and delivery period; name the person accountable.
Do not: recycle a generic corporate response; describe activity that predates the contract; offer volume without quality, because evaluation is qualitative by design; or promise what your resource plan cannot fund.
Built once, the capability compounds. Suppliers keeping a live library of evidenced outcomes answer the next tender in hours, and with KPI reporting mandatory on larger contracts from 2027 that library becomes a necessity.
How Does Supply2Gov Help You Find the Right Contracts to Bid For?
Social value effort only pays back on contracts you can realistically win, so it starts with finding the right opportunities in your sector and region. The government social value model tells you how you are scored, not which tenders are worth bidding for.
That search is where many suppliers lose time. The Federation of Small Businesses found in December 2025 that 62% of small firms find suitable public contracts difficult to identify, 27% describing it as very difficult, naming the spread of separate portals as a blocker. Free sources such as Contracts Finder and Find a Tender publish notices but leave suppliers checking several sites by hand. Supply2Gov aggregates UK public sector opportunities into one searchable feed with alerts by sector and region, which is the difference between monitoring the market and rebuilding the view each week.
Targeting matters as much as coverage. BiP Group data for May to June 2026 shows 39% of published opportunities come from local government, and around 70% are open competitions rather than closed framework call-offs. Registration is free, so testing the flow costs nothing.
Social Value Model FAQs
What is the social value model in simple terms?
It is a standard menu of social, economic and environmental outcomes buyers select from, with pre-written questions, award criteria and metrics attached, used to score a tender’s social value section.
How much is social value worth in a tender evaluation?
At least 10% of the total score for in-scope central government procurements under PPN 002. From 1 January 2027 under PPN 026, at least 10% between £1m and £5m and 20% above £5m. Other public bodies set their own.
Is the social value model mandatory for all public contracts?
No. It is mandatory for in-scope central government organisations and applied proportionately. Award criteria must relate to the subject matter of the contract, so buyers select only relevant outcomes; the wider public sector adopts it voluntarily.
What is PPN 002 and how does it relate to social value?
PPN 002 is the Cabinet Office procurement policy note, published February 2025, that introduced the current social value model, aligned it to the Procurement Act 2023 and set the minimum 10% weighting. It replaced PPN 06/20 and is replaced by PPN 026 from 1 January 2027.
Can a small business score well on social value?
Yes. Evaluation is qualitative rather than volume-based precisely so smaller suppliers can compete, and PPN 002 requires buyers to avoid barriers to entry for start-ups, SMEs and VCSEs. A local, specific, resourced commitment often outscores a big supplier’s generic pledge.
Making the Social Value Model Work for Your Bids
Treat social value as a scoring opportunity rather than an obligation and the arithmetic changes. The model is published, the criteria are pre-written, and the weighting is printed in the tender. Few other sections of a bid hand you the marking scheme in advance.
What is shifting is the standard of proof. With measurement and annual KPI reporting moving to the centre from 2027, the advantage belongs to suppliers who can evidence outcomes, not describe ambitions.
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