The new Social Value Model (PPN 026) will place greater emphasis on the creation of jobs, skills and opportunities in communities across the UK. As minimum social value weightings increase from January 2027, Procure Plus’ Clare Tetlow FCIPS explores why procurement professionals have a key role to play in enabling delivery, building partnerships and turning policy ambition into outcomes.

Procurement represents almost a third of public sector expenditure, spending approximately £300billion per year. The introduction of the Procurement Act 2023 (the Act) brought renewed ambition to use procurement as a tool to maximise public benefit, also placing greater emphasis on social value considerations through the National Procurement Policy Statement (NPPS).

With the introduction of a new procurement policy note (PPN 026 Social Value Model) from the 1 January 2027, the UK Government is putting social value delivery further into focus.

PPN 026: The Social Value Model – what is it?

Announced in August 2026, the procurement policy note (PPN 2026 Social Value Model) conveyed the message that, from the 1 January 2027 social value will be defined as “taking account of how a supplier will work for our communities to provide good British jobs, skills and opportunities in every postcode”.

The PPN applies currently only to central government procurements valued at £1million and mandates that social value be allocated a minimum of 10% weighting. For those contracts worth £5million or above, weighting increases to 20%. Further practical guidance is expected to be provided soon.

The UK’s public sector brings a diverse range of opinions on what constitutes meaningful social value. The PPN provides a specific definition that is helpful to procurers, particularly when compared to the broad direction given by the National Procurement Policy Statement (NPPS).

Lessons from the social housing sector

There is much that central government can learn from social housing organisations who deliver social value right at the heart of their local communities.

Procure Plus operates in the social housing and construction sectors. We believe that creating training and employment opportunities for those furthest from employment is the most valuable of all social value.  The delivery of sustainable employment for those least likely to be afforded equal consideration requires expertise and the deployment of different relationships.

While procurement itself is not a singular solution, the profession can be a key enabler – the nature and scale of the relationships procurement holds make the profession a logical starting point to identify opportunities. The call to action for public procurement professionals has never been to view social value as their sole responsibility. Rather, it is the ability to know and understand their organisation, their local supply chain, faith and voluntary sectors, and to combine their unique skills and talent with other required specialisms, so that procurement can identify the outcomes and create the basis for delivery.

This is how we perceive procurement’s role at Procure Plus. By bringing all specialisms together in one model to design, deliver and continually improve it creates social value in a way that changes lives. It is a legacy that lasts much longer than a singular procurement process ever could.

Renewed social value ambition – creating opportunities to deliver

The introduction of the Procurement Act brought renewed ambition to use procurement as a tool to maximise public benefit, including declaring this to be an objective. The Act provides public procurers with various ways to contribute and innovate effectively.

These include:

1. Procurements for certain social, health and education services (known as light touch services) are subject to flexible rules including a higher threshold and they also come with the ability to directly award “user choice” contracts.
2. Procurements for below threshold procurements can be reserved based upon the location of the supplier. This measure is designed to support local supply chains and local employment.
3. Procurements for below threshold contracts can be reserved for small to medium enterprises (SMEs) and voluntary and community social enterprises (VCSEs). A measure intended to drive local social value and economic growth.
4. The publication of opportunities for preliminary market engagement can solicit the views and insight of SMEs, VCSEs, and the third sector. In turn, these views can shape and inform the identification and delivery of training and employment outcomes.
5. Pre-market engagement is an opportunity to develop minimum criteria for participation in the procurement such as financial standing, experience and insurance that is aligned with the market and is set at a level that is aligned with the contractual risk.
6. The requirement to identify and remove the barriers that SMEs face when participating in a tender and performing contracts. This means that minimum requirements such as financial standing, experience insurance should be proportionate and be reinforced in clear and fair contractual terms. Barriers faced by SMEs aren’t just removed in the procurement process but also in the terms and conditions of the contract.
7. The reinforcement of prompt payment terms for contracts above and below the threshold to which the Act applies, a valuable contractual mechanism supporting stable cash flows and sustainably of employment.
8. The ability to develop award criteria that allows the evaluation of tenders to be based on a wider number of factors than just those that relate to the perspective of the contracting authority. A reminder not to focus on the lowest price but the optimum combination of both price and quality.

A case in point: supporting employment starts

At Procure Plus, we use our framework procurement to strategically create social value in the locality of the contract. For example, Castles and Coasts Housing Association leveraged a £5 million (approx.) contract to support 36 employment starts. 40% of these were not in employment education or training (NEETS), while another 30% were long term unemployed and included the over 50s, the disabled and individuals with a history of homelessness and from within the care system). The project has since continued to create a positive and measurable difference for individuals and their community.

This article was first published on the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply (CIPS) website: https://www.cips.org/knowledge-and-insight/articles/social-value-uk-public-procurement