Social value is ten per cent of the score, and a six-person firm can win it

You get to the social value question on page eleven of the tender, and it reads like it was written for a company with a head of sustainability. So you write four hundred words about your commitment to the local community, score two out of five, and lose a job you had priced better than the winner. The section was worth ten marks and you handed over six of them.

That is the wrong way round, because the marking scheme for social value rewards exactly the thing a small local firm has and a national contractor has to manufacture: a specific, named, checkable commitment in one postcode. This page is where the ten per cent comes from, what the model is actually asking for, and how to write an answer that scores.

Where the ten per cent comes from

Four documents stack up, and it is worth knowing which one your buyer is working from because they say different things.

The Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 is the foundation. Section 1(3) requires a relevant authority, before it starts procuring services or services with works, to consider "how what is proposed to be procured might improve the economic, social and environmental well-being of the relevant area, and how, in conducting the process of procurement, it might act with a view to securing that improvement". That is a duty to think about it, not a duty to score it. It is why social value existed in tenders for a decade in a soft, inconsistent form.

The Procurement Act 2023, live for England, Wales and Northern Ireland since 24 February 2025, is what turned it into marks. Section 23(2) requires award criteria to relate to the subject matter of the contract and to be "sufficiently clear, measurable and specific". Section 23(3) requires the authority to describe its assessment methodology and the relative importance of each criterion. So when social value is in a tender under the Act, the weighting is published and the criteria are written down before you bid.

The National Procurement Policy Statement, published on 12 February 2025 and effective from 24 February 2025, set social and economic value as a strategic priority for public procurement.

Then the Procurement Policy Notes put a number on it.

Both PPNs say the same thing about the rest of the public sector: other contracting authorities "may wish to adopt the approach". Councils, housing associations, NHS trusts and combined authorities are not bound by the PPN and set their own weighting and their own model, which is why the number in front of you might be 10, or 15, or 25. It is printed in the invitation to tender, usually in the evaluation methodology table, and it is the first thing to read before you decide how much effort this question deserves.

The sentence that decides whether a small firm can win this

The Cabinet Office's own guide to using the model, at section 3.2, contains the line that changes how you should think about the whole question:

Although the buyer asks you to state the quantity of what you will deliver, and that quantity goes into the contract as a commitment, "the assessment is qualitative, scoring how the method statement and implementation plan meet the award criteria and sub-criteria (only) - volumes are not evaluated."

Volumes are not evaluated. The national contractor offering forty apprenticeships and the six-person firm offering one are marked on the same thing: whether the method statement and the plan meet the published criteria. One apprentice, named, with a start date, a training provider, a named person responsible and a way of proving it happened, beats forty apprentices described in the abstract.

The guide is just as direct about the corporate answer. Asked whether a supplier's corporate social responsibility statements and policies can prove how it will deliver, the answer is that CSR "refers to how the organisation performs corporately. It is not contract-specific and therefore will not adequately address the social value award criteria". A supplier may point at an existing scheme to explain its method, but "scoring must relate to the specific actions that will be made in the performance of the contract".

So the CSR department is not the advantage you thought it was. Contract-specific action is the advantage, and that is a small firm's home ground.

The model you are being scored against

Until the end of 2026, the live model is the PPN 002 Social Value Model: eight policy outcomes grouped under five government missions, from which the buyer picks one outcome and its award criteria. The guide tells buyers that except in the largest contracts they should "focus and select one outcome", so you are usually answering on a single theme.

These are the four that turn up most on construction work, with what the evidence has to look like.

Outcomes 4, 5, 6 and 8 cover environmental benefit, community safety, employment for people facing barriers to work, and workforce health. Outcome 4's metric 4ai is an annual reduction in carbon emissions in tonnes of CO2 equivalent, which is where low-mileage local labour earns its marks rather than in a paragraph about caring for the planet.

Two mechanical details in the PPN itself are worth knowing before you write a word. PPN 002 requires that all social value commitments made during the procurement are reflected in the contract as terms, key performance indicators or performance indicators. And where local employment opportunities are created to perform the contract, they "must be advertised in local job centres using the government's 'Find a Job' website", with a standard clause to that effect now in the Model Services and Mid-Tier Contracts. If you commit to a local hire, the advert is part of the commitment.

What changes on 1 January 2027

PPN 026, published on 5 August 2026, cuts the model down hard. Two outcomes, six award criteria, and a stated purpose: "taking account of how a supplier will work for our communities to provide good British jobs, skills and opportunities in every postcode."

Three things in it point straight at small firms. Weighting doubles to 20% for contracts of £5m and above. In-scope buyers are told to research market conditions, including whether there are SMEs and VCSEs in the market, before choosing which criteria to apply, so that all organisations can meet them. And under criterion 2c, the model gives one concrete benchmark: "45 days of work experience is exactly the kind of social value the Prime Minister is seeking to see delivered through this policy." Forty-five days of work experience is a placement a six-person firm can genuinely offer.

What a six-person firm actually has

Six real assets, each of which maps to a criterion and a metric. Nothing here needs a department.

Two of those carry hard numbers worth putting in front of the buyer.

The apprentice. If you do not pay the apprenticeship levy, which a six-person firm does not, the government pays 100% of the cost of training and assessing an apprentice aged 16 to 24, up to the funding band maximum. On top of that you can get £1,000 towards workplace costs such as work equipment, travel or uniform where the apprentice is 16 to 18 at the start of training, or 19 to 24 with an education, health and care plan or a care background. It is paid in two instalments of £500, the first 90 days after the apprenticeship starts and the second a year in, provided they are still employed by you. From 1 October 2026 a firm outside the levy may also be eligible for a hiring payment of up to £2,000 for a new apprentice aged 16 to 24. A foundation apprenticeship in construction and the built environment carries an employer incentive of up to £2,000, paid in instalments of £667, £667 and £666.

The real Living Wage. This is the cleanest commitment on the list because it is a rate, not an intention.

The gap outside London is £0.74 an hour. At 37.5 hours a week over 46 working weeks that is £1,276.50 a year for one operative, before employer's National Insurance. Four operatives on the contract costs you about £5,100 a year and gives you a fact for criterion 1c that a competitor either matches or does not: every person on this contract is paid at least £13.45 an hour.

Four things that carry marks

The PPN 002 model publishes its additional award criteria, which is to say it prints the marking scheme. A response scores when it contains, at minimum, "a specific, measurable and time-bound commitment", and the model states plainly that this is the "minimum requirement to score points". Around that it wants a description of how the commitment meets the criteria, a named target group or a method for identifying one, how you will reach and tailor the offer to that group, how you will influence staff, suppliers and community through delivery, any plans for publishing your commitments and performance, and a timed project plan carrying a timed action plan, the metrics you will monitor, the tools you will use, governance including nominated escalation points, and feedback and improvement procedures.

Strip that down and four things do the work:

1. A number and a date. One apprentice, started by 30 April 2027. Not "we will look to take on apprentices".
2. A named person accountable. A person, with a job title, inside a six-person firm. This is the item most large bidders answer with a committee.
3. A named group and how you will reach them. The model wants the cohort identified: school leavers from the two secondary schools inside the borough, care leavers, people not in employment, education or training. Naming the route matters as much as the group: Find a Job, the local Job Centre Plus, a named college.
4. A measurement that already exists. Use the standard reporting metric from the model rather than inventing one. If the buyer's contract manager can read your commitment straight into metric 1aii, you have removed their work and their risk.

Two answers to the same question

The question, in the model's own template: "In no more than [the buyer's word limit] words please set out, in a method statement and project plan, the specific, measurable and time bound commitment(s) your organisation will make to deliver [the policy outcome] and the Award Criteria below." Here that is Outcome 2: Skills for growth, and the award criterion is 2a, learning and skills development opportunities relevant to the contract to address skills gaps. The buyer fills in the word count, and 500 to 1,000 words is the usual range.

The answer that scores two out of five:

We are a family business with deep roots in the local area and we are fully committed to developing the next generation of tradespeople. Training and skills are at the heart of our culture. We have taken on apprentices throughout our history and we support upskilling for all our staff. We are proud members of our local business community and we will work closely with the council to deliver social value on this contract, including working with local schools and colleges wherever the opportunity arises.

Nothing in it is untrue. It also contains no number, no date, no named person, no cohort, no metric, and no plan, so under the published criteria there is nothing to award marks against. It describes how the firm performs corporately, which the guide says will not adequately address the criteria.

The answer that scores four out of five:

Commitment. We will recruit one Level 2 Carpentry and Joinery apprentice, aged 16 to 18, to work on this contract, starting on or before 6 September 2027 and remaining on the contract for its full 24 months. Standard reporting metric 1aii: one apprenticeship opportunity at Level 2, in the North West. Metric 2aii: 552 person-hours of off-the-job learning delivered in the North West over the contract term, being the minimum six hours a week across 46 working weeks for two years.

Skills gap addressed. The tender identifies site carpentry as a local shortage occupation. Our own last two vacancies for a second-fix joiner took eleven and fourteen weeks to fill from a combined seven applicants, which is why we are recruiting into the gap rather than around it.

Cohort and how we reach them. Year 11 leavers from the two secondary schools inside the borough. We will advertise the role on Find a Job as required, notify the Job Centre Plus on Market Street, and run one careers session at each school in the spring term before recruitment opens. Metric 7bi: two outreach activities.

Accountable person. J. Doe, Contracts Manager and Director, is accountable for delivery. He holds the relationship with the training provider and signs off the quarterly return.

Timed plan. February 2027, provider agreement signed with the local college. March 2027, two school sessions delivered. April 2027, vacancy live on Find a Job and Job Centre Plus. July 2027, offer made. 6 September 2027, start date, with the first 90-day review in December 2027.

Monitoring and governance. Apprentice hours are recorded against the contract on our job costing system and reconciled monthly to the college's attendance record. We report quarterly against metrics 1aii, 2aii and 7bi to the contract manager. Escalation runs to J. Doe within five working days of a missed review, and to the managing director if unresolved after ten. If recruitment fails at the first attempt, we re-advertise within 20 working days and report the slippage rather than restating the target.

Publication. We will publish the apprentice's start, progress at 12 months and completion on our website and share the case study with the council's communications team.

Everything the second answer contains is on the published criteria list, in the order the criteria list it. It is not a better firm. It is the same firm, writing down what it was going to do anyway, in the shape the marking scheme asks for.

What ten per cent is worth

A district council planned maintenance contract, estimated £480,000 over two years. The evaluation methodology published in the invitation to tender is price 50, quality 40, social value 10, with social value scored out of 5 and scaled to the ten marks, and price scored as the lowest tendered price divided by your price, times fifty.

You are £13,000 more expensive and a mark behind on quality, and you win by 1.61.

Now run it with the first answer instead. At 2 out of 5 you take 4 marks and finish on 84.61 against 87.00. To buy those 2.39 marks back on price you have to go below the other bidder and reset the price scoring: at £445,000 you take the full 50 marks, their price score falls to 48.90, and you win 86.00 to 85.90. That is a cut of £23,000, close to 5% of your bid, on a contract where 5% is most of the margin.

Two marks on one question, worth £23,000 of price. The answer that earned them took an afternoon.

After award: TOMs, KPIs and the number you have to produce

The commitment does not evaporate at contract signature, and understanding what happens next is what stops you promising something you cannot evidence.

Under PPN 002 the social value deliverables in the winning tender are written into the contract, either as key performance indicators where the market is mature, or as social value performance indicators or plain contract terms where it is not. Either way the guide requires that they "comprise a combination of a deliverable and a numeric element", drawn from the standard reporting metric wherever one fits. Performance is then rated on a published scale: Good where you are meeting or exceeding the target, Approaching target where you are close, Requires improvement where you are below it, and Inadequate where you are significantly below.

On larger contracts the Act itself takes over. Section 52(1) of the Procurement Act 2023 requires a contracting authority to set at least three key performance indicators before entering a public contract with an estimated value of more than £5 million, and to publish them. PPN 026 adds that at least one of those should be a social value KPI. Section 71 requires the authority to assess performance against its KPIs at least annually and on termination, and to publish the assessment. Your apprentice becomes a published number.

PPN 026 also states the consequence in one line: "Evidence of poor performance against social value KPIs can be taken into account in considering whether there are grounds to exclude suppliers from bidding for future tenders." Which is the strongest possible argument for the commitment being small, real and yours. One apprentice you actually hired reads Good for two years. Five apprentices you meant to hire read Inadequate on a published record that the next buyer can see.

Outside central government, the measurement framework you will meet most often is the Social Value TOM System, the Themes, Outcomes and Measures framework from Social Value Portal that a large number of councils and main contractors buy in. Themes are the broad categories, currently Work, Economy, Community and Planet. Outcomes describe the change being sought under each. Measures are the countable actions, and each measure carries a proxy financial value drawn from published government data sources and updated annually, so that a placement or a pound of local spend converts into a pound of reported social value. Practically, a TOMs contract asks you for the same things in a different container: hours, headcount, postcodes, spend with local suppliers, sessions delivered. It is worth asking at tender stage which measures the buyer expects you to report against, because the answer tells you exactly what your commitment will be measured on for the next two years.

Where you meet this outside Whitehall

The PPNs bind central government. Most small firms meet social value in three other places, and all three are winnable.

Councils, housing associations and NHS trusts set their own policy and weighting under the same Act. The weighting sits in the evaluation methodology in the tender documents, and it is frequently higher than the central government minimum because a council's whole purpose is the relevant area. This is the market where being from the borough is the strongest thing on your bid.

Scotland runs its own regime. Section 25 of the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 requires a contracting authority to consider imposing community benefit requirements where the estimated value of the contract is £4,000,000 or more, to say in the contract notice what it intends to include or why it is not including any, and to publish a statement in the award notice describing the benefits it expects. Wales adds Part 3 of the Social Partnership and Public Procurement (Wales) Act 2023, which creates a socially responsible procurement duty and a specific duty for major construction contracts, including social public works clauses.

The main contractor's supply chain. This is where most six-person firms meet social value, and it is the easiest of the three. A Tier 1 that has just won a public job on a social value commitment has to produce the hours, the headcount and the local spend, and it produces them from its subcontractors. When you can hand a main contractor a local apprentice, a postcode-level labour list and merchant invoices from inside the borough, you are handing them their KPI. Firms that can do that get asked back, which is the same reason it pays to be on the lists before the tender lands: getting on approved contractor lists covers the pre-qualification side, and where UK construction tenders actually live covers finding the notices in the first place.

What it costs

Answering a social value question costs nothing but the afternoon. The commitments that back it are things you were going to do anyway: the apprentice is government-funded for training up to the band maximum with £1,000 or more towards workplace costs, the local merchant is where you already shop, and the school visit is half a day.

On AEC Stack there is no monthly subscription. The platform fee is 2.5% of each invoice processed through the platform, taken when the invoice is paid, so a quiet month costs nothing. The reason that matters here is that the numbers a social value KPI asks for, apprentice hours against a job, labour by person and postcode, spend with each supplier, are already sitting in the invoices and job records you keep to get paid. Reporting quarterly against metric 1aii is a filter on data you have rather than a spreadsheet you build.

Take the last tender you lost, find the evaluation methodology table, and work out what your social value marks were worth in pounds of price. Then set up your jobs and invoices so the apprentice hours, the local labour and the supplier spend are already counted when the next one asks.