Social Value. Background information and updates
Since the Midlands Highway Alliance Plus (MHA+) partnership began, our frameworks have added social value. This has been evidenced using a number of methods, outlined below, along with recent updates on social value and procurement policy.
Background
The MHA+ building social value (BSV) priority measures tracker monitors the social value delivered as part of MHA+ skills and community development. The tracker covers 16 targets for themes that comply with procurement regulation, both PPN 6/20 Taking Account of Social Value in the award of Central Government Contracts (PDF, 53KB) for the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (PCR 2015) and PPN 002 Social Value Model (PDF, 249KB), for the Procurement Act 2023 (PA 2023).
The priorities consolidate some of the content developed by the Considerate Constructors Scheme (CCS) with the Building Social Value Assessment that MHA+ pilots. Find out more about the MHA+ building social value priority measures.
CCS also run a best practice hub covering social value, which you can access on the Considerate Constructors Scheme website.
The MHA+ Employment and Skills Plan (ESP) tracker monitors the same MHA+ skills and community development work from a workforce development angle. The tracker uses 14 of the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) priorities for themes that comply with the same procurement regulation, PPN 6/20 for PCR 2015 and PPN 002 for PA 2023. Find out more about Employment and Skills Planning.
Suppliers use a variety of measures to evidence social value, the wider financial and non-financial impacts of projects and schemes, including the wellbeing of individuals and communities, social capital and the environment. The use of Themes, Outcomes and Measures (TOMs) is common. Find out more about TOMs measures on the Social Value Portal website.
The British Standards Institution (BSI) has published a guide for organisations of all sizes on social value, covering social responsibility, sustainable practices and sustainable development, in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The guide, BS 8950:2020 Social value: understanding and enhancing, focuses on the collection and use of suitable data for decisions about social value, across all types and sizes of organisations, whether public or private, working alone or with others. It also creates a framework for measuring social value, building on and linking to existing principles and frameworks. It aims to:
- help organisations understand their role in preserving and enhancing social value
- support decision making by collecting and using appropriate data
- provide a framework for measuring activities, with links to existing frameworks
- outline principles to help organisations recognise, account for and report on social value
- set out social value in the context of sustainability
- help identify the benefits of social value, no matter how little data or maturity an organisation has
Updates
August 2026: PPN 026 updates the social value model, shifting public procurement rules to prioritise job creation, skills training and local economic support. It gives a higher weighting to skills and to supporting specific groups, with key performance indicators set for prospective suppliers bidding for contracts.
March 2026: in June 2025, the Cabinet Office consulted on proposals to help ensure public procurement plays its full role in delivering the government’s Industrial Strategy and fostering a resilient economy that supports British businesses. The proposals aim to create or secure local jobs, skills and opportunities in public contracts, guarantee small businesses are paid on time, and track procurement spend with local businesses and social enterprises. This document summarises the Government response to the consultation, broken down by respondent type, and the key themes raised in the responses.
December 2025: Crown Commercial Service Procurement Essentials: new social value model, changes explained. The updated social value model aligns procurement with government missions. Find out how it affects your use of frameworks, and read more about the new model on GOV.UK.
June 2025: the Cabinet Office launched a consultation on skills, jobs and creating opportunities, the update of the social value model, and the use of standard criteria and measures. The consultation closed on 5 September 2025. Find out more about the consultation.
March 2025: the government launched revised statutory guidance for Section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015, requiring companies with an annual turnover of £36 million or more to publish annual slavery and human trafficking statements. This updates guidance originally released ten years earlier, and sets out how organisations can help ensure modern slavery is not taking place in their business or supply chains.
February 2025: Central Government released a Procurement Policy Note (PPN) Action Note updates the 2020 note. Download the PPN 6/20 Taking Account of Social Value in the award of Central Government Contracts (PDF, 53KB). A guide to using the social value model accompanies PPN 002, and has been updated to reflect the new National Procurement Policy Statement (NPPS). Download the PPN 002 Social Value Model (PDF, 249KB) . In-scope organisations had a transition period to apply the new model from 24 February 2025, with use becoming mandatory from 1 October 2025.
October 2024: the Cabinet Office developed a short guide outlining a comprehensive, centrally funded, free learning and development package for contracting authorities. The Local Government Association (LGA) has also produced Procurement and supply chain e-bulletins.
April 2024: launch of an official training product supporting the introduction of the Procurement Act, Transforming Public Procurement Knowledge Drops, on GOV.UK. The training provides a high-level overview of the changes, aimed at those involved in procurement in their day-to-day roles, as well as suppliers, including small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and voluntary, community and social enterprises (VCSEs).
April 2024: the Cabinet Office developed a short guide outlining a comprehensive, centrally funded learning and development package for contracting authorities. Access the official Procurement Act learning modules on GOV.UK.
October 2023: the Social Value Manager 1.0 White Paper is an initiative to explore, establish and embrace the emerging job role of social value managers, and similar roles at the heart of impact creation and social value delivery in organisations. The White Paper has been co-created with over 150 organisations and individuals, who took part in the research.
October 2023: the Procurement Bill received Royal Assent, becoming the Procurement Act 2023. The new regime was expected to go live in February 2025. Read the Procurement Act publications on the UK Parliament website.
March 2023: BS 25700:2022, Organizational responses to modern slavery, guidance, aims to support organisations in understanding and managing the risk of modern slavery, as part of legal and non-legal frameworks.
July 2022: watch the Considerate Constructors Scheme (CCS) Social Value Working Group (SVWG) presentation on changes to CCS audit processes, on MHA+ YouTube.
June 2021: Procurement Policy Note PPN 05/21. Access PPN 05/21. This may since have been superseded, this isn’t confirmed so remains for review.
September 2020: new rules to deliver social value priorities within future publicly procured contracts came into effect from January 2021. Read the GOV.UK news story summarising the changes.