What Is Social Value in Tenders (and How Is It Scored)?

Social value now appears in almost every public tender a training or L&D provider will answer, and it can be the question that decides the contract. This guide explains what social value means, how the rules work, and what a training provider can credibly offer.

The good news for training providers is that social value in procurement leans heavily towards skills and jobs, which is the business you are already in. The trap is offering the training you are being paid for and calling it social value.

At a glance

Social value is the wider economic, social and environmental benefit a contract delivers beyond the service itself.
The Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 requires authorities in England and Wales to consider it before buying services.
Central government scores it using the Social Value Model in PPN 002, with a minimum weighting of a tenth of the total score.
PPN 026, published in August 2026, replaces that model for central government procurements starting on or after 1 January 2027, and narrows it to jobs and skills.
Councils and other public bodies are not bound by these PPNs but may choose to follow them, so always check the tender documents.

Social value is the extra benefit a contract creates for people and places, on top of what is being bought. For a council leadership programme, the contract buys the programme. The social value is what else happens because you deliver it: an apprentice you take on, a local trainer you employ, free places you give to community groups.

The Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 applies in England and Wales. Before starting to procure services, or a framework mainly for services, a relevant authority must consider:

how what it buys might improve the economic, social and environmental well-being of the area;
how the procurement itself might secure that improvement; and
whether to consult on those points.

Training contracts are services contracts, so councils buying training are covered. The Act requires them to consider social value; it does not set how many marks it carries.

Central government departments, their executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies use a Social Value Model set by a Procurement Policy Note (PPN). Other authorities may choose to use the same approach.

PPN 002 (published February 2025) is the model in use now, and central government must use it for procurements started on or after 1 October 2025. It applies to above-threshold procurements under the Procurement Act 2023, sets a minimum weighting of a tenth of the total score for social value, and requires commitments to be written into the contract as terms or performance indicators. Its outcomes sit under five government missions and include fair work, skills for growth, resilient supply chains (including SMEs and VCSEs), sustainable procurement (carbon, waste and water), reducing crime, employment for under-represented groups, and physical and mental wellbeing.

PPN 026: The Social Value Model was published on 5 August 2026 and applies to central government procurements commenced on or after 1 January 2027. It applies only to contracts of £1m or more including VAT, sets a minimum weighting of a tenth from £1m up to £5m and a fifth from £5m, and has two outcomes only: Good Jobs and Skills. Its skills outcome covers training and retraining, in-work progression and talent pipelines, with apprenticeships and work placements as examples. Environmental outcomes are not part of it.

One point for providers on frameworks: under PPN 026, social value can only be assessed at call-off if it was also assessed when the framework was set up.

What you offer must be relevant to the contract, proportionate to its size, and something you will actually deliver and report on. Credible options for a training provider include:

Apprenticeships. Take on an apprentice in your own business, such as a trainee trainer, an assessor or a programme administrator, and say at what level.
Local employment. Recruit trainers or associates who live in the buyer's area, and say how you will advertise the roles locally.
Free places for community groups. Offer a set number of places on open courses to local charities, carers' groups or volunteers, and say how places are allocated.
Volunteering trainer time. Commit a number of trainer days to mentoring at a local school, careers talks, or a free session for a community organisation.
Carbon from travel-free delivery. Where the buyer still scores environmental outcomes, show the travel you avoid through live online or blended delivery, and how you measure it. Under PPN 026 this will not score for central government.
Wellbeing and progression. Fair pay, flexible working and a development path for your own trainers fit the fair work and good jobs outcomes.

Each commitment needs a number, a timescale and a way of reporting it. "We will create one apprenticeship in year one and report progress quarterly" scores. "We support our community" does not.

Answer the outcome the buyer chose, not every theme you can think of.
Be specific and measurable.
Make it local to the area the contract serves.
Expect to be held to it. Under PPN 002 every commitment becomes a contract term or performance indicator.

Small training providers often have more genuine local ties than large ones and then under-sell them. Write them down as commitments. If you are about to apply to a framework or DPS, such as the Sunderland public health training DPS, check whether it asks social value questions and prepare these answers before you start. See also the frameworks training buyers use.

Frequently asked questions

The wider economic, social and environmental benefit a contract delivers beyond the service itself. For a training provider that might be an apprenticeship in your own team, local recruitment, or free places for community groups.

The Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 requires authorities in England and Wales to consider social value before procuring services. Central government departments must also apply the Social Value Model and a minimum weighting set by Procurement Policy Note.

Under PPN 002, at least a tenth of the total score for central government contracts. From 1 January 2027, PPN 026 applies to central government contracts of £1m or more: at least a tenth up to £5m and at least a fifth from £5m. Other buyers, including councils, set their own weighting, which the tender documents state.

Apprenticeships in your own business, local recruitment of trainers, free places for community groups, volunteered trainer time, and reduced travel through online delivery where environmental outcomes are scored. Each needs a number, a timescale and a reporting method.

What replaced PPN 06/20?

PPN 002 took over from it for central government procurements under the Procurement Act 2023, and is mandatory for those started on or after 1 October 2025. PPN 026, published in August 2026, replaces the PPN 002 model for central government procurements starting on or after 1 January 2027.

Sources

GOV.UK — PPN 026: The Social Value Model
GOV.UK — PPN 002: Taking account of social value in the award of central government contracts
GOV.UK — Procurement Policy Note 002: The Social Value Model
GOV.UK — PPN 002: Guide to using the Social Value Model
legislation.gov.uk — Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012, section 1
GOV.UK — Social Value Act: information and resources

At a glance