What is social value in tenders, and how is it scored?

What is social value?

Social value is the scored question about what your firm will do for people and places while it delivers the contract. The Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 frames it as improving "the economic, social and environmental well-being of the relevant area". In a tender it is marks, and it is easy to treat it as an afterthought.

That is the opening. Look at the numbers:

• 10% is the minimum weighting for social value in central government tenders above the threshold.
• 20% becomes the minimum on contracts of £5 million or more from 1 January 2027.
• 70% of the score in the typical IT tender is quality, not price. Social value is part of the non-price score.

A question worth a tenth of the total can decide a close contest. And the scoring rules favour a small firm that plans: evaluators mark how you will deliver, not how big the promise is.

The 70% figure is from our analysis of 182 Find a Tender notices for IT services published 14 November 2025 to 28 February 2026. Typical means the median. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Is social value a legal requirement in tenders?

Yes, in layers. The 2012 Act makes public authorities consider social value when they buy services above the thresholds. Cabinet Office policy notes then fix a minimum weighting for central government. So when you bid to a department or its agencies, expect the question and budget time for it.

1. The Social Value Act 2012. The authority must consider how what it is buying might improve the well-being of the area, and how the procurement might secure that improvement.
2. PPN 002. Central government bodies must apply it to above-threshold procurements started on or after 1 October 2025, with a minimum weighting of 10%.
3. PPN 026. Published 5 August 2026. It applies to central government procurements of £1 million or more that start on or after 1 January 2027, and its guidance says it "replaces all previous PPNs on social value".

Councils, NHS bodies, universities and housing associations "may wish to adopt the approach" and otherwise follow their own policies. Take the rules from the tender in front of you.

How much is social value worth in the scoring?

At least 10% of the total score in central government tenders today. From 1 January 2027 the minimum depends on contract value: none below £1 million, 10% from £1 million to under £5 million, and 20% at £5 million or more. Other public buyers choose their own figure.

Buyer and timing	Contract value	Minimum weighting
Central government, procurement started 1 October 2025 or later (PPN 002)	Above threshold	10%
Central government, started 1 January 2027 or later (PPN 026)	Threshold to under £1m	No minimum
Central government, started 1 January 2027 or later (PPN 026)	£1m to under £5m	10%
Central government, started 1 January 2027 or later (PPN 026)	£5m or more	20%
Other public bodies	Any	Set by the buyer

Smaller buyers score it too. The housing association tender in our sample bid pack, worth £140,000, gives social value 5% of the marks, with pledges scored higher when they benefit the buyer's own communities.

Give it a row in your compliance matrix with its weighting, like any other scored question, so it gets its share of your time.

What changes on 1 January 2027 under PPN 026?

The model gets simpler and, on big contracts, heavier. PPN 026 focuses on two outcomes, good jobs and skills, each with three award criteria. It applies to contracts of £1 million or more including VAT, and sets the minimum weighting at 20% for contracts of £5 million or more.

The six model award criteria:

• Good jobs: create or retain high quality jobs; fair working conditions; fair pay.
• Skills: training or retraining; in-work progression; talent pipeline.

Buyers pick the criteria that fit the contract and put them in the tender documents. For an IT firm, that is good news: jobs, training and routes into the industry are things a technology business can deliver.

Three points to plan for:

• Below £1 million there is no minimum weighting, but a buyer can still ask the question.
• Transition. For procurements started before 1 January 2027, buyers may apply the previous edition.
• Frameworks keep their own model. Frameworks procured between 24 February 2025 and 1 January 2027 use PPN 002, and older ones use PPN 06/20. Check which applies to a call-off under a framework such as G-Cloud.

How is a social value answer scored?

On the quality of your plan, not the size of your promise. The PPN 026 guidance says evaluators assess how your method statement and implementation plan will achieve the outcome. That levels the field: a ten-person firm with a real, planned commitment can outscore a large promise with nothing behind it.

The guidance suggests a scale of 0 to 10 with five scores available: 0, 1, 3, 6 and 10. It also gives a shortcut worth knowing. A bidder that supports a listed community programme, with a dated letter and meeting the implementation criteria, should receive a minimum score of 6.

The model is described as designed to avoid barriers to entry for new entrants, small firms and voluntary organisations, and buyers are told not to score raw quantities where that would shut them out.

Under section 23 of the Procurement Act 2023 the buyer must publish how each criterion will be assessed and its weighting. Read that method before you write. If the scoring scale is missing, ask before the deadline for questions.

What should a small IT firm put in a social value answer?

One or two commitments you will actually deliver on this contract, who benefits, and the plan: actions, dates, the person responsible and how you will report. The guidance lists what evaluators expect to see. Follow that list and you make the marks easy to give.

According to the PPN 026 guidance, a response should include:

• a specific, measurable, time-bound commitment;
• how the commitment meets the criterion, the target group and how you will reach it;
• how you will involve staff, suppliers, customers and communities;
• a method statement and implementation plan with quantities, milestones and deliverables;
• how participants will be prepared and supported, and how the activity will end;
• how you will publish your commitments and performance.

Three tests apply. The commitment must be additional: suppliers "should commit to delivering social value that is additional to the core contract". It must be relevant, with a direct connection to what is being procured. And it must be proportionate to the contract's size.

For an IT contract, a commitment under the skills criteria might be a paid placement for a local college student on the service desk, with a named supervisor and a start date in month three. That shows the form. The content has to be true for your firm.

A bid pack's answer outline covers the social value question alongside the others: what the evaluator scores, a structure and the evidence to include. Your first pack is free, one per company. Our guide on how to write a tender response covers planning scored answers.

What happens to your commitments after you win?

They become contract terms, and they are measured. PPN 026 tells buyers to track all social value commitments through mechanisms such as key performance indicators. For contracts of £5 million or more, at least one social value indicator must be set and published, and performance is reported at least every 12 months.

The note also says poor performance against social value indicators "can be taken into account" when a buyer considers excluding a supplier from future tenders. So a planned, deliverable commitment protects you twice: it scores now, and it keeps your record clean for the next bid.