Understanding Social Value in Procurement

What Is Social Value?

Social value refers to the positive impact that businesses and suppliers create for society beyond the core services they provide. In public sector procurement, it ensures that government contracts not only meet immediate service requirements but also deliver long-term benefits for communities, the economy, and the environment.

Public sector buyers assess social value to determine how suppliers contribute to broader societal goals. These goals are typically grouped around four themes: economic growth, including supporting local businesses, creating jobs, and strengthening regional economies; social inclusion, including promoting diversity, offering opportunities to disadvantaged groups, and ensuring fair employment practices; environmental sustainability, including reducing carbon footprints, adopting green practices, and contributing to climate action; and community benefits, including engaging in volunteering, providing training programmes, and supporting education initiatives.

Social value has moved from a peripheral consideration to a core element of public sector procurement evaluation. The Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 requires public sector buyers to consider how services can improve the economic, social, and environmental well-being of the area. Procurement Policy Note 06/20 strengthened this requirement by establishing that social value should be explicitly evaluated in all central government procurement, with a minimum weighting of 10% of the total score. Many buyers now apply weightings significantly higher than this minimum.

Why Social Value Matters in Public Sector Tenders

For organisations bidding for public sector contracts, social value is no longer optional. It is a scored element of the evaluation that can determine whether you win or lose a competitive tender. In practice, social value weightings in public sector tenders typically range from 5% to 20% of the total quality score, although some procurements weight it even higher.

The practical implication is that a technically strong bid with a weak social value response will lose to a technically comparable bid with strong social value commitments. Treating social value as an afterthought or a box-ticking exercise results in generic commitments that score poorly. Developing a robust, specific, and measurable social value proposition is an investment that pays dividends across multiple bids.

For organisations bidding across NHS, MoD, local authority, and central government procurement, social value requirements appear in virtually every tender. Building a strong social value capability is not a one-off exercise for a specific bid; it is a strategic investment that strengthens your competitive position across your entire public sector pipeline. For a broader guide to public sector tendering, see our article on key ways to engage in public sector procurement (/post/key-ways-to-engage-in-public-sector-procurement).

The TOMs Framework

The National TOMs (Themes, Outcomes, and Measures) Framework, developed by the National Social Value Taskforce, provides a standardised approach to measuring and reporting social value. Many public sector buyers use the TOMs Framework or a variant of it when evaluating social value responses.

The framework is structured around five themes: Jobs (promoting local skills and employment), Growth (supporting the growth of responsible regional businesses), Social (creating healthier, safer, and more resilient communities), Environment (protecting and improving the environment), and Innovation (promoting social innovation and new ways of delivering services).

Within each theme, the framework defines specific outcomes and measures with associated proxy values that allow social value commitments to be quantified in financial terms. For example, creating an apprenticeship position has a defined proxy value, as does volunteering a certain number of hours in the local community. Understanding the TOMs Framework and how it is applied by the specific buyer you are targeting allows you to develop commitments that align with their priorities and score well under their evaluation methodology.

How Social Value Is Evaluated in Tenders

The way social value is evaluated varies between buyers, but there are common patterns. Most evaluators assess relevance (whether your commitments are relevant to the contract and the local area), specificity (whether your commitments are specific and measurable rather than vague and generic), credibility (whether you have a track record of delivering social value and the organisational capacity to fulfil your commitments), and proportionality (whether your commitments are proportionate to the contract value and scope).

The most common mistake in social value responses is making broad, generic commitments that could apply to any organisation bidding for any contract. Statements like 'we are committed to sustainability' or 'we support local communities' score poorly because they lack specificity and measurability. Evaluators want to see exactly what you will do, how you will measure it, and what outcomes it will deliver.

Effective social value responses include specific, quantified commitments with defined timescales. They explain how the commitments will be delivered, including the resources, partnerships, and governance that will be applied. They demonstrate alignment with the buyer's stated social value priorities and the needs of the local area. They provide evidence of previous social value delivery to establish credibility. And they include a monitoring and reporting framework that shows how commitments will be tracked and validated throughout the contract.

Developing Your Social Value Proposition

Building a social value proposition that scores well in tenders requires a strategic approach rather than an ad hoc response to individual questions. The most effective approach is to develop a core social value framework for your organisation that can be tailored to individual bids.

Start by assessing your current social value activity. Most organisations already deliver social value through their normal operations, whether through local employment, apprenticeships, supply chain practices, environmental policies, or community engagement. Document what you already do and quantify it where possible using the TOMs proxy values.

Identify gaps in your current activity relative to the social value themes that are most commonly weighted in the tenders you pursue. If your pipeline is heavily weighted toward NHS procurement, health and well-being outcomes will be particularly important. If you bid primarily for construction frameworks, environmental sustainability and local employment will be the priority areas. See our guide to construction procurement frameworks for 2026 (/post/construction-procurement-frameworks-strategic-access-opportunities-for-2026) for specific social value requirements in that sector.

Develop new commitments to fill the gaps, ensuring that each commitment is specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. Build partnerships with local organisations, charities, educational institutions, and social enterprises that can support your social value delivery and provide evidence of impact.

Social Value in Different Sectors

NHS and Healthcare

NHS procurement places particular emphasis on health and well-being outcomes, fair employment, and environmental sustainability. Social value commitments in NHS bids should align with NHS priorities around reducing health inequalities, supporting local economies, and achieving net zero carbon. Our guide to winning NHS contracts (/post/how-to-win-nhs-contracts-via-tenders-and-frameworks) covers the specific evaluation requirements.

Defence and Central Government

MoD and central government procurement follows Procurement Policy Note 06/20, which mandates a minimum 10% social value weighting. Common priorities include SME supply chain development, skills and training, and regional economic growth. Our guide to MoD procurement (/post/uk-mod-procurement-how-to-win-defence-contracts) covers the broader requirements for defence suppliers.

Construction and Infrastructure

Construction procurement has the longest history of formal social value evaluation. Requirements typically focus on local employment, apprenticeships, supply chain diversity, community engagement, and environmental impact. The National TOMs Framework was originally developed for the construction sector before being adopted more broadly.

Local Authority

Local authority procurement often applies the highest social value weightings, sometimes up to 30% of the total score. Commitments that directly benefit the local area, including local employment, spend with local suppliers, and community engagement, score particularly well. Understanding the specific priorities of the local authority you are bidding to is essential.

How Athena Can Help

Athena provides specialist social value support through our social value service (/services/social-value). We help organisations develop their social value strategy, build measurable commitments, and write social value responses that score well in tender evaluations. We also support the broader sustainability agenda through our sustainability planning service (/services/sustainability-planning-for-uk-businesses) and carbon reduction service (/services/carbon-reduction).

Our bid management services (/services/bid-management) include social value response writing as part of our comprehensive bid support offering. For organisations that need to develop their social value capability from scratch, we provide strategic guidance, framework alignment, and practical implementation support. Contact us to discuss how we can strengthen your social value proposition.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is social value in procurement?

Social value in procurement refers to the broader economic, social, and environmental benefits that a supplier delivers beyond the core contract requirements. In UK public sector procurement, it is a scored element of the tender evaluation, typically weighted at 5% to 20% of the total quality score.

What is the TOMs Framework?

The National TOMs (Themes, Outcomes, and Measures) Framework is a standardised approach to measuring and reporting social value. Developed by the National Social Value Taskforce, it defines five themes (Jobs, Growth, Social, Environment, Innovation) with specific outcomes and proxy values that allow commitments to be quantified in financial terms. Many public sector buyers use TOMs or a variant when evaluating social value responses.

How much does social value typically count in tender evaluations?

Social value weightings vary by buyer and contract, but typically range from 5% to 20% of the total quality score. Central government procurement requires a minimum 10% weighting under Procurement Policy Note 06/20. Some local authorities apply weightings of 20% to 30%. The specific weighting will be stated in the tender documentation.

What makes a good social value response in a bid?

A strong social value response includes specific, quantified, and time-bound commitments that are relevant to the contract and the local area. It demonstrates alignment with the buyer's stated priorities, provides evidence of previous social value delivery, and includes a clear monitoring and reporting framework. Generic statements of intent score poorly; specific, measurable commitments score well.

Do I need a social value strategy or can I address it bid by bid?

Developing an organisational social value strategy is significantly more effective than addressing social value on a bid-by-bid basis. A strategy provides a consistent framework of commitments that can be tailored to individual tenders, builds an evidence base of delivery that strengthens future bids, and ensures that social value is embedded in your operations rather than being an afterthought in the bid process. The investment in developing a strategy pays dividends across your entire public sector pipeline.

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