Social Value for bidding: what you need to know ahead of the October 2025 procurement shift
With less than a week until the UK Government’s updated Social Value Model comes into effect, Beedier's Marie Braithwaite takes a look at what the October 1st changes will mean for your practice, and how you might stay ahead of the curve in your tender submissions
What Is Social Value?
Defined by the Crown Commercial Service as “…the additional value in the delivery of a product or service contract where a wider community or public benefit can be created…”, social value essentially reconsiders how we define value in procurement. It widens the scope beyond the economic potential and immediate function of what is being procured to consider the lasting positive impacts that can be delivered to a specific area. For architects, this means expanding our impact beyond design excellence to include economic inclusion, community engagement, wellbeing, and environmental stewardship.
What is the legislative landscape?
The concept of Social Value in public procurement first gained legal footing with the introduction of the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012. This legislation aimed to shift the focus of publicly funded projects beyond cost-efficiency, encouraging procurement decisions that would generate tangible benefits for local communities.
Historically assessed on financial bottom lines, the long-term benefits created by community investment was often overlooked.
While this bill embedded Social Value into the lexicon of procurement, the Act’s vague language and lack of enforceable standards meant that Social Value often remained a tick-box exercise that delivered little in the way of demonstrable community impact.
In response to the limited impact of the 2012 Act, the UK Government introduced Procurement Policy Note (PPN) 06/20, which marked a significant shift in public procurement. Effective from January 2021, the policy made it mandatory for Social Value to be explicitly evaluated in all central government contracts, assigning it a minimum 10% weighting in the assessment process. To support this change, a formal Social Value Model was introduced, outlining five key themes and eight outcomes to standardise how Social Value should be defined, measured, and delivered.
Building on this momentum, the Procurement Act 2023 brought further reforms in the post-Brexit landscape. Crucially, it moved away from awarding contracts based solely on the Most Economically Advantageous Tender (MEAT), adopting instead the broader and more inclusive Most Advantageous Tender (MAT) approach.
This reorientation placed public benefit—not just price—at the heart of procurement decisions, reinforcing Social Value as a core principle in the delivery of public services.
While the Procurement Act 2023 does not explicitly mention Social Value, the 2025 National Procurement Policy Statement does, and along with the associated Policy Procurement Notice 002, sets out a new model for how social value is to be measured and evaluated in public procurement from 1 October 2025.
The model retains the format of five key themes and eight outcomes, with updated focus areas:
Mission 1: Kick-start economic growth.
– Fair work
– Skills for growth
– Resilient, innovative and flexible supply chains
Mission 2: Make Britain a clean energy superpower.
– Sustainable procurement practices
Mission 3: Take back our streets.
– Support reduction in crime
Mission 4: Break down barriers to opportunity.
– Employment and training for those who face barriers to employment
– Creating a pipeline of opportunities for the contract workforce, reducing barriers to entry for under-represented groups
Mission 5: Build an NHS fit for the future.
– Increasing productivity through physical and mental wellbeing: in the supply chain and communities in the relevant area.
How to write a successful Social Value response
To succeed under the evolving Social Value model, a strong tender response needs to go beyond good intentions, it must demonstrate strategic alignment, measurable impact, and a clear delivery plan. Here are six key steps to strengthen your submissions:
1. Engage Early in the Process
Participate in Pre-Market Engagement (PME) sessions wherever possible. These offer a vital opportunity to understand the procuring authority’s priorities, help shape social value criteria, and even influence which outcomes are selected for future tenders.
2. Understand Your Buyer’s Priorities
Do your homework. Review all tender documents thoroughly and pull out key wording and criteria. Check whether the local authority has published a Social Value Strategy or Priority Statement. Check which measurement framework they use (such as TOMs, the 2025 Social Value Model, or a bespoke local system) and tailor your bid to reflect their specific goals and language.
3. Build a Strong, Inclusive Team
Demonstrate your commitment to community benefit by assembling a team that includes local small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and voluntary, community and social enterprises (VCSEs). Understand what these partners are already doing to embed social value in their own work and build on this in your response.
4. Define a Clear Engagement Strategy
Outline how you will work with stakeholders and communities throughout the project. This should include plans for consultation, co-design, and ongoing feedback loops.
5. Prioritise and Emphasise Local, Measurable Impact
While some initiatives may have more wider benefits (sustainability for example), the core impacts should be in the district or borough in which the project is located. Ensure every commitment is specific, time-bound and quantifiable. Tender responses must include a method statement and project delivery plan that outlines exactly how, when, and by whom these benefits will be delivered.
6. Know the Regional Variations
While the minimum 10% weighting applies in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the devolved nations approach social value in varying ways. Welsh social value is shaped by the Future Generations Act, while Scotland relates outcomes to the National Performance Framework and UN SDGs, and Northern Ireland has defined its own four themes. Ensure you’re familiar with the legislation in the area you’re bidding in.
Long-term investments to position your practice as a leader in delivering Social Value
Of course, delivering social value isn’t just about writing successful tender responses, it requires a fundamental shift in how we understand, measure, and prioritise value within the design process. For architecture practices, this means embedding social value as a core principle that informs every stage of a project, from concept to post-occupancy. By integrating this approach into your day-to-day operations, you not only position your practice as a competitive bidder but become a proactive contributor to community wealth building and long-term public benefit. Below are our suggested strategies to help position your practice as an industry leader:
Appoint a Social Value Champion within your practice to ensure that social value is considered at every stage of design and decision-making. This role acts as a point of accountability, helping your team stay aligned with changing procurement models and delivering consistent impact.
Invest in teamwide knowledge. Ensure your team has a working knowledge of assessment frameworks like the National TOMs, the Central Government Social Value Model, and any bespoke sector-specific or local alternatives to avoid last-minute learning when working to tight deadlines. Understanding the differences, strengths and weaknesses will encourage in-office discussion and idea-generation, and this preparedness will elevate the quality of your written responses and bring confidence to interviews and presentations.
Get familiar with both national and regional targets and audit how your portfolio responds to these. Retroactively assess the social value delivered by previous projects where possible, so that you have this information on hand when compiling bids. Use the government’s missions and outcomes to audit your portfolio. Highlight where you’ve: reduced carbon emissions; created local jobs; improved accessibility; and, supported education and skills. Use metrics where possible: e.g., “This project created six apprenticeships and diverted 85% of construction waste from landfill.” Map the social value delivered by all projects going forward, not just those public projects which make it a requirement, and embed post-occupancy evaluation within contracts, ensuring continual learning and improvement.
Diversify and empower your team. A wider range of experiences and perspectives improves your ability to anticipate community needs and respond creatively. And in a profession notorious for poor working practices embed health and wellbeing into your daily operation, to ensure staff are motivated and able to deliver. We also recommend undertaking facilitation and co-creation training to maximise the outcomes from community engagement exercises.
Cultivate industry and community relationships. Here at Beedier we believe the key to successful bid writing is establishing positive working relationships, and this is of paramount importance when it comes to social value. From early engagement opportunities on upcoming tenders, to establishing a reputation of conscientious practice in your local area and building networks with SMEs and VCSEs in the neighbourhoods you work in, these relationships will embed a mindset of opportunity and accountability within your practice and familiarity and reliability in the sector.
Empower your supply chain. Partner with contractors, suppliers, and consultants who not only share your social value priorities but who are able to cover areas where your own offer may be weaker. For example, a subcontractor employing ex-offenders or offering skills training could bolster your tender submission. Offer your supply chain opportunities for co-learning, provide social value templates and best practice guides to establish a reputation as a values-driven partner to the public sector.
Tender panels assess not just the project, but the ethos of the practice. Implementing the above will help demonstrate this ethos, but when writing your submissions, make sure you are explicit about your commitments.
The Future of Social Value
Social value is rapidly becoming a cornerstone of public procurement, and its influence will only continue to grow. The Labour Party has already announced plans to establish a new Social Value Council, bringing together voices from trade unions, employers, and the wider public to guide policy and practice.
The message is clear: embedding public benefit into projects is no longer optional – it’s the current state of procurement. Practices that take steps now to strengthen their social value strategies will be best placed to succeed in this evolving landscape. Get in touch for more advice on how to build your practice’s social value offering and how to write a winning application.
Marie Braithwaite is a qualified architect who produces tender research, bid writing, and creative content for Beedier and Woodburn Park Communications. An active organiser with Sheffield Community Land Trust, she combines professional practice, education, and volunteer experience to advance social value in architecture through community action, participatory design, and sustainable approaches to urban development.