Social value is the additional benefit to communities that can be created by procuring or commissioning services differently. It goes beyond price and quality to ask: what else does this contract deliver for society, the local economy, and the environment?

TL;DR: The Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 requires public bodies in England and Wales to consider social, economic, and environmental wellbeing when procuring services. The National TOMs (Themes, Outcomes, Measures) framework provides a standardised way to measure and compare social value commitments. Central government bodies must now apply a minimum 10% weighting to social value in contract evaluations under Procurement Policy Note 002. For charities and housing associations, demonstrating social value clearly -- and evidencing it after award -- is increasingly decisive in competitive bids.

The Social Value Act 2012: What It Requires and Why It Matters

The Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 was the first legislation in the world to require public bodies to consider social value in procurement. Under the Act, commissioners in England and Wales must consider how the services they procure might improve the economic, social, and environmental wellbeing of the relevant area, and how they might secure that improvement through the procurement process itself.

The Act originally applied only to service contracts above the EU procurement thresholds. In practice, many local authorities and NHS bodies have extended its principles across their wider commissioning activity, including smaller grants and spot-purchase arrangements.

Public procurement represents a substantial lever for social change. Gross public sector procurement spending reached approximately £434 billion in 2024/25 across the UK -- an increase of £19 billion on the previous year (HM Treasury, 2024). The scale of that spending means even modest shifts in how commissioners evaluate bids can direct significant resources towards organisations that create lasting community benefit.

The Social Value Act gave commissioners the legal basis to weigh social benefit alongside cost, but it did not mandate a minimum weighting or prescribe how social value should be measured. That lack of specificity produced uneven implementation. Early research by Social Enterprise UK found that some local authorities had interpreted the legislation as empowering and embedded it deeply into commissioning practice, while others had "no social value policy and no social value activity" (Social Enterprise UK, 2016).

The Procurement Act 2023 and the Updated Social Value Model

The Procurement Act 2023, which came fully into force in February 2025, updated the legislative landscape for social value. It replaced the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 and embedded social value more firmly into the award criteria framework.

Alongside the Act, Procurement Policy Note 002 (published February 2025) introduced a new Social Value Model for central government bodies, outlining five key missions and eight intended outcomes that central government social value initiatives should seek to support. From 1 October 2025, PPN 002 must be applied to procurements commenced under the Act.

Critically, PPN 002 sets a minimum 10% weighting for social value in central government contract evaluations. In practice, many contracting authorities already exceed this. Social value weightings in government contracts have risen from 2.5--5% a decade ago to at least 10% today, with many reaching 15--20%, and some local authorities such as Manchester City Council applying a 30% weighting (Social Value Portal, 2024). Bid-writing specialists regularly report social value comprising up to 25% of the overall marking criteria on public sector tenders.

For charities, social enterprises, and housing associations, this shift is significant. An organisation that can demonstrate compelling, evidenced social value commitments -- and back them up with verified data from previous contracts -- holds a structural advantage over private sector competitors that cannot match the same depth of community benefit.

The TOMs Framework: How Social Value is Measured

The National TOMs (Themes, Outcomes, Measures) framework is the most widely adopted standardised approach to measuring social value in UK public procurement. It was developed by Social Value Portal in collaboration with 40 organisations across the public, private, and third sectors (Social Value Portal, 2024).

TOMs works across three levels:

Themes -- the five overarching areas of social value: Jobs, Growth, Social, Environment, and Innovation.
Outcomes -- the specific changes or benefits targeted within each theme. The National TOMs framework includes 20 core outcomes.
Measures -- the quantifiable actions taken to deliver outcomes. The National TOMs includes 48 core measures, with the broader TOM System extending to 147 measures across 28 outcomes.

The framework assigns a financial proxy value to each measure, drawing on 17 official, accredited government data sources and a review of over 1,000 research papers (Social Value Portal, 2024). This allows commissioners to compare bids on a consistent monetised basis -- for example, valuing apprenticeships created, volunteering hours delivered, or carbon reduction achieved.

Estimates of the aggregate value that social value requirements can unlock are substantial. Local authorities fully exploiting the potential of the Social Value Act through TOMs are reporting added value of between 20% and 50% of contract value, and replicating this across the whole UK public sector has been estimated to deliver over £48 billion in additional community benefit annually (Social Value Portal, 2024).

For charities and housing associations bidding for contracts, understanding which TOMs measures align with their existing activities is essential. Many organisations are already delivering outcomes that count -- providing employment support, engaging volunteers, reducing environmental impact -- but are not capturing the data in a form that commissioners can evaluate. Structured Impact Reporting makes it possible to translate delivery activity into evidenced TOMs commitments at bid stage, and to demonstrate delivery against those commitments during contract monitoring.

What Commissioners Evaluate and What Bidders Need to Evidence

When a commissioning team evaluates social value, they are typically assessing two things: the credibility of the commitments offered in the bid, and the bidder's ability to measure and report on delivery. A well-framed social value response will set out specific, measurable commitments aligned to the commissioner's priorities -- drawing on the relevant TOMs measures -- and explain how outcomes will be tracked and reported.

Commissioners increasingly ask bidders to demonstrate past performance as well as future intentions. An organisation that can show verified outcome data from previous contracts -- apprentices employed, community events held, tonnes of carbon saved -- is in a stronger position than one that makes plausible but unsubstantiated commitments.

This places real demands on how charities and housing associations collect and manage data during service delivery. Surveys and structured monitoring tools allow delivery teams to gather outcome evidence directly from service users and stakeholders, creating a documented record that can feed into both contract monitoring returns and future bid submissions.

The commissioner's perspective matters too. Public sector bodies are under increasing pressure to demonstrate value for money and community impact in their commissioning decisions. Tools that aggregate social value evidence across a portfolio of contracts -- showing the cumulative benefit of commissioning from the voluntary and social enterprise sector -- help commissioners make the case internally for weighting social value appropriately. Impact Reporting can support both sides of this relationship: helping providers report clearly, and helping commissioners aggregate and present the evidence they receive.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the Social Value Act apply to housing associations and registered providers?

The Social Value Act 2012 directly applies to public bodies -- local authorities, NHS organisations, central government departments, and similar contracting authorities. Housing associations and registered providers are not directly bound by the Act in their own procurement. However, when housing associations bid for contracts let by public bodies (for example, care and support contracts, regeneration projects, or employment programmes), they are subject to the commissioner's social value requirements. Many housing associations also voluntarily apply social value principles to their own supply chains as part of their social purpose mission.

What is the difference between social value and corporate social responsibility?

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) typically refers to voluntary activities an organisation undertakes beyond its legal obligations -- charitable giving, staff volunteering programmes, environmental commitments. Social value in a procurement context is more specific: it refers to the measurable additional benefit created through the way a contract is delivered, assessed against the commissioner's stated priorities and measured using frameworks such as TOMs. Social value commitments in a bid are contractually binding; CSR activities are not.

How should we prepare our social value response for a public sector bid?

Start by reviewing the commissioner's social value specification carefully -- many authorities publish their priority themes and preferred measures. Map your organisation's existing delivery activities against the relevant TOMs measures to identify what you can credibly commit to. Set specific, quantified targets rather than vague intentions (for example, "create 12 employment opportunities for long-term unemployed residents in the borough" rather than "support local employment"). Describe your monitoring process: how will you collect data, how frequently will you report, and who is responsible? Use Impact Reporting tools to structure data collection in advance so that evidence is captured systematically rather than assembled retrospectively at contract monitoring stages.

Citations and Trusted Sources

HM Treasury, Public Spending Statistics 2024/25 -- total procurement spending: gov.uk
Social Enterprise UK, Social Value Act review research (2016): socialenterprise.org.uk
Social Value Portal, Procurement Act 2023 and Social Value (updated 2026): socialvalueportal.com
Social Value Portal, TOM System overview and framework statistics: socialvalueportal.com
HM Government, PPN 002: Taking account of social value in the award of central government contracts: gov.uk
HM Government, Social Value Act: information and resources: gov.uk
National TOMs Framework documentation: nationaltomsframework.com

Recommended Next Pages

Best Software for Local Authority Commissioning Teams -- How commissioning platforms help public bodies manage provider relationships and track outcomes.
Monitoring and Evaluation Software for Charities -- Tools for collecting, analysing and reporting outcome evidence during contract delivery.
What is Impact Reporting? -- How to turn delivery data into compelling evidence of community benefit.
What is Commissioning? -- A plain-English introduction to the commissioning cycle in public services.

Published by the Plinth Team. Last updated 21 February 2026.

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What is Social Value? The Social Value Act, TOMs Framework, and Public Sector Procurement Explained