Social value is the 10% of your tender score that most SMEs throw away before they start writing. Not because they lack it. Because they describe it badly. Since January 2021, every central government contract must weight social value at a minimum of 10% of the total score, and most councils have followed with weightings of 10% to 20%. On a typical contest where the winner beats second place by 3 or 4 points, social value is not a nice extra. It is the whole margin.
Here is the uncomfortable joke of it: the corporates you are bidding against employ consultants to manufacture social value statements, while you, the local SME, are sitting on the real thing and writing three vague lines about it. You live in the area. You hire from the area. You already sponsor the under 12s football team that plays behind the depot. You are the social value. This guide shows you how to score like it, built on what evaluators actually mark, July 2026.
What is social value in public sector tenders?
Social value is the additional economic, social and environmental benefit a buyer gets from awarding the contract to you, beyond the service itself. The legal spine is the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012, sharpened by PPN 06/20 which made the 10% minimum weighting mandatory for central government, and carried forward under the Procurement Act 2023 regime.
In practice it means the tender asks a question like: "Describe the social value your organisation will deliver through this contract." And you answer with commitments the buyer can measure. Jobs. Apprenticeships. Local spend. Carbon reduction. Community time.
The scoring is real. On a 100 point evaluation with social value at 10%, a strong answer against a weak one swings more points than most pricing strategies can. You can lose a contract you should have won on this single question. Suppliers do, every week.
Why SMEs should love this question, not fear it
The social value question is the only part of a tender where a 12 person firm from the borough can outscore a national with 40,000 staff, and the reason is simple: buyers score local delivery, not global brochures.
The national bidder promises a percentage of a percentage of a group target. You can promise that both new hires for the contract will live within five miles of the site, and name the job centre you will recruit through. The national promises a vague volunteering scheme. You name the school, the date and the activity. Evaluators are instructed to score specificity and deliverability. Local and concrete beats global and glossy.
We see this pattern constantly in the award data behind our desks. The facilities desk tracked £3.91 billion in awards over the last year, and the winners in the SME value bands are overwhelmingly firms that treated the social value question as a second bid, not a formality. If you are chasing work like the live school contracts we covered in the council cleaning guide, this is where you take points off bigger rivals.
What actually scores: the five themes
Most public bodies score social value against the government's model themes. Learn them once, reuse them forever.
- Jobs and skills. New roles, apprenticeships, T level placements, interviews guaranteed for care leavers or veterans. Quantify. "Two apprentices in year one" beats "we are committed to developing people."
- Local supply chain. Percentage of contract spend with suppliers inside the buyer's boundary. Name your subcontractors and where they are.
- Community. Staff volunteering hours, free services for community groups, sponsorships. Specific hours, named organisations.
- Environment. Carbon reduction plan, fleet transition dates, waste diversion percentages. On contracts over £5 million a Carbon Reduction Plan is mandatory anyway, so having one early is free ammunition.
- Wellbeing and fair work. Real Living Wage accreditation, mental health support, no zero hours contracts where the workforce wants guaranteed hours.
Pick two or three themes you can genuinely deliver and go deep. Five shallow themes score worse than two proven ones.
How to write commitments evaluators can score
Every social value commitment needs four parts: what, how much, when, and how the buyer will verify it. That is the entire trick.
Weak: "We will support local employment."
Strong: "We will recruit two full time cleaning operatives through Aylesbury Jobcentre Plus within 60 days of contract start, both on the Real Living Wage, reported quarterly to your contract manager with payroll evidence."
The second version is not better writing. It is better evidence. An evaluator can score it, a contract manager can audit it, and a lawyer can hold you to it. Which is also your warning: only promise what you will actually do, because the Procurement Act 2023 regime pushes buyers to monitor delivery and exclude suppliers who fib.
One more move the corporates cannot copy: proximity maths. Work out what percentage of your current staff live within the buyer's area and state it. "83% of our workforce lives within the borough" is a sentence a national firm can never write.
When should you build the social value case?
Before the tender lands, obviously, which is why this sits next to our guide on pre tender engagement. If you know a contract renews in six months, you have six months to set up the college partnership, get the Real Living Wage accreditation and log the volunteering. Then the bid writes itself from receipts instead of promises. Deciding which contests deserve that investment is a bid or no bid decision, and social value readiness belongs on that checklist.
Frequently asked questions
Is social value really worth 10% or is that just central government?
The 10% minimum is mandatory for central government under PPN 06/20. Councils, NHS trusts and housing associations set their own weightings, and most now sit between 10% and 20%. Some councils score it at 25%. Check the evaluation criteria in every tender pack; it is always stated.
Can a tiny company score well against nationals?
Yes, and frequently better. Scoring rewards specific, local, verifiable commitments. Small firms are structurally better at all three. Your problem is articulation, not substance.
Do I need a social value policy document?
Helpful, not decisive. A one page policy plus a table of measurable commitments beats a 20 page strategy with no numbers. Some buyers use the TOM System (Themes, Outcomes, Measures) to score; mirroring its language never hurts.
What if I cannot afford apprenticeships or volunteering hours?
Scale honestly. One work experience placement, 3% of spend moved to a local supplier, or free service time for one community centre are all scoreable. Buyers score proportionality; a £150,000 contract is not expected to fund a training academy.
Where do social value commitments get checked?
In contract management meetings after award. Deliver what you promised and you have a case study that wins the next three bids. Miss it and you have an awkward meeting and a weaker reference.
Sources and references
- Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012
- PPN 06/20, Taking Account of Social Value in the Award of Central Government Contracts
- Procurement Act 2023 statutory guidance
- AtlasRevenue facilities desk award data, July 2026
The contracts where social value swings the result are live right now. AtlasRevenue tracks Contracts Finder and Find a Tender daily, filtered to your sector, with the renewal dates that tell you when to start building the case. Run a scan and see the next contest before your competitors know it exists.
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