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PPN 026: What Is the Government Looking For Around Jobs and Skills?
The PPN 026 guidance is due this autumn, and it will settle how the new Social Value Model works in practice: the sub-criteria, the evaluation methodology, the List of Community Programmes and the definitions of target cohorts. Until it arrives, nobody can say for...
PPN 026: What Is the Government Looking For Around Jobs and Skills?
The PPN 026 guidance is due this autumn, and it will settle how the new Social Value Model works in practice: the sub-criteria, the evaluation methodology, the List of Community Programmes and the definitions of target cohorts. Until it arrives, nobody can say for...
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Thrive launches Real Estate Metrics to help firms evidence social value
New pack adds 19 place-based metrics to Thrive’s proprietary Impact Evaluation Standard, tailored to the realities of real estate Launch comes as 76% of property investors consider social value in decision-making but more than half lack a framework to measure it...
The EU Public Procurement Act and Ireland’s National Public Procurement Policy Explained
The EU Public Procurement Act, proposed by the European Commission on 9 September 2026, would replace the three directives that have governed European public procurement since 2014 with a single Regulation, and it changes how social value counts in public contracts....
Inside Iarnród Éireann’s Social Value Journey
Iarnród Éireann Irish Rail is delivering a record investment programme: new fleets, electrification and the DART+ expansion of the Dublin network. The company has decided this spending should do more than build a railway, embedding social value into procurement so...
Double materiality asks for the good you do without telling you how to prove it. Here’s how.
European Sustainability Reporting Standard (ESRS) 1 defines impact as "positive and negative" effect on people and the environment. Hence “double materiality”. The negative side gets a method. The positive gets a field to fill in. Every criterion the standards use to...
The EU Omnibus cut 90% of CSRD. But look at what it refused to cut
The EU’s Omnibus I Directive removed roughly 42,000 companies from CSRD scope and cut ESRS datapoints by around 60%. Most of the coverage has been about what was lost. But a more revealing question is what survived. Double materiality, the principle that a company’s...
UK SRS is voluntary. So why are companies preparing social data now?
The UK Sustainability Reporting Standards were published in February 2026 and remain voluntary for every organisation. The FCA has proposed climate reporting for around 515 UK-listed companies from 2027, with a decision expected in autumn 2026. No private company is...
Five Errors That Could Be Hiding in Your Social Value Data Right Now
Estimated reading time: 13 minutes Under the Procurement Act 2023, social value data is now published and assessed - yet most organisations have never scrutinised it the way they scrutinise financial data. Five common, avoidable errors can inflate sets of reported...
PPN 026: What the Board Needs to Know
From 1 January 2027, a new Social Value Model decides up to a fifth of your score on central government contracts. PPN 026 replaces the PPN 002 Model, narrows social value to jobs and skills, and makes delivery against your commitments public. For suppliers, the...
PPN 026 vs PPN 002: What the Guidance Must Answer
PPN 026 will soon replace PPN 002 as the Social Value Model for central government, and it changes the system more than any update since the Model was created. But comparing PPN 026 with PPN 002 is harder than it looks, because most of what made PPN 002 work in...
The New Social Value Model: What PPN 026 Changes and When
On 5 August 2026 the Cabinet Office published Procurement Policy Note 026, a new Social Value Model for central government. It replaces the PPN 002 Model that has governed central government tenders since 1 October 2025 and applies to procurements commenced on or...
Social Impact and Real Asset Returns: What the Board Needs to Know
Real assets firms are under growing pressure to demonstrate the social impact of their investments. The question for boards and investment committees is no longer whether to invest, but whether that investment is producing returns you can measure, report, and defend...
From Weighting to Worth: Why Social Value Is Won or Lost After the Contract Is Awarded
Estimated reading time: 11 minutes Social value is now firmly established in public procurement, with weightings, evaluation criteria and a minimum 10% score. But what happens after the contract is signed? At Westminster Insight's Social Value in Procurement...
Beyond the Bid: Moving Social Value into Live Contract Management
Estimated reading time: 14 minutes For years, social value has been treated largely as a bid-stage discipline. Contracting authorities have built sophisticated systems for scoring what suppliers promise. Far less has gone into managing what suppliers actually deliver...
The Risk That’s Already Here: How Bad Social Value Data Costs You Today
Estimated reading time: 11 minutes If a client, an auditor, or your own board challenged one of your social value figures tomorrow, could you show where it came from? For many organisations the honest answer is no, and that should worry them long before any regulator...
Social Impact Is Where Environmental Data Was Ten Years Ago. That’s Good News
Social impact is beginning to experience the same transition environmental reporting went through a decade ago. What was once largely self-reported and accepted at face value is becoming something buyers, boards, auditors and policymakers expect to withstand scrutiny....
Can You Defend Your Social Value Data? What Our Validation Webinar Revealed
Estimated reading time: 17 minutes Social value reporting has matured fast, but the data underneath it hasn’t always kept pace. In a recent Thrive webinar, our team explored why more organisations are becoming exposed to scrutiny they aren’t ready for, what good...
Thrive appoints leading Social Value Economist Dr Daniel Fujiwara as Head of Economics
Thrive has appointed Dr Daniel Fujiwara as Head of Economics. A co-author of HM Treasury’s Green Book and an internationally recognised social impact economist, Dr Fujiwara will lead Thrive’s in-house Economics Team and deepen the economic expertise that underpins the...
From GDP to General Wellbeing: What the Wellbeing Economy Means for Real Estate
Real estate and infrastructure investment is judged largely on financial returns, with social and environmental factors usually treated as ESG add-ons. A growing body of work argues that the way we measure value itself is a problem. At UKREiiF 2026, a panel chaired by...
Delivering Joined-Up Impact Across the Asset Lifecycle at UKREiiF
Estimated reading time: 9 minutes Real estate social impact measurement is usually broken into design, planning, construction and in-use phases. Along that journey, it is passed between owners, contractors, architects, occupiers and local authorities, each with their...
Social Impact ROI for Real Assets: Why the Numbers Matter
Estimated reading time: 17 minutes Key Takeaways Social impact is becoming a measurable factor in real asset performance. For investors, asset managers, and ESG leads across real estate and infrastructure, the question is no longer whether social impact (or social...
Thrive launches UK’s first real-time social value data validation
The April 2026 release introduces Thrive Validation - the UK market’s first system-enforced, standards-aligned data quality layer for social value – alongside Full Data Entry for all customers. London, 15 April 2026. Social value is weighted in procurement,...
The Contract Management Playbook Is Here: What Social Value Teams Need to Know
Estimated reading time: 10 minutes The UK Government has spent the past two years building the framework for social value accountability in public procurement. With the publication of the Contract Management Playbook (March 2026), it has now provided the instruction...
What the “Growing British Industry, Jobs and Skills” Consultation Response Changes for Social Value
Estimated reading time: 10 minutes The government’s response to the “Public Procurement: Growing British Industry, Jobs and Skills” consultation has landed, with clear implications for how social value is delivered in public procurement. Based on 811 responses, it...
Ensuring Social Value Requirements Are ‘Proportionate’: What Commissioning Authorities Need to Know
Estimated reading time: 7 minutes Getting Proportionality Right in Social Value Procurement - Key Takeaways Under the Procurement Act 2023, every social value requirement in a public procurement must be proportionate to the nature, cost, and complexity of the...
Social Value in Central Government: Why the Shift from Promises to Proof Changes Everything
Estimated reading time: 7 minutes Insights from our webinar “From Policy to Proof: Delivering Social Value and Value for Money in Central Government”, which took place in March 2026 and predates the arrival of PPN 026 in August 2026. Key Takeaways Social value is...
The New Transparency: What the Procurement Act’s Notice Regime Means for Social Value
Estimated reading time: 9 minutes The Procurement Act 2023 introduced up to 17 mandatory notice types spanning the full procurement lifecycle, from pipeline planning to published contract performance ratings. This blog explains what these transparency requirements...
Procurement Act 2023: What Changes on 1 April 2026?
Estimated reading time: 7 minutes Procurement Act 2023: What Changes on 1 April 2026 From 1 April 2026, new transparency provisions under the Procurement Act 2023 come into force. These introduce payment reporting, supplier registration on the Central Digital...
The Questions Your Suppliers Are Asking and Why They Matter to Your Social Value Strategy
Estimated reading time: 7 minutes Key Takeaways Clarity in social value procurement processes boosts supplier competitiveness and ensures better project outcomes. Commissioning authorities should address key questions about contract goals, reporting, and evaluation...
From Award to Outcomes: How Public Bodies Can Strengthen Contract Management
Estimated reading time: 7 minutes The Procurement Act 2023 has made contract performance more visible and more exposed. For most contracts over £5 million, KPIs must be set before award, published, and assessed annually. Performance is no longer just managed...
“Make It Easy for Our Suppliers”: Designing Social Value Systems That Actually Work
Platforms that reduce supplier burden produce better data, stronger assurance, and lower risk Every organisation depends on suppliers to evidence social value delivery. Yet the people responsible for collecting and submitting that information are rarely social value...
How FCC Environment Uses Thrive to Evidence the Social Value in Waste
Waste and resource management may not be the first sector people associate with major social value creation. Yet these essential services touch every household and business in the UK. As recent events in Birmingham have shown, society feels the impact...
IMD 2025 Data Now Live in Thrive’s LNA — Helping You Build Stronger, More Targeted Social Value Plans
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes Social value planning is at its strongest when it’s rooted in accurate, up-to-date insight. That’s why we’ve moved quickly to bring the newly released 2025 Index of Multiple Deprivation data straight into the Thrive Local Needs...
How the New Index of Multiple Deprivation Can Improve Social Value Delivery
Estimated reading time: 7 minutes If you’re a social value manager or bid manager responsible for creating a social value plan, understanding where to focus your efforts is essential. Different areas of your community — or the country — have different needs, and...
The Answer Is In The Question: PPN 002’s Model Social Value Question
Estimated reading time: 6 minutes In the conversation around PPN 002, there has been - understandably - a heavy focus on the Social Value Model’s Missions, Model Award Criteria (MACs), and Standard Reporting Metrics (SRMs). Much less attention has been paid to the...
More Lots, Less Volume: How PPN 002 and the Procurement Act Help SMEs Create Social Value
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes The Procurement Act 2023 and the PPN 002 Social Value Model include two critical provisions that will help Small and Medium Sized Businesses (SMEs) and Voluntary, Community, and Social Enterprises (VCSEs) to win a greater share of...
Thrive launches first measurement framework to meet new UK government social value rules – PPN 002
Press Release Thrive’s enhanced Impact Evaluation Standard ensures suppliers stay compliant with both the new PPN 002 Social Value Model and legacy PPN 06/20 rules. Thousands of UK government suppliers risk falling foul of new procurement rules from today — unless...
Introducing Social Value KPIs
The Procurement Act 2023 introduced mandatory published Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) - written into contracts and tracked over time - into UK procurement law for the first time. Days before the Act came into force in February 2025, PPN 002 and the new...
Exclusion and Debarment Under the Procurement Act 2023 Explained
The Procurement Act 2023 has had a significant impact on social value since it came into force in February 2025. We’ve summarised the most important effects of the Procurement Act previously, but in this blog we’re going to focus on the Exclusion and Debarment regime:...
A Day in the Life of a Social Value Professional
“Social Value professional” is a relatively new career path, but one that’s becoming more and more attractive to a generation of workforce entrants that wants to work for companies that do good in the world. But what exactly do today’s Social Value leaders do...
How Does the Switch from MEAT to MAT Affect Social Value?
PPN 002 and Social Value Model Explainer series The Procurement Act 2023 changed the grounds for awarding contracts in competitive processes to “Most Advantageous Tender”. Before the Act, the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 had ruled that the basis should be...
Beyond PPN 002: From Standard Reporting Metrics to Where…?
PPN 002 and Social Value Model Explainer series One of the new elements introduced in the PPN 002 Social Value Model is the idea of “Standard Reporting Metrics” (SRMs) - that is, officially mandated ways in which certain types of social value should be measured and...
How Contracting Authorities Can Use Preliminary Market Engagement to Enhance Social Value
PPN 002 and Social Value Model Explainer series: For Contracting Authorities In public procurement, social value is all about making sure that communities benefit as much as possible from every pound of public money spent. So it follows that, for any spending...
How Contracting Authorities Can Spend More with SMEs and VCSEs
PPN 002 and Social Value Model Explainer series: For Contracting Authorities The Procurement Act 2023, the National Procurement Policy Statement, PPN 002, and the new Social Value Model all make one thing very clear: The government wants to direct a greater proportion...
Social Value in the NHS – New Procurement Playbook Sets the Scene
In July 2025, NHS England published the NHS Social Value Playbook. The document sets out guidance on how social value is to be treated in NHS procurement, both: During the transitional period between PPN06/20 and PPN 002 (February to September 2025) Once PPN 002 is in...
How Contracting Authorities Can Drive Social Value Through PPN 002
The weeks and months are counting down until PPN 002 supercedes PPN06/20, which will bring changes affecting contracting authorities with PPN002. What does the switch from 2021’s Social Value Model to the 2025 version mean for central government procurement...
Tilbury Douglas: Why This Strategic Supplier Chose Thrive To Enable Their Social Value
Strategic supplier Tilbury Douglas is on a fast-paced social value journey. This February saw the building, infrastructure, engineering and fit-out group launch its first environmental, social, and governance (ESG) strategy, “Building a better future together” - tying...
What Makes the Impact Evaluation Standard Different from Other Social Value Frameworks?
What is the Impact Evaluation Standard? And what makes it different from the other frameworks that exist for measuring and reporting on social value? In this article you will learn why there are various social value reporting frameworks in use and what makes the...
PPN 002’s Social Value Model Missions Explained and Applied: Build an NHS Fit for the Future
How To Implement The New Social Value Model Missions in your Business This blog looks at PPN 002 and the Social Value Model published in February 2025. This Model applies only to in-scope contracts published between October 2025 and August 2026, some of those...
PPN 002’s Social Value Model Missions Explained and Applied: Break Down Barriers to Opportunity
How To Implement The New Social Value Model Missions in your Business This blog looks at PPN 002 and the Social Value Model published in February 2025. This Model applies only to in-scope contracts published between October 2025 and August 2026, some of those...
PPN 002’s Social Value Model Missions Explained: Take Back Our Streets
How To Implement The New Social Value Model Missions in your Business This blog looks at PPN 002 and the Social Value Model published in February 2025. This Model applies only to in-scope contracts published between October 2025 and August 2026, some of those...
PPN 002’s Social Value Model Missions Explained and Applied: Clean Energy Superpower
How To Implement The New Social Value Model Missions in your Business This blog looks at PPN 002 and the Social Value Model published in February 2025. This Model applies only to in-scope contracts published between October 2025 and August 2026, some of those...
PPN 002’s Social Value Model Missions Explained and Applied: Kickstart Economic Growth
How To Implement The New Social Value Model Missions in your Business This blog looks at PPN 002 and the Social Value Model published in February 2025. This Model applies only to in-scope contracts published between October 2025 and August 2026, some of those...
Thrive launches first-of-its-kind platform to help organisations measure social impact internationally
Move marks the first time organisations can track and report credible, data-led social value across 38 countries Thrive has announced a first-of-its-kind solution allowing organisations to measure and report their social, economic, and environmental impact across...
Ten Things You Need To Know About The Procurement Act
On February 24 2025, the Procurement Act 2023 came into force - shaking up the face of UK public procurement dramatically. After a long trek through Parliament - starting in May 2022 and finally receiving Royal Assent in October 2023 - it took a further 15...
From Beginner to Award-Winner: Dimensions Care’s Social Value Journey
Dimensions Care has had a meteoric social value journey so far. From taking the first steps in early 2023, the Midlands-based children’s residential care provider celebrated business manager Ruth Scalise winning the Social Value Leader Award at the Social Care...
“Social Value is a Canvas to Paint on” for Real Estate
by Cleo Folkes John Badman of Gensler said something that really struck me at the recent Association for Rental Living workshop on social value benchmarking and methodology that I ran in March. We were discussing BTR, but when John said that delivering social value...
Real Estate’s Social Value (R) Evolution
I haven’t had such a packed week since I joined Thrive as Lead Consultant for Real Assets last year! In the final days of March I: ● Ran a workshop with the Association for Rental Living on social value benchmarking and methodology (26/3/25) ● ...
How to Supercharge Employee Volunteering Engagement – Taking Inspiration from Coventry Building Society
Improve Employee Volunteering with 5 key steps... A question we’re often asked is this: “how can I get more of my team engaged with volunteering efforts?” Fortunately, Thrive works alongside many companies that have solved this challenge and are regularly hitting...
Social Sustainability: From Output to Impact
Thursday March 13 saw the first-ever Thrive Live webinar, and we’d like to thank the panellists - Verity Magee, Helen Longfils, and Vanessa Soames, plus our own Danielle Aberg - for a fascinating and thought-provoking hour! If you’re one of the nearly 500 people who...
Hippo: A Technology Social Value Success Story
Hippo is a full-service digital consultancy that works extensively with central government and its agencies, as well as the private sector. The company has a team of more than 500 specialists, working on scaling digital delivery and transformation. And when Hippo...
What is PPN 06/20?
As of August 2026, new in-scope central government procurements are governed by PPN 002 or PPN 026 at the discretion of the commissioning authority. From January 2027, PPN 026 becomes mandatory. However, many contracts signed before October 2025 are still governed...
PPN002 – It’s A New Social Value Model!
This article was published on the release of PPN 002 in February 2025. In August 2026, a replacement Model, PPN 026, was published to take effect in January 2027. Find out more about PPN 026 here. On February 13 - just 11 days before the implementation of the...
What is Social Value? And How Can I Measure It? (Updated for 2025)
At Thrive, we help companies plan, measure, and report on the social value created by their work. But what is social value? OR GO STRAIGHT TO OUR: Social Value Explainer Resource Pack Defining Social Value Professional body Social Value UK provides the following...
Social Value History … and What Does the Future Look Like?
At Thrive, we’ve talked many times about what social value is, how it should be measured and reported on, and how businesses can win more public contracts by understanding it better. But until now our blogs have touched little upon the history of social value, how...
Social Value: Ten Things Every Business Needs To Know
If your business is involved in public procurement - whether it’s with central government and its agencies, the NHS, or local authorities - you need to be on top of social value. If you’re new to the topic of social value or if you’re looking to find out more, read...
Can You Be Sure You Aren’t Greenwashing… or Soc Washing?
With several new pieces of legislation released throughout the UK and EU in 2024 we take a look back at the information you need to know to make sure you stay on the right side of the line when it comes to your sustainability disclosures. Sustainability sells, and...
ESG and Social Value: What’s the Difference?
In barely 20 years, Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) has become a major factor in financial thinking. This is clearly a cause for celebration: the fact that markets and investors favour responsible companies is hugely welcome. But there is a growing sense...
How to implement social value across your business – and get everyone on board
Embedding social value in your organisation requires involving everyone—from the boardroom to frontline staff. However, transforming habits when social value hasn't been a business priority can be quite challenging. We understand that achieving this integration can be...
How Thrive Makes Social Value Report Creation Simple: A Chat with Mulalley
We’re well into the second decade of the social value era. And while methodologies for measuring environmental performance have a long pedigree, many businesses still find it much harder to treat the “S” and the “G” in “ESG” - social and governance criteria - in a...
The 5 Best Ways Facilities Management Can Generate and Report More Social Value
Facilities Management businesses that work with the public sector know all about the importance of creating - and measuring and reporting on - social value. And it’s increasingly important in winning and retaining private sector contracts too as investors, markets,...
Social Value in Real Estate: 5 Ways to Get Started or Improve
The real estate sector is getting better at sustainability, thanks to a growing emphasis on energy efficiency and environmental concerns. But the “S” in ESG – the social value of an asset or project – is lagging behind. Yet social value is becoming increasingly...
5 Ways Defence Contractors Can Get Better At Delivering Social Value
The defence sector has a huge range of skills, specialisms and resources that can be used for social good. With a duty to protect and serve communities, the foundational principles of social value may already be a part of an organisation’s mission. But when it comes...
“It takes a village”: how one company is bringing clients and suppliers along on their social value journey
Kinovo plc have worked hard to build its social value offering over the last three years, and now they get to bring their stakeholders along for the ride. Their smaller partners and suppliers are benefiting from their guidance – and their more social value-savvy...
How to engage your employees with your social value strategy: A practical guide
Getting employees to think about their impact on society and the environment should, of course, be a top priority for any business. Incorporating social value into your business strategy is essential for good corporate governance and needs the full support of the...
Increasing your social value: how one company continues to drive positive change
The days of CSR are long behind us and social value expectations have matured. What measures can organisations that already understand social value put in place to stay ahead of the game?Octavius Infrastructure (Octavius) prioritised the development of a powerful...
Social value in recruitment – 5 things you can do
Recruitment companies are under increasing pressure to deliver social value. Whether your organisation is working directly with a public body to provide recruitment services or as part of a supply chain, having a robust social value offer can now be the difference...
10 Questions To Ask When Choosing A Social Value Framework
There’s only one Social Value Model, but there are several social value frameworks. Each one measures and monetises the impact of social interventions in different ways. So, how do you choose the right social value framework for your organisation? That’s what we’ll...
How to answer the social value question in public tenders
Winning public tenders often hinges on demonstrating not just your ability to deliver, but also the positive impact you can create for the wider community. Understanding how to answer the social value question has become increasingly important and crafting a...
5 reasons to use social value reporting software
In today's world, social value goes beyond having an inspiring company mission statement. Companies must learn how to use reporting to evidence their positive impact effectively. Here are five great reasons why using social value reporting software can transform the...
How Laing O’Rourke have used the Impact Evaluation Standard to demonstrate ROI to clients
Social value monitoring and measurement is a requirement for any organisation bidding for contracts within the public sector. But can it be useful outside the bid process too? Engineering and construction company Laing O’Rourke think so. Its team have been...
Impact Evaluation Standard to be licensed by HMRC to assess social value
A notice for public sector departments and their suppliers The Impact Evaluation Standard (IES) will now provide HMRC with the ability to ensure suppliers social value commitments are evaluated correctly when evaluating bids and ensure suppliers are upholding the...
How social value reporting gives one IT company a commercial edge
Converge Technology Solutions has expanded social value reporting to encompass all parts of the business – and it gives the IT company a competitive edge. The UK IT sector is still a relative newcomer to social value, but that didn’t stop trailblazers at Converge...
Social Value for Tech: 5 things you need to know
The importance of creating a positive social impact is becoming a major focus for many organisations and the tech industry is no different. As well as being a priority for investors, customers and staff, it now forms an essential part of public sector bids. But...
Casey: Getting Strategic About Social Value
What happens when you’re already delivering social impact as a business but need to get better at reporting on and proving it? When social value legislation was introduced, community-spirited construction company The Casey Group Ltd (Casey) needed to...
5 Ways Your Social Impact Strategy Can Improve Employee Engagement
Employee engagement matters. And the companies that have the highest levels of engagement tend to be those that also have well-developed social impact strategies. Here we highlight five key ways your social impact strategy can enhance employee engagement. These...
Social Value Wording – A Comprehensive Glossary
Since the introduction of the first Social Value Model in January 2021, the importance of social value in public procurement has soared. But with no clear definition of social value and confusion around CSR, ESG, and sustainability, it can be challenging to...
10 Reasons Why Volunteering Is Good For Your Business
Is volunteering good for business? Because it is a large part of our cultural psyche. Millions of us give up time on a regular basis to do voluntary work. According to the last government Community Life Survey for 2020-2021, 19 million people in England were...