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 teams?
In this blog, we’ll explore the ways that the new rules affect contracting authorities and how the Thrive platform helps public sector procurement professionals get the best out of them, so as to generate more social value than ever before.
NB This article predates the publication of PPN 026 in August 2026 which will supercede PPN 002 from January 2027.
What’s New?
The Procurement Act, the National Procurement Policy Statement (NPPS), and the new PPN 002 Social Value Model are all set to have a profound impact on how contracting authorities and suppliers plan, measure, deliver, and report social value.
- For an introduction to the Procurement Act 2023, read our recent explainer blog.
- For a detailed breakdown of how the new Social Value Model compares to the old one, take a look at point-for-point comparison.
But the changes are not just about recalibrating policy priorities and metrics. They’re also about improving practice in the following ways.
More Preliminary Market Engagement
The responsibility on contracting authorities to involve potential suppliers in designing better specifications for procurements has been emphasised – specifically through:
- Expanded detail on what to do and when in the new Guide to Using the Social Value Model
Suggestions include running events with suppliers to understand cost and quality drivers, testing options for the social value question in tenders, and experimenting with weightings, MACs, key metrics, social value KPIs. Above all:
“Keep suppliers engaged and informed by publishing a preliminary market engagement notice.”
This is good news for contracting authorities and suppliers alike – especially in sectors where a lack of social value maturity has led some to view the previous Model as something of a straitjacket.
Indeed, the call for more consultation and recognition of different sectors’ strengths was one of the key points in techUK’s 2023 “Improving Social Value in Technology Procurement” report. More, earlier conversations will see a wider range of social value propositions considered and put forward, driving innovation and – ultimately – generating more social benefits.
Standard Reporting Metrics
In its “Social Value 2032” roadmap, Social Value UK said:
“The measurement and tracking of social value lacks common standards and approaches, while data is patchy and accountability is mixed.”
The absence of a single, standardised approach has been a common complaint, and while the new system doesn’t solve the problem entirely, it does improve the situation by introducing Standard Reporting Metrics (SRMs).
These is a list of 33 measures spelled out in full in the Model, aligned against the Policy Outcomes, Model Award Criteria (MACs), and Model sub criteria that they apply to. For example:
In essence, SRMs are included to make it clear how the most frequently-requested and delivered forms of social value benefit should be presented and measured. If you are looking for suppliers to create roles and apprenticeships, for example, these should be specified in numbers, by region.
This helps ensure consistency and comparability between bids and contracts – which is important as authorities have to produce detailed quarterly returns for the Cabinet Office on social value gains delivered against a predetermined list of categories.
But doesn’t that contradict the idea of encouraging innovation in social value we talked about earlier? Don’t SRMs force social value to fit into a very narrow set of boxes?
Not necessarily.
The new Model is clear that contracting authorities can diverge from the SRMs where appropriate. The Guide says:
- “Where the deliverable relates to a Standard Reporting Metric (SRM) listed in PPN 002 Social Value Model, the SRM should be used to draft the KPI, PI or commitment in the contract, as long as it is appropriate and proportionate to do so.”
- “Where the deliverable is not listed in the model list of SRMs or it is not appropriate or proportionate to use one of the SRMs, the authority should agree an appropriate metric with the supplier.”
- “Only where there is not a suitable SRM, consideration should be made of any sector-wide measurement of the deliverable, aligning to existing metrics used by the supplier for economies of scale where appropriate.”
Social Value KPIs
Another new factor is the power introduced for authorities to add social value KPIs – and a duty to report on them – into contracts.
- As mentioned above, KPIs will be expressed in terms of SRMs wherever possible
- Authorities that use KPIs will be expected to publish them and rate performance on a scale from “Good” to “Inadequate”
The purpose of including social value KPIs is to ensure that suppliers can be held to account for delivering on their social value commitments with the same degree of rigour as is applied to other contract terms. Better contract management should yield not more social value, but also better value for money all round.
How the Impact Evaluation Standard Helps Contracting Authorities
The Impact Evaluation Standard is the independently governed standard for the public and private sectors to assess and measure social value, quantitatively and qualitatively. In 2023 it was chosen by HM Revenue and Customs as the sole standard the organisation would use to evaluate suppliers’ social value commitments.
The Impact Evaluation Standard expands upon the SRMs with a collection of around 130 metrics built directly out of the SRMs and MACs but giving additional depth and breadth by adding other aspects noted in the Social Value Model documentation and/or other commonly used metrics in social value reporting.
Rather than needing to develop new metrics from scratch when there is no suitable SRM, authorities can select expertly-calculated, up-to-date alternatives – all designed in accordance with HM Treasury Green Book guidance.
For example, compared to just one SRM relating to apprenticeships in the Model, the Impact Evaluation Standard has six different metrics, each of which focuses on separate aspects of the benefits of creating these positions – while nevertheless being clearly derivative from the SRM (and based on authoritative primary, secondary, and tertiary sources – and overseen by an Independent Steering Committee of industry experts).
In this way, authorities and suppliers can take a more tailored approach, measuring and reporting on factors bespoke to a particular project, while still being reportable in terms of the SRMs.
This kind of flexibility is vital for ensuring that a diverse range of suppliers – with different strengths – can compete fairly. Deciding how success will be measured on a specific project, indeed, is a central part of the aim of preliminary market engagement.
In other words, the Impact Evaluation Standard provides a framework for guiding the dialogue around social value during these conversations that allows for innovation – but in a way that is rigorous and open to assurance.
How Thrive Helps Contracting Authorities
The Thrive platform has the Impact Evaluation Standard built in. But that’s far from the only reason to use it – hence why Thrive is used by authorities including Cardiff Council, NHS Property Services, the UK Atomic Energy Authority and more.
We’ll look at just four.
No Hidden Costs
Some social value frameworks don’t just require you to subscribe to their platforms – they make all your suppliers pay for licences as well in order to report the data you need from them!
Thrive is not like that at all. Your suppliers don’t pay anything to submit social value data to you. The Thrive platform lets you send forms out to suppliers and other parties responsible for data capture via email and automatically logs the responses.
Customisable and Flexible
Our software is constantly being updated with new features and the Impact Evaluation Standard is updated at least once a year to reflect best practice and changing government guidance.
We’re keen to involve customers in developing our product roadmap, and have an enviable track record in building and deploying new solutions in response to specific needs fast. That might be a reporting template, a niche metric, a custom dashboard, or something else. If you need something very particular in your reporting platform, let’s talk about it!
Gives Depth to Your Reporting
A spreadsheet with a list of figures does a poor job of telling the story of the social value your organisation is generating.
Thrive allows you and your suppliers to log qualitative information alongside quantitative data (pictures, notes, etc). With PPN 002 putting more emphasis on reporting, the ability to wrap narrative around the numbers is becoming more important: not just for suppliers, but also for authorities reporting into the Cabinet Office and other stakeholders.
Our software also includes a state-of-the-art report designer and builder tool, that’s not only quick and easy to use with an intuitive drag-and-drop interface, but also imports all of your data direct from the system at the touch of a button.
Expert Consultants on Hand
Finally, Thrive has an in-house team of recognised expert consultants on hand who can provide tailored support to align your projects with the new NPPS, PPN 002, and other requirements.
At Thrive we specialise in helping companies and government departments track, measure and amplify their social value in line with the Social Value Model. If you want to discover how you can measure your social value more effectively and report to stakeholders quickly, don’t hesitate to contact us. We’d love to help you uncover more opportunities to showcase your impact.
Or find out more about Thrive’s consultancy services.
Alan Boyce
Senior Researcher More articles by Alan >
