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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 internally. It is transparent and challengeable.
Social Value KPIs are often the most scrutinised example of this shift. They turn policy commitments into published measures of delivery.
For commercial teams, the question is no longer simply how to award well, but how to evidence performance throughout the life of the contract.
For procurement and social value teams, this shift changes the day-to-day reality of the job:
- Setting appropriate Social Value KPIs and being held accountable
- Assessing and publishing supplier performance annually
- Handling underperformance and Contract Performance Notices without damaging relationships
In this article, we’ll look at:
- What commissioning authorities must do to comply
- How Social Value KPIs can improve spending impact
- How Thrive saves time, improves reliability, and supports reporting and showcasing
Setting Social Value KPIs that Promote Impact and Value for Money
The Procurement Act 2023 says:
Any in-scope public body entering into a contract with a value of more than £5 million must set at least three KPIs before awarding the contract; and those KPIs must be published (Section 52)
Performance against those KPIs must be assessed and published at least once every 12 months during the contract’s lifetime and at its end (Section 71)
The Guide to using the PPN 002 Social Value Model says:
“We encourage in-scope organisations to include at least one SV KPI (in addition to any others) when first entering into a contract.”
Poorly designed KPIs are a common cause of contract management failure. Authorities must ensure KPIs are:
- Proportionate and achievable
- Statutorily compliant
- Structured to drive the right behaviours
Because if they’re not you run the risk of:
- Asking for vague deliverables that cannot be enforced
- Setting quantitative targets with no baseline to contextualise them
- Setting KPIs disconnected from the subject matter
- Creating perverse incentives
This is particularly challenging for social value, where commitments combine qualitative outcomes with quantitative measures:
“Where Social Value KPIs are used they should always comprise a combination of a deliverable and a numeric element, by which the performance of that deliverable is to be measured.”
To move beyond compliance and improve performance, commissioning authorities need clarity on:
- Outcomes that matter to service users
- Alignment with policy priorities
- Operational, financial, and social measures of success
- Clear baselines and thresholds
Standard Reporting Metrics (SRMs) simplify this. The Guide explains:
- Social Value commitments and deliverables should be couched in terms of the SRMs where possible
- Therefore “the SRM should be used to draft the KPI”
- Only “where there is not a suitable SRM” should authorities and suppliers agree other metrics.
Establishing baselines is particularly important where historical data has been inconsistent. Using SRM-aligned metrics creates comparability across contracts and over time, enabling benchmarking, trend analysis, and stronger expectations at renewal or re-procurement.
During Preliminary Market Engagement, authorities and suppliers should agree which SRMs, deliverables, KPIs, and metrics are appropriate so the market understands how it will report and perform.
Managing Social Value KPIs Beyond Contract Award
NB The Cabinet Office had planned to publish a Contract Management Playbook by late 2025. This had not been released at the time of writing (February 2026). This blog will be updated when it is available.
Social value is now expected to be actively managed, not just promised.
Authorities must:
- Embed commitments into contracts
- Monitor delivery throughout the lifecycle
- Publish required performance data
In practice, teams are already stretched, and these requirements add another layer of compliance:
- What happens if annual publication dates are missed?
- What if performance ratings are inconsistent across contracts?
- What if a Contract Performance Notice is issued without clear audit trail?
Thrive provides infrastructure that helps mitigate these risks.
It enables social value delivery to be tracked alongside other contract performance data, with evidence captured as delivery happens. This improves audit readiness, reduces reporting burden, and demonstrates that commitments are measurable and delivered.
Customisable supplier submission forms ensure the right data is provided in the right format with minimal friction, reducing undirected self-reporting and embedding proportionate, risk-based assurance.
Live dashboards provide:
- Clear visibility of progress
- Early warning of underperformance
- A consistent, portfolio-wide view
Clear reporting expectations send strong signals to suppliers about priorities, improving behaviour and clarifying when Contract Performance Notices are justified.
Compliance with Reporting Requirements
Authorities must publish KPI performance annually.
Maintaining a reporting regime is demanding. Large public bodies frequently manage 20 or more £5m+ contracts at once.
Thrive reduces that burden:
- Impact Evaluation Standard metrics are built around the SRMs
- Live dashboards tracking performance and deadlines
- Report creation tools enable exporting data into professional templates
- Drag-and-drop reporting for tailored outputs
Spreadsheets and email trails might work for one or two contracts, but they quickly become unmanageable when you are overseeing dozens of high-value agreements.
Thrive provides the solution:
- Centralised, consistent data
- Reduced administrative burden
- Improved audit and transparency outcomes
- Better use of limited commercial resources
By reducing manual effort, improving audit outcomes, and strengthening evidence of value for money:
- Effective contract management supports stronger business cases and external scrutiny
- Reliable performance data helps leaders justify budgets and demonstrate responsible stewardship of public funds
Thrive complements existing contract management and finance systems.
Structured exports integrate with corporate reporting, BI dashboards, and governance packs so social value performance sits alongside financial and operational oversight.
From Oversight to Intelligent Contract Management
Government policy makes clear that Social Value KPIs and contract management are intended to improve procurement outcomes.
Contract management is more than checking compliance. It requires judgement about priorities, trade-offs, and how to turn contractual commitments into outcomes.
When outcomes are clearly defined, KPIs are proportionate, and delivery data is structured, oversight becomes less reactive and more informed.
Thrive does not replace professional judgement. It enables it, providing the insight, consistency, and evidence needed to deliver value for money, policy outcomes, and meaningful social value throughout the life of a contract.
Key Takeaways
- Transparency and ongoing dialogue help communities benefit from suppliers’ commitments, making the management of Social Value KPIs crucial.
- Public sector bodies must set and publish at least three Social Value KPIs for contracts over £5 million as per the Procurement Act 2023.
- Using Standard Reporting Metrics (SRMs) ensures KPIs are proportionate, achievable, and aligned with policy priorities.
- Thrive offers solutions to manage Social Value KPIs effectively, providing dashboards and streamlined reporting to reduce compliance burdens.
- Effective contract management of Social Value KPIs supports better spending impact and justifies budget allocations
Thrive supports public bodies to structure, track and report social value in line with the Social Value Model and Standard Reporting Metrics. If you are reviewing how your organisation measures performance, publishes KPI data, or prepares for audit and scrutiny, we would be pleased to discuss how a more consistent approach could reduce risk and administrative burden. Our focus is on helping commercial and policy teams evidence delivery clearly and confidently across the contract lifecycle. Get in touch today.
FAQs
Contracts over £5m must include at least three KPIs set before award and published, with performance assessed and published annually. Using proportionate, SRM-aligned KPIs and structured monitoring processes ensures compliance while strengthening delivery.
KPIs should combine a clear deliverable with a measurable numeric element, align to policy priorities, and include defined baselines and thresholds. Standard Reporting Metrics (SRMs) improve clarity and comparability over time.
Social value must be embedded and monitored continuously. Structured evidence capture, standardised supplier submissions, live dashboards, and early warning indicators enable proactive management and justified intervention where performance falls short. Thrive can help you manage your social value in the contract lifecycle.
Manual processes do not scale. Using a platform like Thrive with centralised dashboards, streamlined data submission, SRM-aligned metrics, and automated reporting reduces administrative burden and support oversight across large supplier portfolios.
Reliable, structured performance data strengthens audit readiness, supports business cases, integrates into governance reporting, and enables confident budget justification under scrutiny.
Thrive brings social value into the same line of sight as wider contract performance. Evidence is captured as delivery happens, supplier reporting is standardised, and live dashboards show how commitments are progressing. Because metrics align to SRMs and exports integrate into governance reporting, annual publication and scrutiny become easier to manage.
Alan Boyce
Senior Researcher More articles by Alan >
