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 signals strong support for mandatory social value KPIs, standardised criteria, geographic targeting, and prompt payment enforcement across public sector supply chains.

Taken together, these findings point to a shift from social value as a bid-stage narrative to social value as a measurable, publicly reported contract performance.

Here’s what the findings indicate in practice, and what organisations should be doing now.

Background: The “Growing British Industry, Jobs and Skills” Consultation

NB This blog predates PPN 026 and the Social Value Model published in the light of this consultation in August 2026. It has been left in its original form while the guidance around PPN 026 remains unavailable.

In June 2025, the Cabinet Office launched a consultation on reforms to public procurement under the Procurement Act 2023. This covered a wide range of topics (including SME access, prompt payment, and supply chain transparency) but Questions 8 to 11 dealt specifically with social value.

Published on March 26 2026, the government’s response arrives at a moment when the social value landscape is already shifting fast. We’ve been blogging regularly to keep you up to date on the changes:

• The Procurement Act came into force in February 2025  – Read more
• PPN 002 and the updated Social Value Model were released days before and came into effect in October – Read more
• Standard Reporting Metrics (SRMs) for social value deliverables – Read more
• The shift from MEAT to MAT for assessing bids – Read more
• The introduction of mandatory contract KPIs under Section 52 of the Act – Read more

This consultation response provides clear evidence that this direction of travel has broad support.

Key Social Value Findings from the Consultation

Four findings stand out for their implications for social value delivery.

1.    70% support mandatory, publicly reported social value KPIs

This was the most strongly supported social value proposal in the consultation, and it’s the one that changes the game. Where contracting authorities set social value award criteria relating to jobs, opportunities, or skills, they are expected to be required to set at least one social value KPI and publish supplier performance against it.

Under the Procurement Act, KPI performance will be rated on a scale from ‘Good’ to ‘Inadequate’ and published via the Central Digital Platform. Persistent underperformance can trigger Contract Performance Notices, which in turn can lead to contract termination or even debarment from future procurements.

This directly addresses one of the longest-standing frustrations in the social value space: the gap between what suppliers promise at bid stage and what they actually deliver.

2.    72% approve of geographic targeting of social value delivery

Nearly three-quarters of respondents agreed that contracting authorities should be able to specify where social value benefits are delivered geographically. This is an important development for authorities that want to ensure the jobs, training, and community investment promised in bids actually land in the places that need them most, rather than wherever is most convenient for the supplier.

Geographic targeting also opens the door to more effective intervention design. When authorities can specify where social value should be delivered, they can use local data and Preliminary Market Engagement to identify which activities will create the most impact in a given area – whether that’s apprenticeships in a region with high youth unemployment, or community investment in an area with limited third-sector infrastructure. This makes social value delivery more purposeful and better aligned with genuine local need. The consultation did note legitimate concerns about the risk of discriminating against non-local suppliers, particularly SMEs that operate across multiple regions. Guidance on how to implement geographic targeting proportionately and lawfully is expected.

3.    60% support a standardised list of social value criteria

There was significant backing for the idea of a streamlined, co-designed list of social value criteria that contracting authorities could draw from. Suppliers in particular welcomed this: for organisations that bid across multiple authorities, the present inconsistency in how social value is specified and evaluated is a significant burden.

But the consultation also exposed a real tension. Respondents were clear that any standard list must leave room for local priorities, sector-specific strengths, and the kind of innovation that Preliminary Market Engagement is designed to encourage. The ideal framework gives both buyers and suppliers common metrics to work with, while still allowing social value to reflect the specific needs of the contract and the community.

4.    73% support for mandatory prompt payment enforcement

This finding might not seem like a social value issue at first glance, but it is. A significant share of social value delivery (e.g. apprenticeships, local hiring, community investment) happens further down the supply chain, often through SMEs and VCSEs. When those organisations don’t get paid on time, their ability to deliver commitments is directly compromised.

The consultation confirmed overwhelming support for enforcing 30-day payment terms throughout the public sector supply chain, with payment data published quarterly. Combined with proportionate, standardised social value criteria, this has the potential to lower barriers for smaller organisations and increase the share of public contract spend flowing to SMEs and VCSEs – which is itself a key social value outcome.

Overall, this represents a positive step for social value because it increases clarity, consistency, and accountability in how delivery is defined, measured, and reported.

What the Consultation Means for Contracting Authorities

For procurement managers, social value leads, and department heads in central government and arm’s-length bodies (ALBs), the consultation response provides a stronger mandate and clearer tools for embedding social value into procurement practice.

That’s good news but it also raises the bar:

Translating diverse supplier activities into standardised, publishable data is a real challenge when each contract delivers social value in a different way. Standard Reporting Metrics help, but the infrastructure to collect, validate, and present that data consistently needs to be in place. On the positive side, the KPI data published through the Central Digital Platform will give teams a verified, standardised data source that can feed directly into ESG and stakeholder reports, and provide a defensible basis for producing credible social value figures on demand – reducing reliance on ad hoc calculations assembled under time pressure.

2. Published KPI reports will be subject to external scrutiny.

3. Capacity constraints will become more acute.

It has been suggested that more than 8,000 live contracts worth £5 million + would be subject to the new KPI rules. Managing social value KPIs across a portfolio of this size, on top of existing contract management responsibilities, will stretch teams that are already under pressure. Support for standardised criteria may ease this: the more consistent the framework, the less bespoke work is required for each procurement. Purpose-built social value platforms that align with Standard Reporting Metrics can reduce the per-contract resource burden further, by automating data collection, validation, and reporting against a common structure rather than requiring teams to build and maintain bespoke tracking for every contract.

For authorities, the message is clear: social value is no longer something that can be handled informally or inconsistently. It requires the same level of infrastructure, discipline, and transparency as any other contract management function.

What the Consultation Means for Suppliers

For suppliers, the consultation response clarifies and strengthens the emerging rules of the game. That’s good news for organisations that already take social value seriously.

1. Social value promises made in bids will be publicly tracked.

Performance against KPIs will be rated and published. Suppliers with strong track records will be able to point to verified, public evidence of delivery when bidding for future contracts. Those who have been over-promising and under-delivering will find that much harder to sustain.

2. The introduction of standardised criteria alongside SRMs gives suppliers clearer guidance on what to measure and how to present it.

This is particularly welcome for organisations that bid across multiple contracting authorities. Greater consistency in what is asked for means less duplication of effort, more time spent on actual delivery, and a clear, defensible framework for producing accurate social value figures when clients, auditors, or stakeholders request them.

3. The consultation’s emphasis on Preliminary Market Engagement and its recognition that criteria should reflect the maturity and characteristics of different sectors is encouraging.

Suppliers in less mature sectors should be engaging actively in PME processes to shape social value requirements that reflect what they can realistically and meaningfully deliver.

4. Perhaps most importantly, mandatory KPIs and public reporting make it much harder for social value to be treated as an afterthought.

When delivery is contractually mandated and publicly visible, the case for investing in the right tools, processes, and people becomes much more compelling.

The bottom line: suppliers who can demonstrate credible, evidence-based social value delivery will win more contracts and protect their reputations.

What Happens Next for Social Value Delivery

The consultation response signals that social value is becoming a contract management discipline with public accountability – and that the market supports this direction.

This shift requires consistent KPI design, structured data collection, and audit-ready reporting across suppliers — capabilities most organisations are still developing.

Our software helps contracting authorities design and track social value KPIs, and helps suppliers measure, report, and evidence their delivery. If your organisation is thinking about how to get ahead of these changes, we’d love to talk.

Social Value Consultation: Key Questions Answered