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 published between February 2025 and October 2025, and some of those published between August 2026 and December 2026. From January 2027, it is superseded by PPN 026.

It probably comes as little surprise that a new Labour government would include “Build an NHS Fit for the Future” among its list of Missions. But how does that relate to public procurement, and the new Social Value Model published in February alongside PPN 002?

In this series of blogs, we’ll dive deep into each of the Missions to show how your organisation can demonstrate more social value and win more public sector business in the months and years ahead under PPN 002. 

But if you’re ready to explore just what “Build an NHS Fit for the Future” means for social value, read on!

What are the Missions?

In July 2024, the Labour Party was elected on a platform of “five missions to rebuild Britain” – broad socio-economic goals that it would pursue across the full range of policy areas while in government. 

The five Missions are as follows:

PPN 002 and the Social Value Model launched in February 2025 state in no uncertain terms that central government public procurement needs to promote these Missions by delivering social value. 

How do the Social Value Model Missions Help Build an NHS Fit for the Future?

This Mission includes just one Policy Outcome:

• 8. Increasing productivity through physical and mental wellbeing: in the supply chain and communities in the relevant area.

This, in turn, yields just one set Model Award Criteria (MAC):

• 8a. Support health and wellbeing in the contract workforce, including physical and mental health

This narrow approach makes it very clear that the main emphasis of “Build an NHS Fit for the Future” as a government Mission lies beyond the scope of public procurement. 

Indeed, when viewed in terms of Outcome and MAC assigned to it in the new Social Value Model, “Build an NHS Fit for the Future” is effectively the same as the “Wellbeing” Theme from the old Model, which was made up of:

• One Policy Outcome: Improve health and wellbeing
• Two MACs:
  • MAC 7.1: Demonstrate action to support health and wellbeing, including physical and mental health, in the contract workforce
  • MAC 7.2: Influence staff, suppliers, customers and communities through the delivery of the contract to support health and wellbeing, including physical and mental health

Standard Reporting Metrics

The new Model includes only one Standard Reporting Metric (SRM) under this Mission:

• 8ai. Number of hours spent setting up and delivering staff health and wellbeing

More detail is provided in the Model Sub Criteria, which says that this can include “Activities that demonstrate and describe the supplier’s existing or planned”:

• Understanding of issues relating to health and wellbeing, including physical and mental health, in the contract workforce
• Understanding barriers to access to health and social care services or employment opportunities eg digital inclusion
• Inclusive and accessible recruitment practices, development practices and retention policies that support-focused activities including those provided in the Guide for line managers on recruiting, managing and developing which support people with a disability or health condition
• Actions to invest in the physical and mental health and wellbeing of the contract workforce. Illustrative examples:
  • implementing the 6 standards in the Mental Health at Work commitment and, where appropriate, the mental health enhanced standards for companies with more than 500 employees in Thriving at Work with respect to the contract workforce, not just ‘following the recommendations
  • public reporting by the supplier and its supply chain on the health and wellbeing of staff comprising the contract workforce, following the recommendations in the Voluntary Reporting Framework
  • offering a pay and leave entitlement to kinship carers equivalent to statutory adoption leave and pay
• Implementing the NHS England’s 10 ways to reduce health inequalities
• Processes for implementing action plans acting on issues identified
• Contract workforce has access to occupational health and HR services. Illustrative examples include:
  • smoking cessation
  • National Diabetes Prevention Programme
  • stroke screening uptake
  • vaccination programmes – linking up with relevant charities (physical and mental), targeting action at low-up take or high risk groups or using the NHS England’s 10 ways to reduce health inequalities model

SRMs are intended to standardise how various social value measures are reported between authorities and suppliers – resolving a major bone of contention around the old SVM. 

But while this is an improvement in many respects, this makes reporting against this Mission extremely rigid. They don’t allow much nuance, tailoring to specific projects and local needs, or provide scope for the kind of innovation in social value delivery Preliminary Market Engagement is meant to promote. Number of hours is not always a direct measurement of the quality of an intervention. 

Fortunately, the extensive Guide to the Social Value Model makes it clear that:

“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.”

What You Can Do Now

The PPN 002 Social Value Model is being used concurrently with the PPN06/20 version during 2025:

• Until 30/9/25, contracting authorities can decide which Model to use
• From 1/10/25, the PPN 002 version must be used
• Procurement processes begun or contracts awarded before 24/2/25 (including frameworks) are not affected by the new Model

The clock is ticking, so if you don’t know how to get ready, here are five steps you should take right now:

1. Prioritise Workforce Health

The Sub Criteria mentioned above are especially useful here, as they refer to a number of specific commitments, standards, and lists (which is relatively unusual) indicating exactly what “counts” as social value. There is also a long list of steps your organisation can take to pursue these goals, including:

• Increasing the number or percentage of suppliers you work with who adhere to those standards – by making it a requirement in your own procurement processes
• Increasing the number of trained mental health first aiders in your organisation
• Producing and communicating a mental health at work plan and developing mental health awareness among employees
• Providing tools and opportunities that promote good physical and mental health – for example, mindfulness classes, work breaks for physical exercise, ensuring that staff can take full lunch breaks, running social activities, etc
• Auditing and ensuring that recruitment, promotion, and other policies do not discriminate against people with mental health problems
• Start thinking about health inequalities. Core20PLUS5 is an NHS scheme that provides a easy-to-understand framework for companies to start making an impact here

Take a look at our Hippo case study to see how one company really made team wellbeing a priority. 

2. Form Partnerships

You may not have the resources or expertise in-house to deliver all of the benefits above, but it’s almost certain that there are charities, social enterprises, and other third sector organisations near to you – both national and local – that do. Forming lasting partnerships with such organisations can be very beneficial, as you can plug their services directly into bids you’re working on. Not only that, spending with community organisations promotes several other Social Value Model Mission objectives!

3. Play to Your Strengths

Contracting authorities are being encouraged to build tender requirements around promoting just one Policy Outcome “to focus and streamline the process for suppliers”. You will be able to concentrate the effectiveness of your bids by building your social value offers around the demands of individual Outcomes and their MACs, rather than spreading your efforts out thinly. 

4. Boost your SME/VCSE Spending 

The National Procurement Policy Statement (published at the same time as PPN 002) requires in-scope organisations to set three year targets for direct spend with SMEs (from 1/4/25) and two year targe for VCSEs (from 1/4/26). 

• If you are an SME or VCSE this requirement – along with the explicit ruling out of volume criteria – gives you a meaningful advantage. 
• If you’re not, start diversifying your supply chain to include more of these organisations now. If you don’t know where to start, there are membership bodies such as Social Enterprise UK that offer services and have free online directories to help you identify social enterprises

5. Measure Your Way to Success with Thrive

If you’re not already using the Thrive platform, get a demo today. 

• Thrive is the only social value measurement platform authorised to use the Impact Evaluation Standard, which has been built specifically around the Social Value Model’s requirements and is overseen by an independent Steering Committee of recognised industry experts
• The new Social Value Model prioritises transparent in-contract reporting against social value deliverables. Thrive provides user-friendly, highly customizable tools and dashboards, with the ability to store pictures and context alongside data for better storytelling, and with no extra licence costs or even a need to log in for third parties submitting data for you. It even includes a state-of-the-art report builder for those of you without access to design resources!
• Our detailed case studies from satisfied customers speak for themselves and show the wide range of uses cases – besides winning more public sector business – that our social value module is being put to. 

Quantity and quality of data promises to be key to succeeding with PPN 002. This is yet another step beyond the era of “show them your company policies” towards a true requirement to demonstrate social impact.