Angela Benson and Sarah Hinchliffe APMP UK Social Value Working Group
5 Minutes With Angela Benson & Sarah Hinchliffe APMP UK Social Value Working Group
What does the Social Value Working Group at APMP UK do, and how does it support bid professionals?
Angela Benson and Sarah Hinchliffe are leading voices in the APMP UK Social Value Working Group — a volunteer-led initiative helping bid professionals across sectors understand and respond to social value in public procurement. Sarah founded the group in 2021 to address the growing importance of social value in bids following the introduction of PPN 06/20. Angela, a global head of bid management at a logistics firm, joined soon after.
“Our aim is to help people understand [social value] because now it’s very much a part of everyday lives… and people have to get serious about it if they want to bid in the public sector.” – Sarah Hinchliffe
“Those of us who are responding to bids… there’s not a lot of overlap between expertise or knowledge of social value and knowledge of the bid and tendering process.” – Angela Benson
How has the bid world responded to social value in recent years?
Since social value became a mandatory evaluation criterion in public sector bids, the level of implementation has varied widely across sectors. The group has seen different approaches from central government, local authorities, and the NHS — some qualitative, some using proxy values, and many lacking consistency.
“It hasn’t changed as much as it should have done over the last three or four years, and it varies across the different sectors.” – Sarah Hinchliffe
“We are finding it very difficult just to meet requirements with quantifying... It's an ongoing process to understand how to apply that to your organisation.” – Angela Benson
What makes a strong social value bid response?
The key, Sarah says, is to approach social value like any other part of the bid — plan it early, make it specific, and link it directly to the contract and the community.
“Get your story straight before you write your answer... What is that story of the commitment that you are going to make, and the delivery that you are going to do, and the impact that it’s going to have?” – Sarah Hinchliffe
“The trap we fall into in the private sector is we have a lot of marketing speak... which don’t always make the grade when you're talking about social value, which is a very specific thing.” – Angela Benson
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Why are many suppliers still struggling to score well in social value?
A common issue is vague or recycled responses that focus too much on past achievements rather than contract-specific commitments. The group advises a simple rule: 80% of your answer should be about what you’re going to do for this contract.
“People talk an awful lot about generic and standard stuff, which they think is great, but it is not what is being asked for.” – Sarah Hinchliffe
“The challenge… is how do we respond to questions from buyers where they’re looking for contract-specific commitments, where they're looking for additionality above and beyond what we're already doing.” – Angela Benson
Is scoring a 10 in social value still possible?
Not easily, says Sarah. Expectations have matured, and achieving top marks now requires clear, ambitious, and well-evidenced proposals — often exceeding buyer requirements.
“I haven’t seen many 10s in recent times… probably three years ago it wasn’t too difficult to get a 10 because people didn’t really know what they were marking.” – Sarah Hinchliffe
“We definitely got top marks [in the past], but exceeding requirements is very difficult.” – Angela Benson
How can bid professionals get better at social value?
The group encourages suppliers to learn from feedback, invest in internal resources, and use every opportunity for early market engagement. APMP UK offers a range of member resources, webinars, and a dedicated LinkedIn group to support professionals.
“Understand your buyer, understand their priorities… In your market engagement, draw them out. Ask them about social value.” – Angela Benson
“Just remember: who, why, what, when, where, how — and add your so what on the end. And then prove it.” – Sarah Hinchliffe
How can we help
At Samtaler, we understand the importance of your social value commitment. You’re here because you care about your business's impact on society and want to improve. We want you to succeed, and we know from experience that achieving social value requires skill, strategy, and support.
To find out how we can help, send an email to hello@samtaler.co.uk
