The New Social Value Model Has Arrived: What You Need to Know
PPN 026: A New Social Value Model Focused on British Jobs and Skills
Briefing note | 5 August 2026
The UK Government has published PPN 026: The Social Value Model, introducing a substantially more focused approach to social value in central government procurement. Published on 5 August 2026, the new model concentrates social value evaluation on British jobs, skills and opportunities within local communities. Detailed supporting guidance is expected in autumn 2026.
What has changed?
The new model has been significantly streamlined. It contains two outcomes and six Model Award Criteria:
Outcome 1: Good jobs
Good jobs offering fair pay and good working conditions, helping people to find work, stay in work and progress in their careers.
The associated criteria are:
1a. Creating and retaining high-quality jobs
1b. Fair working conditions
1c. Fair pay
Outcome 2: Skills
Activity that addresses skills shortages and creates development opportunities, particularly for people who face barriers to employment or struggle to participate in the labour market.
The associated criteria are:
2a. Training and retraining
2b. In-work progression
2c. Developing a talent pipeline
The model highlights activities including apprenticeships, work placements, pre-employment training, workplace adaptations and opportunities that help people move into higher-paid work. It also places emphasis on skills shortages, innovative and high-growth sectors, and working with communities to co-design appropriate opportunities.
Who does PPN 026 apply to?
PPN 026 applies to central government departments, their executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies. Other public sector contracting authorities may choose to adopt the approach.
It applies to covered procurements:
Commenced under the Procurement Act 2023
With a total contract value of £1 million or more, including VAT
Where the procurement is commenced on or after 1 January 2027
For procurements commenced before 1 January 2027, in-scope organisations are encouraged to transition to the new model. However, they may continue to use the previous edition where changing models would require disproportionate resources or invalidate earlier market engagement.
New minimum weightings
The most significant practical change is the introduction of different minimum social value weightings according to contract value:
Contracts from £1 million to below £5 million: a minimum social value weighting of 10%
Contracts worth £5 million or more: a minimum social value weighting of 20%
Where an absolute evaluation methodology is used, such as Price per Quality Point or a Value for Money index, the 10% or 20% applies to the non-price criteria or overall quality score.
The Government has described the 20% requirement as doubling the importance of local community benefits on contracts worth £5 million or more.
Greater emphasis on contract management
PPN 026 makes clear that social value is not simply an evaluation exercise. Commitments made during procurement must be monitored and measured through contractual mechanisms, such as Key Performance Indicators, with the relevant information communicated to contract managers.
For contracts worth £5 million or more, contracting authorities should set at least one social value KPI. This is additional to the three or more KPIs required under section 52(1) of the Procurement Act 2023. KPIs must reported on at least once every 12 months through the contract performance notice.
The PPN also states that evidence of poor performance against social value KPIs may be considered when determining whether there are grounds to exclude a supplier from future procurements.
What does this mean for suppliers?
Samtaler’s first assessment: suppliers bidding for major central government contracts will need to demonstrate a much clearer connection between their social value commitments, the contract workforce, local labour-market needs and identifiable skills shortages.
Generic lists of charitable or community activity are unlikely to be enough. Strong responses will need to explain:
How commitments will be built into contract delivery rather than treated as an additional programme
What local employment or skills need has been identified
How the proposed activity relates to delivery of the contract
Which communities or groups will benefit
How opportunities have been designed with relevant communities or partners
What the supplier will deliver, measure and report
For contracts worth £5 million or more, social value will have a substantially greater influence on the overall evaluation result for suppliers.
What does this mean for contracting authorities?
Buyers will need to select outcomes and criteria that are relevant to the subject matter of the contract, proportionate and non-discriminatory. They must also avoid unnecessary burdens or barriers to supplier participation.
Contracting authorities will also need to make sure that procurement and contract-management teams are aligned. Social value commitments made in a tender must flow into the contract, KPIs and ongoing performance management.
One to watch: the new List of Community Programmes
Whilst the headlines will focus on the new 20% weighting and the shift towards jobs, skills and economic growth, there is another potentially significant change hidden in the detail. PPN 026 introduces a new concept: a Government-produced "List of Community Programmes".
The policy states that contracting authorities should attach details of relevant community programmes when selecting social value criteria, and where suppliers commit to delivering one of those programmes, contract KPIs should be used to monitor delivery. However, the list itself has not yet been published and supporting guidance will not arrive until autumn 2026.
At this stage, we do not know what programmes will be included, how they will align with the award criteria, how they will be evaluated, or how heavily they may influence scoring. What we do know is that this is entirely new. If community programmes become a central part of both evaluation and contract management, this could fundamentally change how social value is designed, evidenced and delivered. Until the guidance is published, there are more questions than answers, but this is one area we will be watching very closely.
What is still to come?
The publication gives the direction of travel, but some important detail is still outstanding. Supporting guidance due in autumn 2026 is expected to include:
Detailed sub-criteria
Guidance on selecting and evaluating criteria
Metrics for measuring performance
A list of relevant community programmes
Further information about target cohorts
Guidance for framework agreements and call-off contracts
Guidance on recognising existing or inherent social value
The PPN indicates that future guidance will include target groups such as people not in employment, education or training, people moving from education into employment, care leavers, and people facing other barriers to work.
Samtaler’s view
This is not simply another refresh of the Social Value Model. It represents a deliberate narrowing of central government’s social value priorities around jobs, fair work, skills and local economic opportunity.
That clearer focus may make social value easier to understand, but it will not necessarily make it easier to deliver. Suppliers will need credible evidence of local need, stronger partnerships and delivery plans that can withstand contract-management scrutiny.
The increased 20% weighting on larger contracts also raises the commercial stakes. Social value will have a more direct bearing on who wins major public contracts, while weak delivery may affect a supplier’s ability to compete for future opportunities.
The full implications will become clearer when the supporting guidance is published in autumn 2026. For now, buyers and suppliers should begin reviewing their procurement pipelines, existing commitments, workforce plans, local partnerships and approaches to measuring delivery.
What’s Next?
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At Samtaler, we understand the importance of social value to help businesses become better and stronger. To find out how we can help send an email tohello@samtaler.co.uk or complete our contact form