The Old Social Value Model - What is it and why is it being phased out?
⚠️ Updated Social Value Model - October 2025
This blog explains the old Social Value Model, but it has now been replaced. For the latest guidance, take a look at the updated Social Value Model blog so you have the most up to date information.
Social Value Model - Image Samtaler
The UK Government wants to ensure its suppliers are companies who behave responsibly and sustainably; who seek to positively impact society; and who operate in a way which is aligned with the Government’s policies and values. This isn’t just motivated by morality or philosophy: it’s a legal duty enshrined in the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012, which requires all UK Public Authorities in England and Wales to consider how what is proposed to be procured might improve the relevant area’s economic, social and environmental well-being and how, in conducting the procurement process, it might secure that improvement.
The Social Value Model (SVM) sets out how all UK Central Government Departments, their Executive Agencies and arms-length bodies must do this. If you've noticed that different public sector tenders ask similar questions about social value, it's because they're all using the same framework - the Social Value Model.
The Model does not have to be followed by Local Authorities in England, or public sector bodies in the devolved nations (Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland). Supplier bidding for contracts in those regions should be aware that they will use different approaches to embed social value into their procurements.
Why is it called the ‘Old’ Model?
The original version of the Social Value Model – PPN06/20: Taking account of social value in the award of central government contracts - was published by the Conservative Government in June 2020 and took effect from 1 January 2021.
It was replaced in February 2025 by PPN002: Taking account of social value in the award of contracts. This ‘new’ model was designed to reflect the updated requirements in the National Procurement Policy Statement (NPPS) and ensure that the social value outcomes from public sector procurement align with the [then] new Labour Government’s five key Missions.
Both models mandate that Social Value must account for a minimum of 10% of the total score.
When is the ‘old’ Social Value Model being phased out?
Both models operated side by side with Public Sector Buyers able to choose which one they wanted to use until 1 October 2025, after which time all new procurements have to follow the new model: PPN002.
Although that means that all new tenders must use PPN002 (the new model), PPN06/20 (the old one) won’t disappear for some time. This is because procurements which were started, and contracts which were let before 1 October 2025 will still be using the old model.
What is in the ‘Old’ Social Value Model
PPN06/20 contained five themes, eight outcomes and 27 different model award criteria (MACs). We’ve produced this handy ‘social value model’ reference guide to show them.
As well as the MACs, the model also contains guidance for buyers on how to use the model to embed social value into their procurement.
What are the requirements in the old Social Value Model and what kinds of commitments are public sector buyers looking for?
Theme 1. Help the economy, individuals and communities recover from Covid-19
Since the end of the 2021, it has been very unusual to see it referenced in tender requirements however according to ONS figures at least 1.9 million people in the UK are still experiencing the symptoms of Long Covid, with 79% (1.5 million) reporting that their symptoms were adversely affecting their day-to-day activities and 20% reporting that their ability to undertake their day-to-day activities has been "limited a lot".
What that means for you as a supplier is that Covid hasn't gone away. It may well be something you need to consider - especially if you're asked about wellbeing (see point 7 for more). What are you as a company doing for staff who might be suffering or have caring responsibilities for someone who is? How could employment opportunities be adjusted to help people suffering from long covid? If you want to know how long covid affects people and to get an idea of what their lives are like (it could happen to anyone) – read the story of a nurse in Belfast here.
Theme 2. Create new businesses, jobs and skills
This one is a priority and features regularly in requirements. What you need to think about here is how spending money with your company will benefit the rest of the economy? Many companies struggle because they say, ‘we’re not creating any new jobs. We’re going to use existing staff,’ but there’s always something you can do. View this as helping your business secure a future talent pipeline and a skilled workforce.
Think about things like:
How will opportunities in the supply chain be advertised? How can smaller businesses bid for them?
How will you advertise those roles if you need to create new jobs? How might you target people furthest from the labour market – particularly in critical groups such as 16-24-year-olds and the over 50s.
How will you support the professional development of staff and upskill your workforce? What can you do to help people without the skills you need to employ them, get those skills and then get employed by you?
How do people get into your industry?
Theme 3. Increase supply chain resilience and capacity
This one is about the supply chain you will use to deliver the contract, so you need to know what the supply chain looks like and who those companies are. It would help if you showed that you understand the market. Finally, discussing how you will open up opportunities and make the supply chain accessible to new suppliers would be best.
They also want to know how you treat your suppliers, and just saying ‘we’re Prompt Payment Code signatories won’t be enough. Consider:
How do you ensure your suppliers get paid within your dedicated terms? How do they contact you if there’s a problem with payment? How effective is your response?
What kinds of agreements do you have with them? How balanced and fair are those contracts?
Do you see them as partners, or do you see them as simply suppliers? (hint: Suppliers are key stakeholders for any business, so if it’s the latter, you probably have some work to do).
They want to see how diverse the supply chain is. That means variety; smaller firms, social enterprises and third sector organisations.
This is also where cyber security features.
Theme 4. Effective stewardship of the environment
This one’s relatively straightforward – it’s about environmental management. Consider the environmental impact of the delivery of the contract and what you are doing to mitigate that.
Things to consider include:
Waste management, energy efficiency and staff travel.
Who your energy provider is and whether or not you use renewable energy.
What about transport. Do you use electric vehicles?
How do you encourage staff to conserve energy and manage climate change?
Suppose you are selling a product rather than a service. What happens to products at the end of their life? Can it be recycled? · If the contract is worth over £5 million, you will also be asked for a Carbon Reduction plan.
Theme 5: Reduce the disability employment gap
Approximately 10.2 million working-age people in the UK (24% of the 16-64 population) reported being disabled in late 2023. While 4 million were in employment, over 8 million working-age people had a long-term health condition limiting the type or amount of work they could do, with 4 million of those being economically inactive (out of work and not seeking work).
The UK Government’s goal is to get more disabled people into work and to reduce the gap between the employment rates of disabled and non-disabled people (known as the disability employment gap).
Disabled workers move out of work at nearly twice the rate (8.8%) of non-disabled workers (4.9%), and workless disabled people move into position at almost one-third of the speed (11.0%) of workless non-disabled people (26.9%)
The Government wants to know what you will do to help address that. It’s not just about being disability confident either: you need to show how that impacts the contract. Things to ask yourself include:
How accessible are your job adverts/places of work?
What reasonable adjustments do you make to enable people with disabilities to interview?
Where do you advertise opportunities? Is there anything you could do to help your adverts reach specific groups?
How many people with disabilities do you have in the workforce?
Theme 6. Tackle workforce inequality
This is where modern slavery sits This is also where they want to know what you are doing to ensure equal opportunity and address inequality.
If you are struggling to understand what this means think of it as the fact that not everyone starts from the same point.
In the example in the image below three people of difference heights are trying to watch a sporting event which is happening on the other side of a fence.
An inequality exists in their heights which means only one of them can actually see the same.
Activity to address this inequality and ensure equal opportunity to watch the game involves giving them a box to stand on. However if you give everyone the same size box, the shortest person still can’t see over the fence. One of them doesn’t need a box at all, whilst the shortest person needs two.
Meme credit: Craig Froehle
If you translate that back to the contract workforce think about what you are doing to ensure that everyone has the same chance to get a job at your company and progress in their careers, especially people from the most disadvantaged or minority groups. Some people won’t need any help but other people might need lots of support. Public sector buyers want
to know about things like your inclusive hiring practices, how you ensure pay equity, flexible work policies, career development schemes and how you monitor and track the impact of these activities on your workforce.
Theme 7. Improve health & wellbeing
This one is about what you do to look after your staff and customers if you want to know more about how to do that we’ve written an article to help you.
There is a clear link between work and public health, so the Government doesn’t want to spend public money with companies that don’t look after their staff. The Government defines ‘Good work’ as “having a safe and secure job with good working hours and conditions, supportive management and opportunities for training and development.” So, you need to think about how you will look after the contract workforce. What will you do to create a positive organisational culture and make staff feel physically and psychologically safe?
You won’t see this one asked in all tenders. However, it is likely to be important in contracts where staff are likely to be low-paid and experience stress and difficult working conditions.
“Hint: Employee Assistance Programmes and Wellbeing Champions aren’t going to differentiate you. What will; show that you care about your staff and put their needs front and centre of your business.”
Theme 8. Improve community integration
This is our FAVOURITE outcome. But it is the one suppliers struggle with; it’s also less common to see this in tenders (mainly because procurers don’t understand it either). We love it because it’s where the most transformational benefits will be felt. Trust us: the business benefits when you start engaging meaningfully with stakeholders.
What they are asking here is:
How will you engage with different parts of the community, service users and the people most impacted by the contract you're delivering?
How will these people have a voice and be able to influence the way you're delivering the contract? What will you do to engage with local community groups?
How can you support community initiatives that are relevant to the contract?
This is where school talks, volunteering, and other community engagement come in. It's also about the design of the products or services and how you involve key stakeholders.
It's doubtful you're going to be asked to deliver all these outcomes simultaneously. It's about choosing the most appropriate to your business and focusing on those. We hope this overview has been helpful. If you'd like help thinking about shaping an individual bid, please get in touch.
What’s Next?
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 to hello@samtaler.co.uk
Sign up to The Social Value Files for inspiration and practical ideas to create social value for your business. hello@samtaler.co.uk , complete our contact form or book a discovery call