The Procurement Act 2023 represents a significant shift in the UK’s approach to public sector procurement, reinforcing the importance of social value, transparency, and accountability. Set to take effect on 24 February 2025; the Act moves beyond cost-driven procurement to a framework that prioritises broader public benefit and is linked to government missions. This is good news for organisations looking to make meaningful, measurable differences in communities.

With higher weightings for social value and a legal requirement to prioritise maximising public benefit, the Act allows businesses to contribute more effectively to societal and environmental goals. Transparency has been enhanced with increased reporting obligations and the publication of KPIs related to contract commitments.

While these changes signal progress, there is still a notable gap in assessing the true impact of social value commitments. Many standardised measurement models focus on ‘reach’ and commitments completed rather than actual, contextualised impact.

We work with organisations to move beyond generic reporting frameworks, helping them develop bespoke approaches that measure real change. This ensures that increased weightings for social value translate into genuine benefits for the people and places that need them most.

The Procurement Act 2023 presents an opportunity for procurement to be a driver of meaningful social change. However, achieving this requires organisations to engage deeply with impact evaluation, ensuring that social value is not just measured—but felt—by communities across the UK.

What is different about this Social Value Model?

  1. Skills development is more explicit – identifying, understanding and reducing skills gaps in the organisation, community and through the value chain – creating employment opportunities & delivering training schemes, particularly for those who face barriers to employment in industries with known skills shortages or in high growth sectors. Places higher emphasis on the disability skills & employment gaps.
  2. Greater focus on vocational skills development, mainly through apprenticeships, T-levels & industry placement opportunities (Level 2, 3 and 4+), supported internships, activities to raise educational attainment relevant to the contract and support relevant sector-related skills growth.
  3. New & specific focus on supporting the reduction in crime through community cohesion, awareness raising and action with specific criteria to support reduction in domestic abuse.
  4. ‘Fighting climate change’ becomes ‘sustainable procurement practices’, with greater emphasis on delivering additional environmental benefits in the performance of the contract, including influencing staff, suppliers, customers and communities through the delivery of the contract to support climate and nature protection and improvement.
  5. Wellbeing is now specifically linked to supporting increased productivity through physical and mental wellbeing – in the supply chain and communities in the relevant area.

What’s changed?

  1. Move from “Most Economically Advantageous Tender” (MEAT) to “Most Advantageous Tender” (MAT), allowing broader evaluation criteria to include socially valuable.
  2. All government departments need to set & publish three-year targets for direct spend with SMEs (from 1 April 2025) and VCSEs (from 1 April 2026). However, this does not mean that being a responsible organisation is enough. The focus remains on contract-specific rather than corporate social value commitments: “Suppliers may refer to existing schemes and policies … but scoring will be contract specific.”
  3. Across public sector procurement, there is an increased focus on increased public benefit, including transparency & accountability, with a requirement to publish KPIs on contract commitments, including social value delivery. This is where bespoke outcomes/ social impact will be more important. There is a new framework and definition of Social Value (the Social Value Model), retaining weighting at least 10% of the contract. These new (eight) themes are linked to a government mission.

However, while these changes create a stronger foundation for social value, challenges remain—particularly in how outcomes are measured and reported. The shift necessitates a more rigorous approach to demonstrating impact beyond standardised metrics and ‘off-the-shelf’ social calculators. Instead, a bespoke, context-driven understanding of outcomes is required to ensure that procurement delivers tangible benefits to the communities that need it most.

As the Act comes into force, now is the time for organisations to refine their approach to impact evaluation, ensuring their social value commitments translate into meaningful, lasting benefits for individuals and communities.