Procurement
Social value doubles to 20% on £5m public contracts
By Staff Writer | 7 August 2026
Central government buyers must give social value criteria at least a fifth of the total score on contracts worth £5m or more from January 2027, under a new model published this week.
The Cabinet Office set out the change in a procurement policy note issued on 5 August 2026. In-scope organisations will have to apply a minimum 20 per cent weighting, or an equivalent measurement, to the criteria in the revised social value model for every contract at or above £5m.
Contracts worth £1m or more but under £5m carry a minimum 10 per cent weighting. The model itself sits as an annex to the note and is built around two outcomes, good jobs and skills, assessed through six award criteria.
The rules bite on procurements commenced on or after 1 January 2027, and a procurement commences when the tender notice is published.
Who has to apply it
The note binds central government departments, their executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies. Other contracting authorities may adopt the same approach if they choose, but are not required to.
Detailed technical guidance is due in the autumn, before the rules take effect. Bidders therefore have a defined window to work out how their tender teams will evidence what the model asks for.
The stated purpose is to prioritise British jobs, skills and opportunities for people facing barriers to employment in local communities. The government puts the annual value of the contracts affected at £90bn.
These new rules will ensure the £90 billion that is spent each year through government contracts supports British jobs, skills and people in every postcode.
Louise Haigh, First Secretary of State
The First Secretary of State also said that securing government contracts had for too long been a tick box exercise that failed to deliver change people feel in their pocket.
What it means for bidders
The direction is not new. The Procurement Act 2023 took effect in February 2025, and policy note 024 in June this year introduced a mandatory public interest test for contracts above £1m covering economic and social considerations. What has changed is the arithmetic: a fifth of the score is enough to decide who wins.
Practitioners advising on the change expect it to focus minds among both contracting authorities and businesses chasing high-value public work. Those bidders will need to show concrete job creation, work experience, and upskilling or reskilling of the existing workforce in the relevant area, rather than general commitments.
There is a devolution angle worth watching. Skills budgets are being moved towards strategic authorities where those exist, which gives employers reason to build training plans with mayoral teams before a tender lands rather than after.
For construction bidders the practical questions are contractual as much as commercial. Commitments scored at tender have a way of becoming obligations in the contract, with reporting and, in some cases, remedies attached. Bidders who treat the 20 per cent as a narrative exercise will be writing cheques that their delivery teams have to cash for the life of the contract.
Tender teams have until the new year to turn promises they can prove into promises they can price.