One year on: How has the Procurement Act 2023 changed Social Value delivery?

The Procurement Act 2023 went live in February 2025. Twelve months on, hundreds of procurement professionals and bid teams joined our webinar to ask the same question: what’s really changed for Social Value, and what still needs to?

We hosted a panel of experts to share insights and answer the audience’s pressing questions:

• Amy Hazlehurst, Strategic Account Manager, Social Value Portal
• Anne McKinnon, Head of eSourcing & Supply Chain, Delta eSourcing
• Tim Rudin, Head of Responsible Procurement & Supplier Skills, Greater London Authority

In this update, we’ve captured the highlights of the session, from the procurement moments that matter for Social Value, to the latest market data – plus a practical Q&A.

What the Procurement Act changed for Social Value

The shift from Most Economically Advantageous Tender (MEAT) to Most Advantageous Tender (MAT) is the headline change, but the Act's implications for Social Value run across three distinct moments in the procurement lifecycle.

Three moments that really matter

1. Preliminary Market Engagement (PME): Structured, open dialogue with suppliers before tenders are published, creating space to design place-based Social Value that is proportional and genuinely deliverable

2. Evaluation: MAT gives contracting authorities the explicit mandate to weight social, environmental and economic outcomes alongside price, not just 'most economically advantageous'

3. Contract management: New requirements to publish KPIs (for contracts above £5m), transparency notices, and a disbarment list for non-delivery shift accountability from bid to delivery

Running alongside the Act, the National Procurement Policy Statement frames procurement around five Labour missions: kickstarting economic growth, delivering a clean energy superpower, taking back our streets, breaking down barriers to opportunity, and building an NHS fit for the future.

For central government organisations and executive agencies of the Cabinet Office within scope, PPN 002 (which became mandatory in October 2025) requires use of the Social Value Model and standard reporting metrics. 

The Procurement Act should have been called the ‘Contract Management Act’, in terms of the amount of focus that it's given – which of course makes Social Value a strategic opportunity to be mission-led across an organisation. 

Amy Hazlehurst, Social Value Portal

Market intelligence: The scale of what's coming

Anne McKinnon from Delta eSourcing presented procurement market data that underlines just how much opportunity – and pressure – is building.

Public sector spending already exceeds £400 billion annually.

Combined contract values across the UK public sector have grown from around £2.6 trillion to £8.4 trillion, with particularly strong growth in central government and health.

Procurement is increasingly being delivered through larger, more strategic contracts rather than lots of smaller individual procurements.

Anne's data identified more than 40,000 contracts coming to the end of their term in the next 12 months, representing a wave of re-procurement activity that creates a major opportunity to design Social Value in from the start.

What this means for Social Value

The wave of expiring contracts represents one of the most significant opportunities in a generation to embed Social Value at the design stage.

As authorities re-tender under the Act's requirements, they can refresh requirements to include stronger commitments to local employment, net zero, SME participation and community investment.

More suppliers are entering the market, and Social Value is becoming a bigger and bigger competitive differentiator. Suppliers, especially SMEs, are using strong Social Value commitments on local employment, skills and community investment to stand out in more competitive tenders.

It's no longer a case of why are we doing this. What we all need to do is support both the buyers and the suppliers, both in what we're asking and how we're asking the supplier to support that.

Anne McKinnon, Delta eSourcing

Early engagement and the pipeline notices

One of the most significant structural changes is the introduction of UK pipeline notices and preliminary market engagement notices, which give suppliers visibility of opportunities months before a formal tender is published.

For Social Value, this matters enormously: it gives suppliers time to build genuine partnerships with SMEs, voluntary organisations and community groups, rather than designing Social Value commitments at the last minute.

Many organisations are still adjusting to these changes. Education, guidance and training are key as the market adapts.

The view from the GLA: What's genuinely different

Tim Rudin leads Responsible Procurement and Social Value for the GLA Group, which spans Transport for London, the Metropolitan Police, the London Fire Brigade, the Legacy Development Corporation and City Hall.

The GLA Group has been doing sustainable procurement for close to 20 years, so Tim's reflections offer a grounded benchmark for what the Act has actually changed.

What the Act has genuinely shifted

• Legal barriers removed: Arguments from legal teams that Social Value requirements are impermissible have largely gone away. The Act, especially the MEAT-to-MAT shift and the National Procurement Policy Statement, gives Social Value practitioners the weight they need in internal conversations with legal, finance and leadership.
• Stronger senior buy-in: Social Value is far from a 'nice to have'. Instead, it gives procurement professionals a mandate that reaches beyond the procurement function, making it an organisation-wide responsibility.
• Updated policy and delivery plan: The GLA has refreshed its Responsible Procurement and Social Value Policy and published a new delivery plan running from 2025 to 2028.

The Procurement Act really eliminates some of the objections that quite a few contracting authorities might still be experiencing in terms of conversations with legal teams: 'can we actually create Social Value?' I think a lot of that should have gone away completely, and a lot of that should have been addressed by the Act now.

Tim Rudin, Greater London Authority

Where organisations are still catching up

Tim was candid about where more progress is needed, and his experience reflects conversations across the sector.

• Initial compliance focus: In year one, procurement teams have been absorbed by achieving basic compliance with the Act's new structural requirements. That has left less headspace for pushing Social Value ambitiously.
• KPI publication approached cautiously: Organisations are aware that published KPIs attract public scrutiny, and some have held back from publishing Social Value KPIs while they build confidence in what they're committing to.
• Contract management remains a weak point: The Act strengthens the requirements, but building the internal capacity, systems and stakeholder alignment to make contract management effective in practice is still a journey for most organisations – not just on Social Value, but across the board.
• Tiered approach in practice: For contracts above £25 million, the GLA uses bespoke, prescriptive Social Value questions directly linked to Mayoral priorities. Below that threshold, a more open approach is currently used, though Tim noted that a more directive approach is likely needed across the board in future, as open questions tend to produce generic responses.

Questions from the audience

1. Social Value for remote or non-place-based contracts

A common concern raised by attendees: how can suppliers delivering IT, professional services or other remote contracts contribute meaningful Social Value?

• Even remote delivery can include online skills sessions, equipment donations, mentoring via video call, or partnerships with community organisations at a distance.
• Where a contract is primarily delivered outside the UK, Social Value can be attached to any in-place element, or delivered through alternative mechanisms such as charitable giving or skills partnerships.
• The GLA noted it is 'quite comfortable' with job creation occurring outside London where that serves wider national priorities. As Tim put it, being able to say 'we're creating jobs in Yorkshire' as part of a contract can be genuinely helpful, and avoids the political sensitivity around money flowing to London.

2. Does strengthening Social Value disadvantage SMEs?

The data from Social Value Portal's State of the Nation report gives a clear answer, and it's a positive one for SMEs.

SMEs lead the way in terms of what they're able to deliver, both in terms of over-delivering what they've said they'll deliver, but equally in terms of how much Social Value they're delivering. What we're finding is that it tends to be a competitive advantage for SMEs because they are already local, they already have those local connections, they already understand the need. 

Amy Hazlehurst, Social Value Portal

Anne McKinnon added that Social Value doesn't have to mean financial outlay: 'It doesn't have to be anything big. It doesn't have to be putting your hand in your pocket.' SMEs can demonstrate value through knowledge sharing, working with local schools or universities, soft skills programmes, or community engagement that draws on their existing strengths and networks.

3. How do suppliers connect with local need?

A question from the audience asked whether local authorities risk becoming 'gatekeepers' of what community need means, making it harder for suppliers to engage authentically.

• Much of the data on local need is publicly available via the Indices of Multiple Deprivation, local authority strategies, and community consultation documents. As Amy put it: 'The local authorities are not gatekeepers of the need, but they know where that need exists. Work with information that is already out there.'
• Several London boroughs are establishing matchmaking services that connect suppliers with specific local priorities before tenders are published. That helps suppliers 'orientate bids specifically around what the need is', in Tim's words.
• Community events and 'meet the buyer' formats can help suppliers understand and respond to local need more effectively. Tim suggested community events connecting bidders directly with residents could be a valuable next step.
• Suppliers already local to a contract area have an inherent advantage — but those from further afield can do the research.

Takeaways for authorities and suppliers

More resources for Social Value in procurement

The Procurement Act hasn't transformed Social Value delivery overnight, but it has removed the legal and institutional obstacles that held back ambition.

Social Value is now a mandatory consideration, and transparency mechanisms are in place that will, over time, hold both authorities and suppliers to account.

We have a variety of resources to help you level up your Social Value performance:

• Deep dive into the Procurement Act 2023's Social Value requirements.

• Understand what good looks like with our Benchmarking study for Social Value in procurement.