The January 2027 Social Value Model puts jobs and skills first. What should buyers and suppliers do next?

Update, 28 October 2026: The Cabinet Office has now published PPN 026 and its detailed implementation guidance. Read Government releases guidance for PPN 026 buyers and suppliers for confirmed scope, weightings, timing, reporting metrics and evidence requirements. The optional List of Community Programmes remains forthcoming.

This article preserves our analysis from 7 August 2026, before the formal documents were available. References below to proposed thresholds, unpublished guidance and questions awaiting clarification describe the position at that time, not current advice. For primary sources, see the Cabinet Office policy note and published detailed guidance.

Original analysis: 7 August 2026

The Government has announced the most substantial change to central government social value procurement since PPN 002 became mandatory in October 2025.

Under the announced approach, social value in central government contracts will focus on jobs, skills and opportunities in Britain. Major contracts above £5 million are expected to carry a 20% social value weighting, compared with the current minimum of 10%. Contracts between £1 million and £5 million will reportedly retain a 10% weighting, while contracts below £1 million will be exempt.

The announcement gives social value more influence in the evaluation of major contracts. It also narrows the range of outcomes that central government buyers will be asked to score.

The detailed Social Value Model, Procurement Policy Note and implementation guidance have not yet been published on GOV.UK. The existing PPN 002 model therefore remains the current published framework at the time of writing. Buyers and suppliers should treat the announcement as a clear statement of direction and wait for the formal documents before changing live procurement processes.

What is changing?

The current PPN 002 Social Value Model is organised around five government missions and includes outcomes relating to:

• fair work;
• skills and resilient supply chains;
• climate change;
• domestic abuse, homelessness and safer communities;
• barriers to opportunity;
• physical and mental health and wellbeing.

The announced replacement will concentrate central government social value scoring on employment and skills. Suppliers are expected to be assessed on commitments such as creating good local jobs, offering training and work experience, addressing skills shortages and supporting people who face particular barriers to employment.

This includes young people who are not in education, employment or training, care leavers and people with long-term health conditions.

The greater weighting is significant. A 20% score can influence the outcome of a competition and should encourage suppliers to give social value the same operational attention as other material areas of contract delivery.

A welcome focus on good local work

Employment can be one of the most powerful routes to better wellbeing, greater financial security and more equal local economies. Public procurement can help create opportunities for people who might otherwise remain excluded from the labour market.

The reference to good jobs is particularly important. The value of employment depends on the experience it creates for the person involved. Pay, hours, security, working conditions, progression and employee voice all affect whether a job produces a sustained positive outcome.

The policy could also encourage buyers to understand local labour markets more carefully. A national supplier promising the same number of apprenticeships in every area may miss the occupations, skills and barriers that matter locally.

Place Explorer can help organisations examine local employment, skills, deprivation, health and demographic evidence before selecting priorities or setting targets.

Counting opportunities will only take us so far

The January 2027 model will need to guard against a familiar problem: treating the number of opportunities created as the final result.

Consider an employment programme reporting 30 job starts. To understand the outcome, a buyer may also need to know:

• how many people remained in work after six or twelve months;
• whether the roles paid above the applicable minimum wage;
• whether hours and contracts offered reasonable security;
• whether participants gained skills or progressed;
• which groups obtained access to the opportunities;
• what support people received to overcome barriers;
• how much of the change would have happened without the contract;
• whether jobs were genuinely created, retained or transferred from elsewhere.

The same principle applies to apprenticeships. Starts are useful to record, but completion, qualification, progression and the quality of the experience provide a fuller account of what changed.

Our guide to evidencing jobs and skills social value sets out a practical framework for what to measure beyond simple counts — covering job quality, apprenticeship milestones, sustained employment, and how to keep evidence proportionate to the contract.

A higher weighting could produce better outcomes if these distinctions appear in the model award criteria, contractual commitments and reporting metrics. If the system rewards volume alone, larger suppliers may have an advantage even where smaller organisations offer stronger local knowledge or more effective support.

What happens to environmental, wellbeing and equality outcomes?

The reported removal of environmental and wider social outcomes from the central government model will attract debate.

Jobs and skills are closely connected to wellbeing, equality, community resilience and the transition to a greener economy. Public bodies also continue to operate within wider legal and policy requirements. Carbon Reduction Plans, environmental specifications, the Public Sector Equality Duty and other procurement or sector requirements do not disappear simply because an outcome is removed from the Social Value Model.

The model also applies specifically to in-scope central government organisations. It does not automatically replace the policies used by English local authorities, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. Councils, housing associations, NHS organisations and other commissioners should check the rules and policies that apply to them before changing their approach.

Many organisations will continue to measure environmental, health, wellbeing and community outcomes because these remain material to their work and stakeholders. Prescribed government metrics should sit within a wider understanding of the outcomes an organisation is trying to create.

What should central government buyers do now?

There is useful preparation that can begin before the detailed model is published.

1. Identify forthcoming contracts in each value band

Map planned procurements below £1 million, between £1 million and £5 million, and above £5 million. Wait for formal guidance before deciding how the thresholds will apply to frameworks, lots, extensions or contract values.

2. Review local and sector skills evidence

Use labour-market data, Local Skills Improvement Plans, stakeholder insight and community evidence to identify relevant shortages and barriers. Place Explorer provides free place-based profiles for any UK postcode or local authority area. A generic employment commitment may be easy to request but difficult to justify or learn from.

3. Test the market

Discuss proposed outcomes, targets and evidence with suppliers before the tender. Preliminary market engagement can reveal whether requirements are deliverable and whether they create barriers for SMEs or VCSEs. For guidance on what proportionate evidence looks like, see what is proportionality in social value measurement.

4. Define what a good job or worthwhile opportunity means

Agree definitions for pay, duration, hours, progression, eligibility and geography. Distinguish new jobs, retained jobs, work placements, apprenticeships and training outcomes.

5. Plan the reporting process

Decide who will own each commitment, how often progress will be reviewed, what evidence will be accepted and how under-delivery will be addressed. The process should remain proportionate for smaller suppliers and delivery partners.

6. Keep wider outcomes visible

Review which environmental, equality, health or community requirements still apply through legislation, other PPNs, the specification, organisational policy or local priorities.

What should suppliers do now?

Suppliers preparing for central government opportunities can strengthen their evidence base without trying to predict the final wording of the model.

• Record employment and skills activity by contract, place and beneficiary group.
• Separate corporate programmes from activity delivered through a particular contract.
• Track the quality and duration of employment as well as job starts.
• Retain appropriate evidence when delivery occurs.
• Build relationships with local colleges, employability services, VCSEs and other delivery partners.
• Understand the labour market and skills priorities in the places where contracts will be delivered.
• Give clear ownership to commitments before the bid is submitted.
• Be realistic about what the contract can influence and avoid inflated promises.

Our guide to evidencing social value in public sector bids provides a practical starting point, covering how to structure evidence from bid through to contract delivery.

Connecting the bid with delivery

Increasing the weighting will raise the commercial importance of social value promises. It also increases the risk created by commitments that cannot be monitored after award.

A useful contract record should connect outcome, beneficiary, commitment, target, owner, evidence, result and learning in a single traceable chain.

SVE Connect helps commissioners and funders manage expectations and evidence across contracts, grants and funded projects. The Social Value Engine platform supports outcome measurement and transparent valuation, allowing organisations to retain a wider picture of change alongside required procurement metrics.

Our view

We welcome a stronger focus on good local jobs, meaningful skills and opportunities for people who have faced exclusion. The proposed 20% weighting gives these commitments proper influence in major central government competitions.

We also believe social value is broader than employment. People's lives are shaped by health, security, community, environment and access to opportunity. The most useful measurement approaches show how these outcomes connect and help organisations improve the next decision.

The quality of the January 2027 model will depend on the details. Clear definitions, proportionate evidence and contract-level accountability will be essential. Our subsequent article, Government releases guidance for PPN 026 buyers and suppliers, now covers the published guidance.

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Preparing for the January 2027 model? We can help you review how commitments, targets and evidence currently move from tender response into contract delivery. Get in touch with the team.