Picture two bids side by side. Both offer the same price and similar technical approaches. One has a detailed, believable social value plan. The other has two vague paragraphs about being "committed to the community." The first bid wins. This guide shows you exactly what buyers are looking for and how to build a social value response that genuinely stands up.

What Social Value Actually Means

Social value is the wider benefit a contract delivers to society beyond the direct service being bought. When a council pays a cleaning company to maintain its offices, it is also choosing to spend public money in a way that could create local jobs, reduce carbon emissions, or support disadvantaged people back into work. Social value asks suppliers to think about those wider effects and commit to specific outcomes.

Under the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012, buyers in England must consider social value in their procurements. Central government guidance goes further and requires social value to be explicitly evaluated, with a minimum weighting in the scoring. The Procurement Act 2023 reinforces this emphasis. Always check the individual procurement documents to see the exact weighting applied to a contract you are bidding for, as it varies.

The Most Common Social Value Themes

Buyers typically group their social value asks around a handful of core themes. You will see variations of these across different frameworks and contracting authorities:

  • Jobs and skills: Creating employment for people who are unemployed or underrepresented, offering apprenticeships, providing training opportunities.
  • Supporting SMEs and local supply chains: Spending money locally, subcontracting to smaller businesses, buying from local suppliers.
  • Environmental sustainability: Reducing carbon emissions, cutting waste, using sustainable materials, committing to net zero targets.
  • Community wellbeing: Volunteering hours, partnerships with charities, supporting community organisations.
  • Equality and inclusion: Paying the Real Living Wage, supporting disabled workers, promoting diverse hiring.

A Worked Example: A Small IT Support Business Bidding for a Council Contract

Imagine a ten-person IT support company based in Sheffield bidding for a local council helpdesk contract. The buyer allocates 10% of the total score to social value. Here is how the business thinks through its response.

First, it reads the social value questions carefully. The buyer asks about jobs, skills, and environmental impact. The company checks what it already does versus what it could genuinely add as a result of winning this contract.

It identifies three realistic commitments:

  1. Offer one apprenticeship over the contract term, working with a local college already known to the company.
  2. Donate ten hours per year of staff volunteering time to a local digital skills charity — something the MD already does informally.
  3. Switch the contract-related vehicle to an electric model within twelve months, an investment the business is planning anyway.

None of these are invented for the bid. All three are credible, measurable, and directly connected to the contract. The response then explains how the company will report on progress — a quarterly update to the contract manager, for example.

Buyers read hundreds of bids. Vague language like "we are passionate about our community" scores nothing. A specific commitment with a number, a timeline, and a measurement method scores well every time.

How Buyers Score Social Value

Most buyers use one of a small number of recognised frameworks to evaluate social value, such as the National Social Value Measurement Framework (also called TOMS — Themes, Outcomes and Measures) or the government's own model. These frameworks convert your commitments into a numerical score so evaluators can compare bids objectively.

Your score typically depends on:

  • The scale of your commitments relative to the contract value
  • How specific and measurable your outcomes are
  • Whether your commitments are genuinely additional (things you would not do without winning the contract)
  • The quality of your reporting and monitoring plan

This last point trips up many SMEs. Buyers know that large companies can pledge enormous sums in social value. Evaluators are trained to look at additionality — if you already do something as standard business practice, it does not score as a new social value commitment. Be honest about what is new.

Avoiding the Empty Promise Trap

There is a real temptation to copy social value language from another bid or to list every possible theme in the hope that something sticks. This approach tends to backfire. Evaluators are experienced and will spot generic commitments quickly. A response with three well-evidenced, specific pledges will outscore a response with ten vague ones.

Ask yourself these questions before finalising your social value section:

  • Can I genuinely deliver this, even if the contract is more demanding than expected?
  • Do I have a realistic way to measure and report on this outcome?
  • Is this commitment actually linked to delivering this specific contract?
  • Would I be comfortable if the contract manager checked on progress quarterly?

If the answer to any of those is no, remove the commitment or rework it until it is honest.

Pulling It Together for Your Bid

Understanding the tender process — from how PQQ and ITT stages work right through to social value scoring — gives SMEs a real advantage. Large companies are not automatically better at social value. In fact, a small local business with genuine community ties can write a far more compelling response than a national firm that offers generic pledges.

Use this checklist as you write your social value section:

  • Read the buyer's specific social value questions — do not assume they are the same as last time
  • Check the weighting and understand how many marks are available
  • List only commitments you can genuinely deliver and measure
  • Attach numbers, timelines, and named reporting mechanisms to each commitment
  • Focus on additionality — new things you will do because of this contract
  • Proofread for vague language and cut anything you cannot back up