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Government procurement rules underwent major changes in 2025 with the Procurement Act 2023 coming into effect. The changes were particularly pronounced around social value, where PPN 002 also introduced a new Social Value Model for public bodies.
Social value professionals have had to up their game but this creates new opportunities – as Alex Byrne of Thrive explains.
It’s hard to remember another year when so much changed in public procurement, especially around social value. Only 2021 comes close, when the first Social Value Model took effect.
I was working at the Crown Commercial Service then and I saw first-hand how the new requirements were gradually recognised as a meaningful way to stretch the public pound further, complementing core services through supply chain-delivered impact.
My time at CCS was followed by two years at Social Value Portal. There I spent every day discussing the challenges of capturing, reporting, and measuring social value, and supporting organisations to do this more effectively.
So I hope I can speak with some authority when I say that the Procurement Act and PPN 002 put social value into a whole new ballpark in 2026.
Social Value for Departments, ALBs, NDPBs, and Executive Agencies: What’s New?
For me, the biggest changes to note are:
- The shift from Most Economically Advantageous Tender (MEAT) to Most Advantageous Tender (MAT) as the basis for evaluating bids encourages a broader view of what good looks like by focusing on whole contract outcomes and real community impact. It creates space for more creativity in incorporating social value into bids
- The introduction of Standard Reporting Metrics (SRMs) adds a level of consistency, enabling organisations to capture and report data in a more uniform way
- By requiring social value commitments to be written directly into contracts, the Model highlights the importance of monitoring and demonstrating delivery throughout a contract’s lifetime, reinforcing accountability
All this gives commissioning authorities the stronger platform, direction, and structure that’s needed to drive better, more consistent delivery.
But there are challenges to overcome too.
Consistency Versus Flexibility: Commissioning Authorities’ Dilemma
I hear this time and again from the suppliers and authorities alike: “We want a clear, standard process for asking for and capturing social value commitments — one we can confidently deliver against and report on.”
Inconsistency is rife. What counts? How should it be counted? How can I ensure I get the right data, when I need it, in a form I can use?
But while SRMs help reduce uncertainty, a rigid, single scale would be problematic too. Organisations have different strategic drivers and priorities. Communities have different needs. Suppliers have different strengths and capabilities.
Flexibility is vital. Authorities need measurement frameworks that allow for multiple types of metrics, even unconventional ones.
Rather than a “one size fits all” fix, I believe that the public sector and its suppliers are crying out for solutions that:
- Accommodate and recognise diverse policy goals, local needs, and varieties of impact
- Nevertheless, treat each and every metric, output, and impact with rigour, allowing for transparent, auditable measurement and reporting that stands up to public scrutiny
- Help to communicate the human stories behind the numbers. Proxy values are useful, but they’re still approximations that don’t convey the full meaning and impact of many interventions
Above all, they want solutions that save time and support hard-pressed teams who often lack specialist expertise and resource.
How Thrive and the Impact Evaluation Standard Meet Those Challenges
Public bodies want processes that make capturing and reporting data simple. When you ask third parties to adopt something new – let alone your own teams – it has to feel seamless, otherwise adoption, quality, and consistency will suffer.
At Thrive, we’ve focused on removing the familiar barriers:
- No fees, no logins, no licences, and no supplier training required
- Data capture forms are fully customisable and easily accessible, so teams can collect exactly the metrics they need
Ultimately, Thrive has been built to make compliance easy for you and your suppliers.
And underpinning the Thrive platform is the Impact Evaluation Standard: the only social value framework designed explicitly to incorporate PPN 002 and built around HM Treasury Green Book principles.
Don’t just take my word for it. In 2024, HM Revenue and Customs adopted it as the only framework to be used in evaluating their suppliers’ bids and delivery.
Together, I believe that Thrive and the Impact Evaluation Standard answer the challenges of consistency, flexibility, rigour, and ease of use that the public sector needs as we head into 2026.
That’s important, because once the problem of compliance is solved, public sector bodies can turn their hard-stretched resources to the much more exciting challenges around ensuring that social value delivers impact, innovation, and improved value for money for taxpayers.
More Information:
To find out more about what Thrive are doing in the public sector reach out to Alex: alexb@thrive-platform.com