The Five Social Value Themes Explained

What is PPN 002?

Procurement Policy Note 002 (PPN 06/20, updated as PPN 002) was published by the Cabinet Office in March 2021. It mandates that all central government departments and their executive agencies apply a minimum 10% social value weighting when evaluating bids for public sector contracts. The policy builds directly on the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012, which first required public bodies to consider how procurement could improve the economic, social, and environmental wellbeing of the relevant area.

Before PPN 002, social value was often treated as a qualitative afterthought in procurement evaluations. The policy note changed this by requiring a structured, measurable approach with specific themes, outcomes, and measures that bidders must address. It applies to all contracts subject to the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 where the contracting authority is a central government body.

The five themes

PPN 002 organises social value commitments around five mandatory themes. Each theme addresses a distinct area of public policy, and bidders are expected to demonstrate how their delivery will contribute to one or more of these themes through specific, measurable commitments.

Theme 1: COVID-19 recovery

This theme focuses on helping local communities recover from the economic and social impact of the pandemic. Key areas include supporting local employment by creating jobs in the contract delivery area, directing spend through local supply chains, and engaging SMEs and VCSEs (voluntary, community, and social enterprises) as subcontractors or delivery partners.

In practice, this means demonstrating how contract delivery will generate employment opportunities, prioritise local suppliers, and build capacity in smaller organisations that were disproportionately affected by the pandemic. Bidders should provide specific commitments, number of local jobs created, percentage of supply chain spend directed locally, and the names or types of SME/VCSE partners they plan to engage.

Theme 2: Tackling economic inequality

Theme 2 addresses structural economic disadvantage. The core areas are Real Living Wage commitment (not just the National Living Wage), apprenticeship creation, skills development programmes, and SME subcontracting targets. The theme recognises that public procurement can be a powerful lever for reducing inequality if contracting authorities require specific commitments from suppliers.

Strong bids under this theme typically include commitments to pay the Real Living Wage Foundation rate to all workers on the contract, create a stated number of apprenticeship positions, deliver skills training hours to disadvantaged groups, and allocate a defined percentage of subcontract value to SMEs. Generic statements about "supporting equality" without measurable commitments score poorly.

Theme 3: Fighting climate change

This theme aligns procurement with the UK's net zero target (Climate Change Act 2008, as amended by the 2019 Order setting the 2050 net zero target). Key areas include publishing and delivering against a Carbon Reduction Plan (required for contracts above the Find a Tender threshold since PPN 06/21), reducing supply chain emissions, improving resource efficiency, and demonstrating alignment with the government's net zero pathway.

Bidders should quantify their Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions baseline, set reduction targets with timelines, and explain specific actions they will take during contract delivery, such as transitioning to electric vehicles, sourcing renewable energy, reducing waste to landfill, or adopting circular economy practices. The Carbon Reduction Plan requirement under PPN 06/21 is a prerequisite for bidding on many central government contracts.

Theme 4: Equal opportunity

Theme 4 focuses on creating a more inclusive workforce and supply chain. Core commitments include Disability Confident employer status (a DWP scheme with three levels: Committed, Employer, and Leader), neurodiverse and inclusive hiring practices, signing the Armed Forces Covenant, and developing a diverse supply chain that includes minority-owned, women-owned, and disability-led businesses.

Bidders are expected to go beyond policy statements. Evaluators look for evidence of current Disability Confident status, specific actions to recruit from underrepresented groups, data on workforce diversity, and concrete plans to diversify their supply chain during contract delivery. The Armed Forces Covenant commitment is particularly valued in defence and security sector procurements.

Theme 5: Wellbeing

The final theme covers the health and wellbeing of the workforce and the wider community. Key areas include mental health support programmes (such as Mental Health First Aiders or Employee Assistance Programmes), volunteering days for staff, community engagement activities in the contract delivery area, and broader employee wellbeing programmes covering physical health, flexible working, and work-life balance.

Effective bids under this theme provide specific commitments: the number of Mental Health First Aiders per employee, volunteering hours per FTE per year, community engagement events planned, and measurable wellbeing outcomes. Evaluators increasingly look for evidence that these programmes are embedded in the organisation's culture rather than created specifically for the bid.

How themes map to TOMs

The five PPN 002 themes are operationalised through the Themes, Outcomes, Measures (TOMs) framework. Each theme contains several outcomes (the desired results), and each outcome has specific measures (the quantifiable commitments bidders make). The National TOMs framework, maintained by the Social Value Portal, provides a standardised set of measures that most contracting authorities adopt or adapt.

Each TOMs measure carries a proxy value, a monetised estimate of the social benefit generated per unit of activity. These proxy values are drawn from the Oxford Social Value Bank 2023-24, which provides academically validated valuations for outcomes such as the value of a job created for an unemployed person, the value of an apprenticeship, or the value of a tonne of CO2 avoided.

When bidders make commitments against specific TOMs measures, the proxy values are used to calculate a total social value figure in pounds sterling. This figure is then used as part of the bid evaluation, weighted at the minimum 10% (or higher, depending on the contracting authority). CrowMark stores these proxy values in a database table, they are never hardcoded, and updates them when the Oxford Social Value Bank publishes new editions.

The 10% weighting rule

PPN 002 sets a minimum 10% weighting for social value in bid evaluations. This is a floor, not a ceiling. Many contracting authorities choose to apply a higher weighting based on the nature of the contract and the social value opportunities it presents.

In practice, weightings of 15-20% are common across central government departments. Some NHS trusts and local authorities apply weightings of 20-30%, particularly for contracts with significant community impact such as facilities management, construction, or workforce services. The Crown Commercial Service's own frameworks typically apply 10-15%.

The weighting applies to the overall evaluation score. A typical evaluation might weight quality at 60%, price at 30%, and social value at 10%. A bidder with a strong social value response can therefore gain a meaningful competitive advantage, potentially enough to offset a slightly higher price or lower technical score.

Common scoring mistakes

Based on published evaluation feedback and contracting authority guidance, the most frequent mistakes bidders make in social value responses fall into five categories:

• Generic narratives: Describing company values and policies without linking them to specific, measurable commitments against the TOMs measures. Evaluators score what you will do on this contract, not what you believe in generally.
• Proxy values misapplied: Using proxy values from older editions of the Social Value Bank, applying the wrong proxy to a measure, or double-counting the same activity across multiple measures. CrowMark cross-references against the Oxford Social Value Bank 2023-24 to prevent this.
• No evidence trail: Making commitments without explaining how they will be evidenced, monitored, and reported during contract delivery. Contracting authorities increasingly require quarterly social value reporting.
• Too many measures, no depth: Selecting a large number of TOMs measures with small commitments against each, rather than focusing on fewer measures with substantial, credible commitments. Quality and depth of commitment scores higher than breadth.
• Ignoring the contract context: Proposing social value activities that are unrelated to the contract geography, workforce, or subject matter. A facilities management contract in Manchester should propose local employment in Manchester, not corporate volunteering in London.