Answering Social Value Tender Questions

Social value tender questions can carry a significant proportion of the available quality score. A vague commitment to "support the local community" is rarely enough. Buyers want to understand what you'll deliver through the contract, who will benefit, how you'll make it happen and how they'll know you've delivered what you promised.

The requirements also vary from tender to tender. Some buyers use their own social value policies or the Social Value TOM System, while relevant central government procurements will move to the new PPN 026 Social Value Model from 1 January 2027.

This guide focuses on how to turn the requirements in the tender documents into a credible, measurable social value response.

Start with the Requirements

One of the most common mistakes is opening a previous social value answer, updating the buyer's name and reusing the same commitments. Your existing policies, community work and previous results can provide useful evidence, but they aren't the answer in themselves.

Start with the question and evaluation criteria. Identify the outcome the buyer is trying to achieve, any specific measures or award criteria they've selected, the contract area or target community, how the answer will be scored and what reporting requirements will apply after award. Then decide which commitments your organisation can realistically deliver through that contract.

A strong response connects four things:

If any one of these is missing, the evaluator is being asked to fill in the gaps.

For more background on how these requirements fit into public procurement generally, our guide to social value in tenders covers the legislation, different buyer approaches and the changes under PPN 026.

Research the Buyer's Priorities

The tender documents should remain your starting point, but they aren't always the only useful source of information.

Review the buyer's social value policy or strategy where one is available, along with relevant corporate plans, local priorities and procurement documents. These can help explain why particular outcomes or measures have been selected and give you a clearer picture of the issues the buyer is trying to address.

For example, a requirement around employment might reflect an identified local skills shortage, while a focus on supply chain activity could relate to wider economic development priorities.

Use this research to improve the relevance of your response, not to introduce commitments the tender hasn't asked for. Your answer still needs to address the published evaluation criteria first.

Check Which Social Value Approach Applies

There isn't one social value framework used across every UK public sector tender.

For central government departments, executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies, PPN 026: The Social Value Model applies to covered procurements worth £1 million or more that commence on or after 1 January 2027. Contracts from £1 million to under £5 million must give the Social Value Model a minimum 10% weighting, while contracts worth £5 million or more must give it at least 20%.

Procurements started before 1 January 2027 may continue under the previous edition of the Social Value Model during the transition period.

Outside these central government requirements, a buyer may use the TOM System, its own social value framework or another method entirely.

This makes the tender documents your source of truth. Don't prepare an answer against PPN 026 simply because you're bidding for a public contract, and don't assume a TOMs calculator is required because you've used one for another buyer. If you're not sure which applies, our Social Value Model vs TOMs comparison guide walks through how to tell the two apart.

What Makes a Strong Social Value Tender Answer?

Strong answers are specific enough to be evaluated and realistic enough to survive contract delivery.

Suppose a bidder writes:

The intention is positive, but an evaluator still doesn't know how many opportunities will be created, which groups will benefit, how people will be recruited, who will deliver the activity or how success will be measured.

A stronger version would say:

The precise numbers and delivery model will vary by contract. The important difference is that the second answer gives the evaluator something concrete to assess. It also gives the delivery team something concrete to manage if you win.

Social Value Answer Structure

There are different ways to organise a response, but the evaluator should be able to follow a clear line from the buyer's requirement through to delivery and measurement.

Confirm the Commitment

Make the commitment visible early. If you're creating jobs, state how many. If you're delivering training, identify the type and volume. If you're providing placements, explain their duration and intended audience. Avoid making the evaluator search through several paragraphs before discovering what you're actually offering.

Link It to the Contract

Explain why the activity makes sense for this particular contract. A commitment to deliver construction apprenticeships is much more credible when the contract itself creates demand for those trades. A digital skills programme is easier to justify when you're delivering a technology contract and have employees with the expertise to support it.

The connection also matters legally under PPN 026. Central government organisations must select criteria that relate to the subject matter of the contract and are proportionate to the procurement.

Identify the Beneficiary

Be clear about who the commitment is intended to support. That might be people facing barriers to employment, existing members of the contract workforce, young people entering a particular industry or communities affected by local skills shortages.

Under PPN 026, the forthcoming guidance is expected to provide further detail on target cohorts, with the published model already identifying groups including people not in employment, education or training, those moving from education into employment, people with long-term health conditions or disabilities and care leavers.

Use the cohorts and priorities specified by the buyer rather than selecting groups simply because you've supported them previously.

Explain Delivery

Commitments need a method. Who owns delivery? Which team will be involved? Do you need an apprenticeship provider, college, charity, employment service or community organisation? When will engagement begin? How will participants be recruited?

Where third parties are essential, engage them before submission wherever possible. Writing that you "will partner with local organisations" isn't as convincing as explaining the type of partner required, its role and any engagement already undertaken.

Set Measures

Decide how the buyer will know you've delivered the commitment. A commitment to provide training shouldn't stop at the number of sessions delivered. Depending on the requirement, you may also be able to measure attendance, completion, qualifications, progression or subsequent employment.

Measures should follow the buyer's specified framework where one exists. If the tender uses the TOM System, follow the selected measures and reporting methodology. If it specifies contractual KPIs, structure your monitoring around those requirements rather than introducing a different measurement system because you're familiar with it.

Provide Evidence

Past performance can make future commitments more credible. Briefly show that you've successfully delivered similar activity before, using evidence such as participation numbers, retention, qualifications achieved, employment outcomes or previous KPI performance.

Keep the distinction clear, though. Previous delivery demonstrates capability, while your commitment explains what you'll do on this contract. A lengthy case study shouldn't replace the new delivery plan.

PPN 026 Tender Questions

PPN 026 significantly changes the emphasis of the central government Social Value Model from January 2027. Rather than the previous broader set of themes, the new model has two outcomes, Good Jobs and Skills, supported by six Model Award Criteria.

For bidders, each criterion creates a slightly different writing challenge:

These aren't replacement tender questions. Detailed PPN 026 sub-criteria and practitioner guidance are due in autumn 2026, so suppliers should respond to the wording and criteria included in the actual procurement rather than assuming every buyer will ask the same question.

Social Value Tender Answer Example: Good Jobs

Imagine a central government tender asks how contract delivery will support the creation and retention of high-quality jobs.

A weaker answer might spend most of the word count discussing the company's overall growth, employee benefits and commitment to being a responsible employer.

A stronger answer would connect recruitment directly to the contract. For example, you could identify that mobilisation requires a defined number of new roles, explain which roles can reasonably be recruited within the relevant area, describe how vacancies will be made accessible to the target cohort and set out how new starters will be supported to remain in employment. If there is a relevant skills shortage, explain how your recruitment or training activity addresses it.

Your evidence could then include roles created or retained, recruitment source, retention, training completed and progression. The answer becomes much easier to score because the evaluator can trace the commitment from recruitment through to a measurable result.

Social Value Tender Answer Example: Training

Training commitments often sound stronger than they really are. "We will provide training opportunities to local people" leaves almost everything unanswered.

Instead, establish the need first. If the buyer has identified a shortage in a particular skill relevant to the contract, you might commit to working with a local college or employment organisation to develop a programme addressing that shortage. State the number of places, intended participants, training content, delivery period, responsible person and intended outcome.

Under PPN 026's Training/Retraining criterion, buyers can consider whether opportunities address relevant skills shortages and support people from areas of deprivation or facing barriers to employment. The model also covers engagement with relevant communities or organisations when developing suitable interventions.

That gives bidders a reason to demonstrate that training has been designed around an identified requirement rather than offered simply because it generates a social value figure.

Social Value Tender Answer Example: Talent Pipeline

A talent pipeline commitment should connect today's activity with the workforce the contract or sector will need in future.

You might identify a shortage of entry-level candidates for a particular role and commit to a programme of work experience, pre-employment training or apprenticeships. Explain how participants will be identified, how barriers to participation will be addressed and what happens after the initial activity.

For example, a short placement becomes more meaningful when it includes structured learning, mentoring and a route towards an apprenticeship, interview or further training.

PPN 026 specifically asks buyers to consider how suppliers will identify potential within communities, work with those communities to address barriers and provide access to training, placements, apprenticeships and other development opportunities.

Using Commitment Tables

For questions asking for several commitments, a simple table can make the offer easier to evaluate.

The figures above are illustrative only. Your targets should be based on the size, duration and requirements of the actual contract.

A modest commitment supported by a credible delivery plan is usually more defensible than an ambitious number your operations team has never agreed to.

Components of Your Response

For higher-value tenders, buyers often want your response to cover several distinct angles rather than a single commitment. It's worth checking whether the question expects you to address all of the following.

• Local commitments: specific, contract-relevant pledges aligned with the buyer's stated priorities, delivered within the contract's timeframe rather than as an ongoing corporate promise.
• Local employment: the number of local people you'll allocate to contract delivery and the economic benefit this brings to the area, evidenced through postcode data and recruitment records.
• Local suppliers: your use of local businesses, particularly SMEs and VCSEs, whether as part of your supply chain or as delivery partners. Under PPN 026, buyers are specifically asked to consider SME and VCSE participation when setting award criteria, so a credible supply-chain commitment can carry real weight.

Not every tender will ask for all three explicitly, but structuring your thinking this way helps make sure you haven't left an obvious angle unaddressed.

Monitoring and Reporting

Treat monitoring as part of the response, not something to work out after contract award. Identify the data you'll collect, who owns it, where it will be recorded, how often progress will be reviewed and how information will be reported to the buyer.

Explain what happens if delivery falls behind. If recruitment is slower than expected, for example, who reviews the problem? Will you engage alternative employment partners, change advertising routes or provide additional support to candidates?

This becomes particularly important under PPN 026. Social value commitments must be monitored through contractual mechanisms, and contracts worth £5 million or more must have at least one social value KPI. Relevant KPIs are published and reported through the central digital platform, and evidence of poor performance against social value KPIs can be considered when assessing potential grounds for exclusion from future tenders.

Don't promise activity purely because you think it will increase your score. Someone has to deliver and evidence it.

Knowing what evidence will be expected before you commit to something helps keep your response realistic. Here's what buyers typically expect for some of the most common social value measures:

If you can't picture what the evidence for a commitment would actually look like, it's usually a sign the commitment needs sharpening before it goes in the bid.

Tenders Under TOMs

The Social Value TOM System, often still referred to as the National TOMs, takes a different approach from the central government Social Value Model. Where a buyer uses TOMs, work from the measures they've selected and the instructions provided with the procurement.

Some measures use proxy values to help quantify social value, converting your commitments into a financial figure and expressing it as pence in the pound relative to contract value. There is no universal "good" value-ratio that applies across every tender, though; scoring methodologies differ between buyers, and the tender documents should tell you how the quantitative and qualitative elements will be assessed.

To illustrate how this kind of scoring can work in practice, here's one example of a value-ratio scoring band a buyer might use. Treat it as context for how the mechanism functions, not a benchmark to aim for on a new bid, the actual bands, if any, will be set out in your specific tender documents.

Our guide to the National TOMs explains the framework in more detail, while our guide to the Social Value Model vs TOMs looks specifically at the differences bidders need to understand.

Sector Examples

The strongest initiatives usually reflect both the buyer's priorities and what your sector can realistically deliver.

For a construction contract, this might include apprenticeships in trades with recognised skills shortages, work placements linked to live projects, or training that helps the existing workforce progress into more skilled roles. A community liaison group to manage site impacts, a defined percentage of recycled or sustainable materials, construction career workshops with local schools, or measurable biodiversity net gain through on-site habitat creation can all add credible, contract-relevant detail.

For an IT or digital contract, opportunities could include technical apprenticeships, entry-level pathways into shortage occupations, or retraining existing employees as technology requirements change. Donating refurbished computers to community organisations, delivering digital skills workshops for disadvantaged groups, data analysis apprenticeships, green hosting to reduce carbon impact, or defined subcontracting opportunities for local tech SMEs are all worth considering where relevant to the contract.

For professional services, relevant commitments might include placements and graduate pathways, mentoring connected to entry into the profession, or development programmes that help the contract workforce progress. Pro bono consultancy for local social enterprises, structured mentoring for underrepresented groups entering the profession, work experience placements for local schools, or training staff as mental health first aiders can strengthen a response further.

These aren't commitments to copy into the next tender. They are starting points. The final initiative should come from the buyer's requirement, the nature of the contract and your ability to deliver it.

Common Social Value Answer Mistakes

Generic CSR statements remain one of the biggest problems. Other weak responses describe activity without setting targets, use statistics about a local area without explaining how the proposal addresses them, promise partnerships that haven't been discussed with the organisations involved, or rely heavily on previous achievements without making clear commitments for the new contract.

Another common problem is chasing the highest possible social value number. If a calculator is being used, the quantitative result matters, but it shouldn't encourage your team to make commitments that aren't operationally viable. Quality, relevance, credibility and compliance with the buyer's stated evaluation method still matter.

Prepare Before the Bid Arrives

Social value becomes much easier to write about when the bid team isn't starting from an empty page.

Speak to HR about recruitment, workforce development and existing employee data. Understand which apprenticeship and training providers your organisation already uses. Document previous community activity and its results. Establish how finance and operations can help track delivery. Identify supply chain partners that could contribute to future commitments.

This gives you a credible evidence base when a tender lands. You can then tailor it rather than inventing a new social value programme under deadline pressure.

Need Help with a Social Value Tender Response?

Thornton & Lowe works with suppliers to turn social value requirements into practical, well-evidenced tender responses.

We can support the full response, review and strengthen an existing draft, help develop suitable initiatives and commitments, or work with your team to build a more consistent approach to social value across future bids.

Our social value bid writing service can support individual tenders as well as wider strategy and monitoring, while our social value training helps bid teams develop the knowledge to tackle these questions more consistently. Both pages are currently live on the Thornton & Lowe site.

If you've received a social value tender question and aren't sure how to turn the requirement into a credible, high-scoring response, speak to Thornton & Lowe.