Working day-to-day with organisations across different sectors, I see first-hand how much effort teams put into their social value delivery – sometimes not even realising it is social value. The main challenge I hear isn’t about the lack of ambitions, but a lack of processes to turn positive impacts into measurable outcomes that are credible and transparent. Under PPN 002 and the Social Value Model, social value reporting is no longer a ‘nice to have’, but a requirement that demands appropriate measuring and evidencing. However, many organisations are still struggling to evidence and report the positive impacts they are making.
In this article, I’ll cover what PPN 002 actually means for you and your organisation, where reporting tends to fall short, and most importantly, the steps you can follow to build a credible, audit-ready process that truly reflects the impact you and your organisation is making.
What PPN 002 is and What it Requires
The Procurement Policy Note 002: The Social Value Model (PPN 002) sets out the government’s framework to integrate social value into public procurement. It establishes five core Missions and eight Outcomes, each supported by Standard Reporting Metrics which determine how organisations should measure and evidence their commitments.
The Social Value Model isn’t just a bidding tool or something that has been created to sit in the background. From planning and delivery through to measuring and reporting, the Social Value Model regulates the full lifecycle of social value activities from tender to delivery and all in between. When we use proxy values to measure and communicate our social value impacts and deliverables, its helps audiences gain insights on how this looks in a monetary term. It’s also important to measure and communicate the change in life, communities and the planet and look at the long-term outcomes – but this takes a long time and strains limited resources.
One of the most common issues I usually encounter is commitments being made in the tender process, but a lack of thought behind the cost, resource and time required to effectively deliver those commitments when the contract is won. We all are aware that to win a bid we need to provide strong commitments, but this is only the starting point and that responsibility will continue throughout the contract and beyond. PPN 002 requires suppliers to produce and evidence a plan, specifying the delivery method of commitments along with timeframes and the responsible leads to ensure effective delivery, measuring and reporting.
Where Reporting Goes Wrong
Most organisations I work with are truly committed to delivering real social value impact; however, some fall short in the execution for a number of reasons. Some of the most common I see are:
- Targets are set but never planned or tracked
While many organisations make commitments at tender stage, they lack a clear process and planning to measure or evidence delivery throughout the contract term or beyond. - Resource
Commitments are made without the thought and planning of the resource requirements to actually deliver promises. - Inconsistent evidence capture
When lacking a consistent process, evidence is patchy or just missing entirely, which makes justifying and verifying extremely difficult. - Generic and unaccredited proxy values
Using spreadsheet-driven methods with generic and sometimes outdated proxy values that aren’t aligned with the Standard Reporting Metrics won’t hold up under scrutiny and create a risk of human error. - End-of-project scrambles
When reporting is gathered at the end of a project, the data is rarely complete and reliable. Social value reporting needs to be captured as it happens, not reconstructed at the end. - Lack of Communication
At the planning stage, communication could be improved with the community to assess local needs that may influence social value delivery. Also, the communication with stakeholders is essential to ensure the lifecycle from tendering to delivery is successful.
Building a Credible Reporting Process That Holds Up
Managing effective social value reporting isn’t about doing more work – it’s about embedding the processes so it becomes business as usual. It’s important to have the right approach and tools to support throughout. In my experience, these are the steps that I advise organisations to put in place:
- Ask yourself why
Knowing the ‘why’ of your social value reporting provides a foundation for your aims and objectives. - As yourself ‘so what’
Knowing the ‘so what’ of what you are measuring and reporting and what it means to your internal and external stakeholders including impacting government led frameworks and legislation. - Commitments
Ensuring commitments made are locked in and not changed to suit other needs – a promise is a promise! - Capture evidence in real time
Evidence social value as it happens, with a full audit trail behind it. - Use accredited proxy values
Measure and report your impact using nationally accredited measures to ensure your claims are credible, consistent and audit-ready. - Maintain live visibility
Use live dashboards to keep project teams and stakeholders updated on progress in real time, reducing the risk of unexpected surprises. - Publish and share
Share your commitments and performance data with stakeholders and supply chain partners to strengthen trust and demonstrate accountability, as well as the actual change you are making to people lives, community and the environment. We all love to read a case story of real life impact.
That’s exactly why we specifically built our Social Value Management solution to provide an accredited software that measures the qualitative and quantitative impacts. We have included PPN 002 Standard Reporting Metrics to provide organisations with a full end-to-end process where they can plan, track, measure and report against recognised frameworks with confidence, as well as sharing and achieving progress with stakeholders and partners.
PPN 002 Beyond Compliance
Sometimes it’s worth stepping back and reflecting on what this is all about. When done well, social value creates an array of legacy benefits to society, such as employment, skills, supporting VSFSE’s, environmental benefits and so on. Social value doesn’t have to stop when the contract stops.
Following the Procurement Act 2023; instead of ‘considering’ social value, buyers/suppliers will now need to ‘have regard to’ it. This supports a positive shift and will encourage all stakeholders to see social value in high regard and treat it as important as quality, price and performance.
The organisations that I see doing so well don’t treat social value as an obligation to manage, but as a genuine differentiator – because they care about the changes they are making. This shines through their bids, their client relationships, and their overall reputation across the sector.
Discover How Compliance Chain Supports PPN 002 Reporting
If your organisation is ready to strengthen its social value measuring and reporting – or simply ensure a more consistent, audit-ready process – our Social Value Management solution is specifically designed to support you. Following PPN 002-aligned measures, accredited proxy values, real-time dashboards, and seamless stakeholder communication, our solution provides you with everything you need support the lifecycle of your social value delivery.
Book your free Social Value Management demo today.
With a well experienced background in Social Value, Katie is an integral member of our team, helping organisations to deliver and evidence meaningful impact with confidence.
